White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a briefing at the White House in Washington on March 17, 2021. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Executive Branch
Psaki Stonewalls Queries on Press Access to Border Facilities
The Biden administration has repeatedly championed its commitment to transparency, but won’t let reporters into facilities holding child immigrants near the U.S. border.
A growing surge of illegal border crossings, including a jump in unaccompanied minors, has led to intense scrutiny of the administration’s immigration policies. At the same time, reporters have clamored for access to facilities housing the child immigrants.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki has repeatedly stonewalled questions on when that access will be granted.
“We remain committed to doing that,” she told reporters at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
The administration is working with the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services, which oversee the facilities, to arrange tours, while “respecting the privacy and, obviously, the health protocols required by COVID,” she said.
Pressed on why the administration itself also hasn’t released images from the facilities, Psaki added: “We remain committed to transparency. I don’t have an update for you on the timeline for access, but it’s certainly something we support.”
Some reporters said they’d been denied requests to ride along with Border Patrol agents. Psaki deferred questioning on the matter.
“We fully support transparency, and I would encourage you to talk to the Department of Homeland Security about any requests you have for press access or what you’re looking to accomplish at the border,” she said.
Border Patrol agents arrest seven illegal immigrants who tried to evade capture near Penitas, Texas, on March 15, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)
The Biden administration’s reversal of key Trump era policies has driven the surge in illegal immigrants, according to experts, Republican lawmakers, and some Democrats. Among the reversals: ending Trump’s remain in Mexico policy and allowing unaccompanied minors to stay in the country, even amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Psaki defended the policies, saying, “We decided that we will be more humane about how we approach this” and that it will take time to deal with the higher numbers of child immigrants.
“Our policy continues to be: We’re not going to send a 10-year-old back across the border. That was the policy of the last administration. That’s not our policy here,” she said.
Asked if that amounted to incentivizing parents to send their kids across the border alone, Psaki pointed to how President Joe Biden said this week that people should not cross the border into the United States.
“And he believes, as he talked about last night, that no parent is looking and just trying to make a bet on whether their kid can, kind of, make it,” she said.
“This is a very difficult and treacherous journey. Most of these kids are fleeing very challenging circumstances. And his view is that there’s a number of steps we need to take and steps that he hopes he can work with Democrats and Republicans on. So that’s his goal.” Follow Zachary on Twitter: @zackstieber
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin looks on as President Joe Biden speaks, in the White House in Washington on March 8, 2021. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) Republicans
The top Republican in the House of Representatives on Monday called for a halt to what he described as politicization of the military.
“Uniformed service members recently criticized a private citizen for his First Amendment rights, & today a Dem lawmaker used soldiers in a political stunt against a GOP member,” Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) wrote in a social media statement.
McCarthy tagged Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin before adding: “This sets a dangerous precedent. It must stop now.”
The military is forbidden from getting involved in politics while in uniform but multiple members recently criticized Tucker Carlson of Fox News after Carlson critiqued the military’s focus on including women, arguing that it would be best for it to spend more time combating rivals like China.
Additionally, on Monday Rep. Michael F.Q. San Nicolas (D-Guam) took uniformed National Guard members with him to confront Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) at her office, after Greene reportedly suggested last month that Guam was not a part of the United States.
Greene wasn’t in her office but San Nicolas asked a staffer to speak to Guard personnel. The staffer did so.
Maj. Gen. Esther Aguigui, adjutant general of the Guam National Guard, told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement that “we appreciate Congressman San Nicolas’ efforts to represent our culture of Inafa’ Maolek, or bringing harmony, practiced here in Guam.”
“We also thank Congresswoman Greene for ultimately helping raise awareness of Guamanians as citizens of the United States, and our rich tradition of service and sacrifice to our nation. As a non-partisan entity, the Guam National Guard is here to continue this legacy of supporting and defending the Constitution of the United States and the freedoms it provides. We will continue to be always ready and always there, to serve our great nation and contribute to a fair, prosperous, compassionate, and safe Guam,” she added.
The Pentagon declined to respond directly to McCarthy. The Department of Defense’s inspector general declined to say whether it was probing either situation.
Greene said via email that “It’s time for our great men and women of the National Guard to go home from Washington DC and be with their families.”
“The Democrats need to stop using them as political theatre and drama on Capitol Hill. Shame on Democrats for disrespecting our military,” she added.
The office of San Nicolas didn’t return an inquiry.
Other members of Congress have also questioned the military’s recent actions, which included issuing a press release that critics said distorted Carlson’s comments.
The Pentagon alleged that Carlson “used his show to denigrate the contributions of women in the military and to say the Chinese military is catching up to the U.S. military because it does not allow women to serve in the percentage the United States does.”
