A group of illegal immigrants wait for Border Patrol after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in La Joya, Texas, on April 10, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times) Immigration & Border Security

By Janita Kan April 27, 2021 Updated: April 27, 2021 biggersmallerPrint

A coalition of Republican senators who recently visited the southern border is urging President Joe Biden to take swift action and reverse his policy decisions that they say has caused the significant surge in illegal immigration in recent months.

The ten senators penned a letter to the White House detailing a harrowing account of their observations during a tour of the border and immigration facilities in late March. The senators said they witnessed first-hand human traffickers in action and recounted a distressing case of child sexual assault of a girl who was trafficked into the United States.

“Our delegation’s tour of the border was eye-opening. We knew it was a crisis before we arrived, because we had seen the statistics. But witnessing it was different,” the senators wrote in their letter.

“From the coyotes heckling border agents on the ground, to the health and humanitarian hazards of the Anzalduas processing area, to the terrified and confused children in the unsanitary and crowded conditions of the Donna facility, to the struggle of local border communities near the Pharr bridge, what we saw convinced us that this is more than a crisis. It is a tragedy,” the group said.

The senators who signed the letter include Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), John Thune (R-S.D.), John Barasso (R-Wyo.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), and Mike Braun (R-Ind.).

The senators described appalling conditions and “cages” that children were kept in at the Donna Processing facility, and lamented the lack of COVID-19 measures implemented on the ground due to the sheer volume of unaccompanied children crossing illegally into the country.

“We saw a line of children who, having just been crammed into the crowded cages, were now testing positive for COVID-19,” they wrote. “Border Patrol agents were doing their absolute best to care for these children, but these officials are not social workers they are trained to protect our border. The conditions were, simply put and without exaggeration, inhumane.”

For the month of March, CBP agents encountered over 172,000 illegal immigrants, according to statistics released on April 8. This is up from just over 101,000 individuals encountered in February.

Among those who crossed illegally into the United States last month were over 18,800 unaccompanied minors, which is double the number of minors who illegally arrived in the United States in February at over 9,300 encounters. This is compared to 5,585 unaccompanied minors in January, and 4,993 unaccompanied minors in December 2020.

Meanwhile, the Health and Human Services (HHS) said earlier this month that about 20,000 children, mostly from Central America, are being housed in temporary facilities operated by the department, while around 2,500 more are still in CBP custody.

The average cost to care for a child in a permanent facility is $290 per day, HHS officials told The Epoch Times, via email. That cost jumps to approximately $775 per day for children in temporary emergency facilities “due to the need to develop facilities quickly and hire significant staff over a short period of time.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki acknowledged last week that the administration had not anticipated the influx of illegal border crossings following its policy changes but continued to downplay the severity of the situation by insisting that the situation at the border was not a “crisis.” Her comments came after Biden, in a rare admission, used the word “crisis” to refer to the surge of unaccompanied minors at the border.

The senators reminded Biden in their letter that the Rio Grande Valley sector chief and his team had previously warned Biden’s transition team about such potential consequences of his announced immigration policies and that the warning was not heeded.

“They warned that these policies would create exactly the crisis we are now witnessing. They told your team that your policies would result in a surge of illegal immigration bound to overwhelm CBP’s limited resources. And that is exactly what has happened,” the senators wrote.

Republican lawmakers have long argued that the burgeoning crisis is a result of Biden’s move to overturn several Trump-era immigration policies that helped curbed the flow of illegal border crossings. This includes his predecessor’s cornerstone Migrant Protection Protocol, which effectively ended the problematic “catch and release” policy, significantly stemming the surge of illegal immigrants that were seen at the southern border in 2019.

In a return to the Obama-era policies that facilitate “catch-and-release,” the Biden administration is again releasing unaccompanied minors into the country. The lawmakers argue that Biden’s act has been interpreted as a signal to prospective migrants to travel to the United States.

The Biden administration, on the other hand, has sought to shift the blame on former President Donald Trump’s administration, with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas saying that the previous government had “dismantled the orderly, humane, and efficient way of allowing children to make their claims under United States law in their own country.”

The senators also raised concerns about issues resulting from the surge, including a significant increase of contraband and drugs smuggled across the border due to the lack of resources to prevent smuggling operations by drug cartels and other criminals.

Citing statistics from CBP, the senators said the the Laredo Field Office reported that fentanyl seizures rose by 2,067 percent, cocaine seizures increased by 187 percent, weapons seizures are up 131 percent, and currency seizures increased by 64 percent.

“This confirms accounts that drug cartels and other smuggling operations are taking advantage of the disarray at the border to smuggle more drugs and weapons,” they wrote.

They are asking Biden to acknowledge the “crisis” at the border and “begin a dramatic change of course to humanely secure our southern border.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.

Published Apr 27, 2021 06:00 am

Microphone and US Flag View Photo

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered remarks on the Senate floor regarding infrastructure.

McConnell was Tuesdays’ KVML “Newsmaker of the Day”. Here are his words:

“Early on, a major theme of the Biden Administration has been false advertising.

We have the so-called ‘COVID relief bill’ that broke a long bipartisan streak on pandemic response and only spent 1% of the money on vaccinations.

We have the reintroduction of a sprawling election takeover bill that Democrats wrote years ago under the guise that it’s a common-sense voting rights bill.

We have a President who ran on protecting norms flirting with proposals to hot-wire the Senate’s rules and pack the Supreme Court.

And then we have the latest example, where even one Ivy League expert says Democrats’ spin ‘does a bit of violence to the English language.’

They’ve assembled a patchwork of left-wing social engineering programs and want to label it ‘infrastructure.’

Now, as I’ve pointed out before, the first notable thing about the Biden Administration’s plan is what it doesn’t focus on.

Less than 6% of this alleged “infrastructure” bill would invest in roads and bridges. The total amount of funding it would direct to roads, bridges, ports, waterways, and airports combined adds up to less than what it would spend just on electric cars.

The far left sees a strong family resemblance between these proposals and their socialist ‘Green New Deal.’

Yesterday the House and Senate authors of that manifesto reintroduced it, while noting, and boasting, that the DNA of the Green New Deal is all over President Biden’s legislative proposals.

No wonder the White House’s document rolling out the President’s bill mentioned the words ‘climate’ and ‘union’ more often than ‘roads’ and ‘bridges’.

It would pick winners and losers in automotive manufacturing.

It would force-feed the electrical grid some of the least reliable forms of energy.

It would hector school cafeterias to stop using paper plates and force new standards and mandates on family homes.

And the relative pittance this proposal does allocate to actual infrastructure would have to creep through a tangled environmental review process. Without serious permitting reform, it won’t be build back better; it’ll be build back never.

But at least some of those bad ideas have a tangential relationship to the actual concept of infrastructure. Not so for some other statements we’ve heard from actual Democrats in recent days:

“Climate action is infrastructure”… “Police accountability is infrastructure”… “Caregiving is infrastructure”… “Supreme Court expansion is infrastructure” !

Now, unsurprisingly, this liberal omnibus is not exactly an efficient engine for driving our economy.

The White House’s inflated claims of expected job creation have been fact-checked and received ‘Pinocchios’ from the Washington Post.

Even under the rosiest scholarly assumptions, the White House’s own favored estimates, taxpayers would pay more than $800,000 for each job this plan might create.

I know a lot of small business owners who could create more than one job if we handed them $800,000.

And then there are the tax hikes. This proposal is a Trojan horse to roll back the historic 2017 tax reform plan that helped spur big-time wage growth and the best job market in a generation before COVID-19.

So the Administration’s proposal bears little resemblance to the bipartisan infrastructure bill Americans need and deserve. It just reads like customer service for the radical fringe.”

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.

Written by Mark Truppner

OBVIOUS ANSWER? LEGAL MANAGEMENT PER STATE WATER LICENSE WAS COMPLETELY IGNORED FOR DECADES

Why hasn’t the 1993 McClure Point Deep Water project ever been seriously pursued as the logical way to protect our primary source of water sustainability that is stored in Lake McClure per water license 11395?

Because Tuolumne and Mariposa County LAFCO (Local Agency Formation Commissions) ANNEXATIONS into the Lake Don Pedro CSD are PROHIBITED from consuming Merced River water which was intended for the LDP residential subdivision and golf course area only. Since securing sustainable river water didn’t help that extreme minority of property owners outside the WATER ENTITLED SUBDIVISION, why pursue something that only makes sense for the entitled customers?

THEN WHY WAS THE LDPCSD REALLY FORMED IF CLEAR REGULATIONS WERE NOT FOLLOWED?

Was it because land developers, county officials (and their respective LAFCOs exercising STATE AUTHORITY) and others, all worked together on a devious plan to exploit Water License 11395 and provide water services throughout the rural foothill areas of both counties while simultaneously forcing the unaware property owners of the Lake Don Pedro residential subdivision (formerly Sierra Highlands Water Company) to pay for the whole water service expansion scam under the misleading name of a COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT?