Carlson during a recent show pointed to President Joe Biden talking about designing military flight suits and easing hairstyle restrictions in a bid to have women feel safe and respected in the military.
“It’s a mockery of the U.S. military. While China’s military becomes more masculine as it’s assembled the world’s largest navy, our military needs to become, as Joe Biden says, more feminine, whatever feminine means anymore since men and women no longer exist. The bottom line is, it’s out of control, and the Pentagon is going along with this,” Carlson said.
Attacks were lobbed by the Pentagon’s press secretary, a top Space Force official, and a number of other military members in return. Through the spokesman, Austin also expressed disdain for Carlson’s comments.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has said he requested a meeting with the head of the Marine Corps after the Marines joined in the attacks, telling one social media user to “come back when you’ve served and been pregnant” and using a pejorative against Carlson.
Cruz told Austin in a letter that he’s “deeply troubled” by the situation, accusing the Pentagon of mobilizing “systematic, public attacks” against Carlson.
A Pentagon spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email, “As with all congressional correspondence, the secretary will respond directly to the author of the letter as appropriate.”
The Senate had to approve a waiver for Austin, a retired general, to serve as the defense secretary. During confirmation hearings, he told senators that he understood concerns they had and that “the safety and security of our democracy demands competent civilian control of our armed forces.”
“If you confirm me, I can assure you the Pentagon under my leadership will respect your oversight responsibilities. We will be forthcoming and transparent,” he added. Follow Zachary on Twitter: @zackstieberHelp us spread the truth. Share this article with your friends.
Authorities in Texas said that at least eight illegal immigrants have died in a head-on collision in Val Verde County, Texas—located near the U.S.-Mexico border—following a high-speed chase.
Officers with the Texas Department of Public Safety arrested the driver of the vehicle after he allegedly tried to run away following the crash, authorities told Fox29 in San Antonio.
Eight people were confirmed dead at the scene. Texas Department of Public Safety officials told the outlet that they are all had no documentation. The fatal crash happened at around 1:30 p.m. Monday nearly 30 miles north of Del Rio, KSAT reported.
Officials told the outlet that troopers were chasing a red pickup truck on U.S. 277 when it collided with a white Ford F-150 truck.
“Due to injuries sustained, eight undocumented passengers from the Dodge pickup were pronounced deceased on scene,” the Department of Public Safety told the outlet. “The driver and a child passenger from the Ford pickup and one undocumented passenger from the Dodge pickup were transported to a hospital in San Antonio and are in stable condition.”
Other details about the incident are not clear.
Several weeks ago, in Southern California, officials said that more than a dozen illegal immigrants were killed following a collision with another vehicle. Immigration authorities confirmed that the SUV, which was carrying about 25 people, entered the United States from Mexico in early March via a hole in the border fence.
“We pray for the accident victims and their families during this difficult time,” said El Centro Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino in a news conference on Wednesday. Agents, he said, believe the deceased individuals were part of a larger group of about 44 migrants who were smuggled through a hole in the fence near Calexico, a California city that lies along the border and is next to the Mexican city of Mexicali.
Bovino added that an “initial investigation into the origins of the vehicles indicate a potential nexus to the aforementioned breach in the border wall,” while adding that “human smugglers have proven time and again they have little regard for human life.”
In recent weeks, the number of migrants attempting to enter the United States via Mexico has surged to levels not seen in 20 years, said Department of Homeland Security Chief Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday.
U.S. border agents conducted about 100,000 apprehensions or rapid expulsions of migrants at the border in February, officials have said.
The Epoch Times has reached out to the U.S. Customs and Border Enforcement agency for comment.Help us spread the truth. Share this article with your friends.
A Customs and Border Protection officer speaks with immigrants at the U.S.–Mexico border in Matamoros, Mexico, on Feb. 25, 2021. (John Moore/Getty Images) US News
Mexican cartels are getting stronger as the Biden administration weakens security at the border, according to several current and former law enforcement officials.
Most cartel violence occurs in Mexico as different factions fight for territory along the border into the United States. Smuggling drugs and humans is their primary business, and they control the border.
But the cartels are also embedded inside the United States, and indications point to more violence stateside this year, according to Jaeson Jones, a former captain for the Texas Department of Public Safety, where he ran the border security operations center.
“The game has changed now,” Jones told The Epoch Times on March 3. “They don’t fear us. It’s just not like it used to be. And you can’t blame them. I mean, they have no reason to—we’ve done nothing to contain them. They’re just completely out of control.”
Jones said cartels will “absolutely” cause more violence “everywhere, much deeper” into the United States. He said the problem with cross-border crime and cartel violence is that it’s not identified as such in the FBI’s uniform crime data system.
“So when you hear from a lot of people who say, ‘There’s no proof that cross-border violence is occurring,’ that’s wrong. It is. It’s occurring every single day in many, many ways,” Jones said.
He pointed to an example of a double murder in Alabama in 2018 of a 13-year-old autistic girl, who was beheaded, and her grandmother, who was a drug smuggler with reported ties to the Sinaloa cartel.
In 2019, two Border Patrol agents were fired upon from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande while they were patrolling by boat.
“Agents saw four subjects with automatic weapons who shot over 50 rounds at them. The boat was hit several times but no one on board was injured,” said an Aug. 9, 2019, Customs and Border Protection statement.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Jones said, an alert went out to agents that Cartel de Golfo (CDG) intended to kill agents on a boat the next day.
He said CDG is losing the battle for territory in the small city of Miguel Alemán in Mexico, across the river from Roma, Texas. The cartel wanted to blame the shooting on rivals Cartel Del Noreste (CDN), a faction of the Los Zetas, “to cause the Mexican government to come after CDN,” Jones said. “Think how bold that is.”
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents monitor the Rio Grande on a boat between the Mexican city of Miguel Alemán and the Texan city of Roma, for any sign of illegal activity on May 31, 2017. (Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times)
He believes President Joe Biden, “whether he wants to or not,” will be forced to take action against the cartels because of the fentanyl issue.
Illicit fentanyl coming across the Mexican border is chiefly responsible for fueling the escalating opioid crisis, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Overdose deaths are at record highs in the United States.
“The overdose deaths are not going to get lower,” Jones said. “They’re going to go through the roof this year because of the migration issue. Because as they [border agents] focus on migration at the border, they’re not focusing on [drug] seizures. So you give up one for the other.”
Often, the cartels will send large groups of migrants to cross the border illegally in one area to tie up Border Patrol resources while they smuggle drugs and other people through another area nearby.
Sheriff A.J. Louderback from Jackson County, Texas, said Border Patrol has been apprehending about 1,000 illegal border-crossers every day for the past three weeks in the Rio Grande Valley Sector, mostly in large groups.
“We essentially have an open border today on the southern border of the United States,” Louderback told The Epoch Times on March 5.
The Cartel de Golfo controls the Mexican border into the Rio Grande Valley area in Texas; anyone who wants to cross illegally has to pay the cartel. The lowest price he’s heard is $250 per person, Louderback said.
“So 1,000 people a day … you’re looking at a quarter million dollars a day, coming in and funding the cartel for its future violence, and future enhancement of all things criminal that go along here in Texas and the United States,” he said. “So fundamentally what we’ve done is promote this.”
Jones said the price for crossing has recently skyrocketed to $2,500 per person, or even higher, depending on their country of origin. Many of those who cross don’t have enough money and are then indentured to the cartel once they’re in the United States.
Border Patrol agents overlook the Rio Grande towards Mexico on the Roma Bluffs near Rio Grande City, Texas, on March 22, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)
Law Enforcement
The Mexican government has also made moves that hamper U.S. law enforcement, particularly the DEA, inside Mexico.
In mid-December 2020, the Mexican government introduced a law that would require “foreign agents” operating in Mexico to share information with the Mexican government. The foreign agents will also no longer have immunity, and Mexican officials will have to get permission before meeting with a foreign agent and to submit a report afterward.
The DEA has offices in Mexico and has had agents operating there for decades. Homeland Security also operates to disrupt drug and human trafficking routes.
Derek Maltz, former head of the DEA’s special operations division, said the new law will “completely expose” law enforcement agents and their operations.
“And so Mexico is taking full advantage of America during all these turbulent times with the transition of presidents, with the COVID, with the weak immigration policies put forth by Joe Biden’s administration,” Maltz told The Epoch Times on Feb. 24.
“They’re setting it up so the only people that win are the corrupt government officials, the Chinese organized crime groups, and the cartels.
“And there’s no doubt in my mind—based on all my experience, and looking at drug enforcement and immigration-related matters—that the cartels are in a much easier place now to position their manpower throughout America, [and] continue to distribute all these poisonous drugs and pick up the mass amounts of proceeds that have been generated from the business.”
As an escalating number of illegal immigrants enter the country, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced an operation to surge Texas law enforcement personnel to the southern border to help combat drug and human smuggling.
“Texas supports legal immigration but will not be an accomplice to the open border policies that cause, rather than prevent, a humanitarian crisis in our state and endanger the lives of Texans,” Abbott said in a March 6 statement. Follow Charlotte on Twitter: @charlottecuthboHelp us spread the truth. Share this article with your friends.
Scott Adams, author of “Loserthink: How Untrained Brains Are Ruining America,” in New York on Nov. 4, 2019. (Brendon Fallon/The Epoch Times) Censorship & Socialism
Famed cartoonist and political commentator Scott Adams told his audience that YouTube removed two of his videos because they contained comments regarding the November election. He said it feels like YouTube is setting him up for a penalty that could lead to his channel being purged from the Google-owned online video platform.