So, beginning over 40 years ago, instead of protecting the ENTITLED WATER RIGHTS OF THE PROPERTY OWNERS IN THE SUBDIVISION (for which the surface water treatment plant was designed and intended to serve) local leaders decided to deliver water anywhere they wanted regardless of prohibitions. Then when busted for selling Merced River water outside the legal PLACE OF USE, they embarked upon the extremely expensive plan to develop unreliable groundwater wells to provide water outside the POU which would be subsidized (paid for) by the water entitled subdivision customers who didn’t need groundwater wells for their service.

WHY DID THE ORIGINAL DEVELOPER BOISE CASCADE ABANDON THEIR 13 GROUNDWATER WELLS THAT WERE SUPPOSED TO SUPPLY THIS “OUTSIDE MIDPOU WATER SERVICE”?

BECAUSE THEY WERE UNRELIABLE OR PRODUCED POOR QUALITY WATER – THE ORIGINAL DEVELOPER KNEW GROUNDWATER SUBSTITUTION WAS A LOSER PLAN!

Why was this special benefit blended water service intended for properties in areas the LDPCSD HAD NO LEGAL DUTY or MORAL OBLIGATION TO PROVIDE SERVICE SUDDENLY A FINANCIAL BURDEN and RESPONSIBILITY OF THE ENTITLED SUBDIVISION PROPERTY OWNERS?

BECAUSE LDP PROPERTY OWNERS WERE DESIGNATED FROM THE BEGINNING AS THE “DEEP POCKET” BECAUSE THERE WERE THOUSANDS OF THEM TO SPREAD THE COSTS ACROSS. GREAT SUMS OF MONEY COULD BE OBTAINED BY INCREASING COSTS TO ALL CUSTOMERS A LITTLE BIT MORE.

(Rather like the “weighted race” ballot manipulation that facilitated the APPOINTMENT of a FRAUD OF A US PRESIDENT IN 2020! Steal a little bit from everyone to make up the required cheat necessary to win!)

YUP, SAME DECEPTIONS WE CURRENTLY SEE ON THE NATIONAL LEVEL REGARDING ELECTIONS

Just another example of wealth redistribution by those government officials who refuse to obey the law and chose to do what was best for their “party” and/or “group of associates” and their best interests – to hell with the legal American citizen and voter. In this CSD case the “wealth” is a redistribution of water rights in a drought prone area to those property owners specifically not entitled to Merced River water under WL 11395 (which was the district’s ONLY WATER SOURCE WHEN MOST OF THESE ANNEXATIONS WERE PROPOSED and APPROVED BY TWO COUNTY LAFCOs!)

Sure I’d be mad as hell too if I purchased land from a seller who told me water was available from the district – or would be quite soon. Sure that’s absolutely wrong but that is a problem between the seller and the buyer – not the victimized LDP SUBDIVISION PROPERTY OWNERS WHO HAVE BEEN DEFRAUDED FOR DECADES!

PAY FOR WHAT YOU USE! Those who require and receive a “special benefit water service” should pay ALL COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH THAT SPECIAL WATER SERVICE BENEFIT. This is not not rocket science.

FIRST LDPCSD GROUNDWATER WELL WAS DEVELOPED AFTER A WATER AUDIT OF THE LICENSE HOLDER MID

Remember, the LDPCSD’s FIRST GROUNDWATER WELL wasn’t developed until 1993 – when the district was advised by the Merced Irrigation District that NO MORE MERCED WATER OUTSIDE THE PLACE OF USE AND ALL THAT LEAVES MUST BE REPLACED WITH AN ALTERNATE SOURCE……AND THAT WAS AN EXPENSIVE GROUNDWATER PLAN!

(Hummmm, the LDPCSD’s first groundwater well was developed right around the same time COMMERCIAL CATTLE RANCHER, and long time LDPCSD DIRECTOR EMERY ROSS, started providing treated water to his cattle with a water meter belonging to another rancher, while mandatory LDPCSD customers of the subdivision paid all additional costs associated with that special benefit blended water service for OUTSIDE MIDPOU LAFCO ANNEXED properties. Sounds like a special financial interest in LDPCSD operations doesn’t it?) Good grief.

THEY CAN DRILL IF THEY WANT but it is very expensive so…..THEY DON’T DRILL

Being outside the subdivision those property owners can drill their own water wells if they want whereas the property owners in the subdivision (due to the CC&Rs and how the district was set up) must receive water service through the LDPCSD – essentially built in customers and a “deep financial pocket” to be picked anytime more money is needed – even if for outside third party interests.