In his March 15 daily livestream, Adams said that YouTube informed him that two of his January videos “promoted false election claims” and were taken down. As far as he could tell, the videos did no such thing, but YouTube, per its common practice, didn’t explain what specifically Adams said that irked its censors.
“I don’t even have a guess why I got censored,” he said.
Normally, an alleged policy violation results in a “strike” and if three accumulate, the entire channel gets deleted. For many a YouTube personality, that’s nearly a career kill. In this case, however, YouTube spared Adams the penalty.
“They’re saying we’re not going to give you a strike because you probably didn’t know you did anything wrong. But what happens the next time?” he asked.
“Then next time, can they not say, ‘We warned you’? I feel like they could, because they did warn me but they didn’t tell me what it was that I did. So I don’t have the option of avoiding it because I don’t know what it was. Now, do you see what’s happening? … Doesn’t that look like a setup to you?”
In response to The Epoch Times inquiry, a Google spokesperson asked for links to the deleted videos. The Epoch Times located the links through the Internet Archive, but didn’t receive further response from Google by press time.
Adams’s situation is part of a pattern that appears designed to induce self-censorship. Tech companies tend to make their content rules vague, keep part of them secret, and not inform users what exactly they did wrong. The result is that people try to guess the boundaries of the censorship themselves and are likely to cage themselves more tightly than the rules would require.
Adams is known to comment on news and politics from a mix of liberal and conservative perspectives. A trained hypnotist, his specialty is pinpointing and decoding persuasion methods, explaining how to use them as well as avoid being affected by them.
He said it looks like YouTube is already throttling his channel as “the monetization, everything for the channel just plunged.”
“I feel as if they’re pushing me to the situation where I will accidentally cancel myself and I’ll never know I did it. I’ll just be cancelled,” he said.
His take on election fraud was that it’s likely widespread on both sides of the aisle because the reward is high, there are likely a lot of people willing to engage in it, and the chances of getting caught are low.
In the first video, he said there are “signals” and evidence that the election result was illegally affected, though he also acknowledged that he could be wrong.
In the second video, he called for more inquiry into certain allegations, but voiced skepticism about specific claims.
“It could be all of them, but at least 95 percent of the [voter fraud] claims are bogus,” he said.
He maintained his position that, judging from the election system setup alone, fraud does take place.
“Guaranteed your elections have been fraudulent all of your life, and probably longer, and you didn’t even notice,” he said. Follow Petr on Twitter: @petrsvabHelp us spread the truth. Share this article with your friends.
Border Patrol agents apprehend a busload of illegal immigrants in Penitas, Texas, on March 10. 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times) Immigration & Border Security
The number of migrants who are illegally entering into the United States via the Southern Border has spiked during President Joe Biden’s first two months in office, said the head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Tuesday.
“We are on pace to encounter more individuals on the southwest border than we have in the last 20 years,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.
Mayorkas, whose agency oversees Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended the Biden administration’s response to what some have described as a growing crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border. Previously, White House officials and top Democrats including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have said it was the previous administration’s policies that triggered the crisis, although Republicans said President Joe Biden’s moves to rescind Trump-era executive immigration orders essentially served as a welcome mat for illegal immigrants.
“There is understandably a great deal of attention currently focused on the southwest border,” Mayorkas added. “The situation at the southwest border is difficult. We are working around the clock to manage it and we will continue to do so. That is our job. We are making progress and we are executing on our plan.”
Illegal aliens cross the Rio Bravo to get to El Paso, Texas, from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico, on Feb. 5, 2021. (Herika Martinez/AFP via Getty Images)This file photo shows a hole cut into Southern California’s border fence with Mexico on March 3, 2021. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection via AP)
Mayorkas avoided using the term “crisis” as conservative-leaning media and Republicans have insisted that the administration use stronger descriptive terms.
“We will also not waver in our values and our principles as a nation,” Mayorkas added. “Our goal is a safe, legal, and orderly immigration system that is based on our bedrock priorities: to keep our borders secure, address the plight of children as the law requires, and enable families to be together. As noted by the President in his Executive Order, ‘securing our borders does not require us to ignore the humanity of those who seek to cross them.’ We are both a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. That is one of our proudest traditions.”
A tent facility operated by the Border Patrol in Donna, some 500 miles south of Dallas, is holding more than 1,000 children and teenagers, some as young as 4 years of age. Lawyers who inspect immigrant detention facilities under a court settlement told The Associated Press they interviewed children who reported being held in packed conditions in the tent, with some sleeping on the floor and others not able to shower for five days.
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a statement Monday asserting the Biden administration’s “reckless open door policies have created a humanitarian crisis for unaccompanied minors coming across the border” and that “his policies are risking the health and safety of Texans and putting children at risk from cartels and human traffickers.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.Help us spread the truth. Share this article with your friends.
Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow, speaks at the “Let the Church ROAR” National Prayer Rally on the National Mall in Washington on Dec. 12, 2020. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times) Tech News
MyPillow founder and CEO Mike Lindell says a social media platform he will launch in coming weeks will be a “safe place” for those who have been “canceled” by big tech platforms such as YouTube and Twitter.
“You won’t have to walk on eggshells anymore,” said Lindell, whose personal and MyPillow accounts were suspended by Twitter last month, noting that the release of his platform, Vocal, is scheduled within the next fortnight.
“It’s YouTube and Twitter kind of combined. There’s nothing like it out there. Journalists can actually go out and invite guests on and speak the truth,” Lindell told NTD’s “Focus Talk” host Jenny Chang. “I’m really looking forward to it. It’s been four years in the making, and it is absolutely amazing. There’s technology out there that nobody else has.”
Lindell’s site would compete with the likes of Parler and Gab, which have attracted conservatives and supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Twitter suspended Lindell’s accounts over his claims about the 2020 presidential election. When Lindell released his video on YouTube, the Google-owned platform deleted it, citing its “presidential election integrity policy.” The video was also taken down by Vimeo.
He has been sued by Dominion Voting Systems over his statements about the election technology vendor after the election. The company filed a lawsuit against Lindell on Feb. 22 in the District of Columbia.
The suit alleges that Lindell, a staunch supporter of Trump, harmed Dominion’s brand by raising questions about the company’s vote-counting equipment. The company is seeking damages in excess of $1.3 billion.
Mike Lindell of MyPillow speaks at a Make America Great Again rally in Rochester, Minn., on Oct. 4, 2018. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)
Trump and his advisers have said the former president is considering starting his own social media company. Lindell, when asked about the possibility of a platform launched by Trump, said, “I think it’s great to have more than one place to speak out the truth.”
“For me, my platform is made for more for the influencers out there—people that have podcasts, people that have radio, and TV stations that they can’t speak the truth or they lose their YouTube or they get threatened to being sued by Dominion or whatever it is,” Lindell said.
“I have so many friends of mine that lost their followers on Facebook, they lost their Twitter, they lost their YouTube channels, they maybe lost Vimeo. … That’s their livelihood. I know a friend of mine had 12 employees. They’re all laid off right now because they took away his whole platform, and just for speaking out his opinions.
“I want to be able to talk about election fraud with the machines, and I want to talk about the vaccine, which I don’t believe in. I want the word to get out.”
Lindell told NTD that his company has so far lost 22 retailers. In a recent interview with Business Insider, he said that he lost about $65 million in revenue this year due to mass boycotts from various firms such as Kohl’s and Bed Bath & Beyond.
“Right now, my company has been attacked,” he said. “Google has attacked me; they won’t let me buy my own name. My Twitter is taken down; my company Twitter is taken down; my YouTube is down; Vimeo’s down; Facebook won’t let me live stream—all these attacks.”
The MyPillow CEO said he intends to countersue Dominion because “this is about our First Amendment right of free speech.”
“What’s coming is communism and socialism. It came into our country, they’re suppressing free speech, and right now, it’s terrible,” Lindell said. “Even Democrats see that’s not who they voted for. This is terrible, what is happening. It’s happening to everybody.”
Jenny Chang contributed to this report.Help us spread the truth. Share this article with your friends.
House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy held a press conference on the Texas border to discuss ‘Biden’s border crisis’.
McCarthy was Tuesday’s KVML “Newsmaker of the Day”. Here are his words:
“I want to thank every man and woman for the border patrol, for the exceptional job they’re doing and under extraordinary times. Their attitude, their work was exceptional. The security of our nation and our border is first and foremost the responsibility of our president. I came down here because I heard of the crisis. It’s more than a crisis, this is a human heartbreak. The sad part about all of this, it didn’t have to happen. This crisis is created by the presidential policies of this new administration. There’s no other way to claim it, then a Biden border crisis.
Every part of what we sat and talked to, we learned more of how it was created. Congressman Gimenez talked to a family from Honduras and asked, “How long have they been traveling?” 22 days, just in coincidence of the actions taken by President Biden of why people think they come here to break the law. We went through a new facility that was built just more than a year ago. They built it with the capacity they thought they could never meet, 1,040 people be processed. Today, broke that record today. Today, they’re beyond capacity. They’re having to build into the parking lot a makeshift facility. Even though the US Congress just passed a $1.9 trillion bill, not $1 in there to help them. It’s taken away the operation costs for the border to be protected. But for all these children, that are on a company that’s sitting in there, there’s 120 border agents that are now inside that unit that are not on the border protecting us when a surge is coming.
As we went up to Monument Three, speaking to the men and women on the front lines, they catch from a hundred to 200 people a night. As we talked to the medical units… And as I tell you, not as a member of Congress, but as a father of a son and a daughter, and you look in the eyes of these children, they came unaccompanied. They tell the story of a one, a three and a five-year-old holding their hands, walking up to an agent with no parents, no adults in sight, who brought them? When you talk to the medical units, talk about the percentage of that get trafficked, they get harmed along the way, who knows what dangerous and who doesn’t make it. All because the policies of our president has changed and told them something different, told them to risk their lives and broke families apart.
We were better as a nation than this. This is about the safety and security of our border, but it’s also about the opportunity that Americans want, and the prosperity. I know the president is going to travel this week. This is where he should bring Air Force One. This is where he should look the people in the eye. This is where he should talk to the border agents and let them know that this is beyond a crisis. He can continue to deny it, but the only way to solve it is to first admit what he has done. And if he will not reverse action, it’s going to take congressional action to do it. And that’s why we’re here, we want to find solutions.
Before we even came here, I sent a letter to the President to work together, to solve this problem. I thought maybe he would reach out. Maybe he’d set an appointment. He doesn’t even acknowledge a letter, let alone a crisis that his policy has created. So we will work together, across the aisle, within our own party, because we know the solutions that it will take. When you talk about what’s coming across, I just left a few border agents and I asked them, ” Who are the individuals you’re catching?” “Yeah, they’re from Central America.” But you know who else? Iran, Yemen, Sri Lanka. When I walked through the facility, there was more Haitians than any other nationality I saw. And why were they coming now? You asked the border agents, they were shocked themselves because they’re being released into the country.
When I talked to the doctor to see when they’re being tested for COVID, when they get out. More than 10% are testing positive, while you’re being stored together. In a time when the president will keep our country closed, when maybe we have hope for a 4th of July to get together just with our family, how much spread of COVID is he creating every single day by his policies along this border? It’s wrong, and it has to end and it needs to end now.”
The “Newsmaker of the Day” is heard every weekday morning at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML.
“THAT’S NOT SO BAD. IN _____________________ WE WERE PAYING……$$$$”
Well I guess the good news is it probably won’t bother the newcomers to this area who are likely already thrilled with the lower cost of living compared to city life. Perhaps that’s part of the County’s timing gimmick of attempting to hand off another development failure whose ultimate outcome of substantial expense was clearly foreseeable by those who took the time to understand what was actually being “sold to the LDPCSD MANDATORY CUSTOMERS”….a BIG financial problem.
Another classic “bait and switch” while taxpayers pay more and more and receive less and less – that’s the traditional cost for unrestrained government and unaccountable officials.
The original agreement involved …..
too bad Mariposa County Planning/LAFCO records of all this Don Pedro area development have been prohibited from pubic review for well over one year now ….as it would be helpful to review and see exactly how such a regulatory failure occurred. I recall exactly when all these public county annexation records were withheld from further public review……when it was discovered that there was an alleged 20+ year old LAFCO [LocaL Agency Formation Commission] ANNEXATION of property along the shores of Lake McClure into the Lake Don Pedro Community Services District (LDPCSD) in 1995 (crooked PETER KAMPA strikes again) for a “slumbering 900ac proposed residential subdivision” that was completely hidden from public view (even from directors on the board at the time who had asked about a rumor of a major development across from the LDPCSD administration office!) for over TWO DECADES HIDDEN FROM THE PUBIC? (Or was the annexation just “manufactured as completed” upon Peter Kampa’s return to the LDPCSD to finish the annexation corruption by finally furnishing the groundwater necessary for developments he assisted in planning 20 years earlier before being caught resulting in a quick resignation?)
…. a sewage treatment facility on the golf course THAT WAS WITHIN the water license PLACE OF USE for Merced River water.
WHY ARE PUBLIC RECORDS BEING CONCEALED FROM THE PUBLIC?
Anyway, public records have been concealed by the County regarding this proposed subdivision annexation into the LDPCSD along with many others that defied not only logic and the law, but LAFCO’s own governing regulations on how such annexations into existing special districts would be processed! LAFCO RESOLUTION 76-4…… also still concealed from the public – essentially stated without the availability of water/septic for the development clearly identified in the annexation application, such annexation would not even be considered by LAFCO! Ahhh, but what happened? Some annexations didn’t even mention the project name or property location in the paperwork but were approved! Even stated there was no duty to advise the public of the annexation process! WHAT?????
The County doesn’t obey their own operating regulations but now wants to simply push the tremendous negative financial effects caused by their own irresponsibility on the innocent, AND ALREADY VICTIMIZED and over taxed, MERCED RIVER WATER ENTITLED CUSTOMERS of the Lake Don Pedro subdivision! I’d say this is all a bunch of bullshit, but actually, it’s human waste going back many years.
ORBITS AROUND THE SAME SIMPLE UNDENIABLE FACT
So much of this can be traced to one clear fact…. local governments were intent upon continuing their annexations into the LDPCSD regardless of the mounting violations of CALIFORNIA STATE WATER LICENSE 11395 (held by the MERCED IRRIGATION DISTRICT) which restricts Merced River water use (impounded and pumped from Lake McClure) to the Lake Don Pedro residential subdivision and golf course.
Why? So vast areas of rural foothill drought prone property could be developed and taxed by the county while passing the financial costs for the necessary water service to the unsuspecting owners of LDP subdivision property. (LAFCOs also set it up so that these LDP Property owners would ALSO BE MANDATORY CUSTOMERS OF THE LDPCSD WHILE LAFCOS EXPLOITED WATER LICENSE 11395 TO THEIR BENEFIT.
Think about how devious that was…….What property owner in the subdivision would have ever imagined they would be subsidizing brand new subdivision developments many miles away through extremely expensive groundwater wells developed through the intentional misrepresentation of LDPCSD area service maps (and other information) to state and federal granting authorities during an emergency drought (thanks again to crooked Peter Kampa and his CSDA…..CALIFORNIA SPECIAL DISTRICT ASSOCIATION for re-configuring our former SURFACE WATER TREATMENT PLANT into a SUBSIDIZED GROUNDWATER SUBSTITUTION FACILITY FOR LAFCO ANNEXATIONS INTO THE LDPCSD!)
SHOULDN’T MID PROTECT 11395?
You would think the Merced Irrigation District would protect it’s own license right? Wrong. They have encouraged such violation for decades by ignoring what they also created in their desire to secure as many water rights to that Merced River water as possible. Heck, they even worked out deals where they received the proposed LAFCO annexed property’s water rights in exchange for the promise that the LDPCSD would provide water service in the future for the property development KNOWING FULL WELL PROVIDING MERCED RIVER WATER OUTSIDE THE SUBDIVISION/GOLF COURSE WOULD VIOLATE EXTREMELY CLEAR PLACE OF USE (POU) RESTRICTIONS IN THEIR OWN FRIGG’N LICENSE! Want to talk about duplicity and betrayal of legal duties and responsibilities of their own organization and shareholders?
COUNTY WOULDN’T HAVE TO FUND WATER WELLS – MANDATORY CUSTOMERS OF THEIR LDPCSD WOULD!
Tuolumne and Mariposa counties would clearly benefit from this deal through taxable developments while MID quietly picked up more water rights (of course the Piney Creek ISLAND OF PROPOSED SERVICE never even had the water rights to give MID but was annexed by Mariposa County LAFCO anyway – as an island of potential future water service? Islands of service? Supposedly that is something to be avoided by LAFCOs. Yup, real estate, land developers, contractors, engineers, blah blah blah…. everyone making money and doing business while the Lake Don Pedro subdivision property owner paid for all the added costs in developing water services for properties the district had no legal duty or moral obligation to provide SQUAT! Yeah, an old worn out story right? Welcome to GOV CORRUPTION 101. lol
CRAP! I have things to do….. anyway, as FINALLY recognized by the District and County in this agenda (when on the LDPCSD board years ago I told our LDPCSD attorney that the new facility was OUTSIDE THE POU – THE ATTORNEY DID NOT EVEN KNOW!) ….this new sewer treatment facility is OUTSIDE THE MERCED IRRIGATION DISTRICT PLACE OF USE FOR MERCED RIVER WATER and therefore, must be provided expensive GROUNDWATER SUBSTITUTION for operation in order to circumvent the water use restrictions in MID’s WL11395. (The original disposal system was on the golf course and within the Place of Use for Merced River water – a completely different situation.)
SO?…..expensive groundwater from government grant funded ground wells….. that were SPECIFICALLY DEVELOPED TO PRODUCE POTABLE WATER FOR DOMESTIC HUMAN CONSUMPTION DURING AN EMERGENCY DROUGHT is being used to process sewage outside the Place of Use. Thank you Mariposa County for the opportunity to accept yet another financial nightmare due to county officials failing to obey their own department regulations and state water law.
We should be watching your second inauguration ceremony today, and toasting the continuation of a presidency that is aligned in underlying competence, stated policy, and actual deed with the interests of the United States, the prosperity of the American people, and the continued defense of freedom and democracy, not only in the United States, but also around the world.
Instead, we say thank you for all that you have done for the United States and the world as president during your first term, for the superhuman perseverance you have continuously demonstrated in the face of relentless and irrational opposition, and for answering the call to serve when you knew that the time to do so had arrived.
You didn’t set out to become President of the United States, but it seems to have been your destiny. You possessed the keen intellect, innate drive, and family support to confidently pursue fortune, fame, and an outsized American dream that has captured the world’s imagination. And, where so many others with similar qualities have failed, you succeeded.
You could have chosen to be content with your success and ride off comfortably into the sunset. But, as the decades passed, you could no longer countenance standing by as the hard-earned foundations of America’s wealth and power were continuously chipped away for the unaligned benefit of special interests and an ossifying political class.
You were born in 1946, just as the United States had become a global superpower following our victory in World War II. You had a dynamic upbringing in New York City, where you honed your ability to interact with and relate to people from a variety of backgrounds, from captains of industry to construction workers, and you moved comfortably among them all. To paraphrase Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If,” you have walked with kings, but have never lost the common touch.
As a new graduate of the New York Military Academy and the University of Pennsylvania, you saw the United States drafting our young people into the military to serve as fodder for foreign adventurism in Vietnam, where they were cut down in their prime and severely wounded, both physically and psychologically. These young people, many your own age, had hopes, dreams, and talent that went unfulfilled as a result. You never forgot them, and when you became Commander in Chief, you were judicious in your deployment of our armed forces, not entangling the United States in new wars, and drawing down our once staggering military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan to less than 6,000 total troops in the wake of costly and misguided intervention spanning well over a decade.
As an up-and-coming entrepreneur, you saw your older brother, whom you had looked up to and admired, slide into alcoholism, which slowly took away his looks and his life. You never forgot him, or what substance addiction does to someone, and have worked tirelessly to secure our borders and stop the flow of drugs that have ruined the once bright futures of so many young Americans and killed so many who were once so full of life.
As a bona fide business mogul and television star who had become an international household name, you saw authoritarian China allowed into the World Trade Organization, despite prescient warnings from many against this, and observed the decades of deceit and systematic abuses of good faith and free trade that China has continuously perpetrated upon the United States to the detriment of our economy and our workers. You stood up to these blatant abuses with the principle of reciprocal trade, by raising tariffs on Chinese goods, and by actively working to repatriate factories back to the United States.
As a result of your work, unemployment levels in the United States fell to 50-year lows, stock markets reached all-time highs, and our economy was firing on all cylinders before China’s CCP virus spread around the world and entered the United States. You helped further awaken Americans and the rest of the world to the fact that authoritarian China continues to pose the greatest external threat to the United States and to global freedom, democracy, and human rights.
You had already made billions and won international fame, and chose to donate your presidential salary back to the U.S. government with the same nonchalance as an average American adding tips for the baristas at their local coffee shop over the course of a year.
You didn’t need the presidency. But, for the sake of its future success, the United States needed your leadership.
You spoke and acted on common sense and noble principle in a way that others wished that they had the strength to, and you stood firm against endless clouds of slings and arrows that others would have retreated from long ago. When accepting the nomination as the Republican presidential candidate in 2016, you told the American people, “I am your voice.” You made good on these words by showing us—through your actions—your unwavering allegiance to the interests of the United States and American citizens.
In your speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention you said, “Every day, I wake up determined to deliver a better life for the people all across this nation that have been ignored, neglected, and abandoned. I have visited the laid-off factory workers, communities crushed by our horrible and unfair trade deals. These are the forgotten men and women of our country. And they are forgotten. But they’re not going to be forgotten long. These are people who work hard, but no longer have a voice. I am your voice.”
We used our voices and our votes to elect you to a second term, but our voices and our franchise as voters may have again been taken away through alleged election fraud, as outlined in a series of reports completed by Trump adviser Peter Navarro. Now that our country’s laws and constitution have been trampled upon, many new questions have arisen.
How will we continue the renewed trajectory of national ascent that you initiated during your first term? How long can the United States withstand continued plunder by a corrupt political class that too often doesn’t take the country’s best interests as its top priority? And, given the possible fraud that we have witnessed in the 2020 presidential election, how can we be certain that future elections will be held with integrity and result in fair outcomes?
These are issues that we will all be grappling with in the coming months and years but, for now, basic guidance can be taken from the title of one of your books, which reads simply, “Never Give Up.” We know that you have never given up on our country and its future, and have full confidence that you never will. The American people won’t give up either and, today, after all that you have done for us these past four years, we again want to say something that should have been said more often during your first term: thank you, President Trump.
Adam Michael Molon is an American writer and journalist. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and undergraduate degrees in finance and Chinese language from Indiana University-Bloomington.
Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.Help us spread the truth. Share this article with your friends.
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