SPECIAL BENEFIT WATER SERVICE WITHOUT THE EXTRA REGULATIONS OF ANOTHER LAYER OF GOVERNMENT?

Seven other residential subdivisions were once planned to be the beneficiaries of this SPECIAL BENEFIT SUBSIDIZED water service for LAFCO ANNEXATIONS which DO NOT have the added layer of government in the form of a PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION with far more restrictive regulations on land use than what other properties in the county obey. No violation committees, board director elections, CC&Rs (covenants, codes and restrictions), yearly assessments, monetary fines, lawsuits against owners, blah blah blah….., etc.

DIDN’T WANT OUR SUBDIVISION LAND WITH WATER, ONLY OUR SUBDIVISION WATER ON THEIR PRIVATE LAND!

Want an even playing field in this continuing water service nightmare brought about by dishonest representatives and politicians of the past and present? How about this? If these other annexed properties want SUBDIVISION WATER SO BAD – make them part of the subdivision with the more restrictive regulations every LDP owner is subject to obeying. Ohhhhh….I see, “they” don’t want a subdivision property or the extra regulations WE MUST FOLLOW – just our subdivision water on their private land which is primarily paid for by the far majority of subdivision property owners. That doesn’t sound like a fair deal does it?

ALL SEEMS STRANGELY FAMILIAR

Anyone else notice the similarities with the 2020 presidential election and how the current administration is more concerned with “open borders” and redistribution of wealth to residents of other countries than protecting the vested interests of all the legal American citizens?

How could LAFCOs violate their own clear regulations and operating procedures in pursuing such annexations and instituting an unethical subsidized special benefit groundwater substitution plan (to circumvent state water restrictions for their annexations and proposed developments) OUTSIDE THE water license PLACE OF USE to the extreme detriment of the entitled water users in the subdivision?

Same way in which a fraudulent election can place a compromised and demented career sellout politician and his misguided leftist supporters in the White House to weaken America as much as they possibly can. Will there be anything left of America to save after Joe Demento and his Gang of Leftists?

Will there be enough water for service to all the subdivision property lots as the documents state there WILL BE? THE DISTRICT IS LEGALLY REQUIRED TO PROVIDE WATER SERVICE TO ANY ENTITLED SUBDIVISION LOT ANYTIME UPON DEMAND SERVICE…..ahhhhhh, but there’s the kicker……will there be enough “entitled water” if outside place of use special benefit subsidized water service continues for LAFCO ANNEXATIONS THAT NEVER SHOULD HAVE BEEN APPROVED IN THE FIRST PLACE IF EXISTING REGULATIONS WERE FOLLOWED?

THEY CHEAT WITHOUT CONSCIENCE (OR REMORSE WHEN CAUGHT) AS OTHERS ALWAYS PAY THE BILL!

Yup, the LDPCSD, LAFCOS, local regulating departments in the county – even certain state water agencies and unethical regulating officials, and many more unethical cheats, all seem to work quite well together in expanding this subsidized special benefit water scam which simultaneously defrauds the entitled water users of the LDP subdivision who have been paying more for their water service than they were promised for decades. No biggie. The perpetrators of the fraud simply conceal the evidence of their betrayal and eventually all those who know the truthful facts give up, move away or die and then it’s right back to the blatant violation of law with impunity and the special interest management until an opposing “party” can obtain the authority to once again enforce existing law that has been so egregiously violated for over 40 years.

A “special” CALIFORNIA SPECIAL DISTRICT

After all, the whole point of a CALIFORNIA SPECIAL DISTRICT is to provide a 1) limited service, 2) to a particular group of people 3) in a designated area 4) for only the cost necessary in providing that service.

Why have all the elements of a special district been violated here at the LDPCSD?

Same old reasons as every where else. Greed, money, unrestrained power etc. The ability to violate law with impunity while the taxpayer pays more and more for less and less but is told it is progress intended to benefit everyone.

Same reason that as American citizens we have all likely not had a fair election under such Democrat rule for many years. They cheat and violate law to achieve goals while passing the increasing expenses to already victimized taxpayers. Same old lies about how their programs assist all citizens equally.

Absolute bullshit. And it’s time for it to STOP!

Wake to the reality of betrayal, the actual perpetrators, beneficiaries and why such injustice continues.

OVER FOUR DECADES OF DECEIT AND BETRAYAL by the same type of folks who have intentionally destroyed your voting rights as they continue to reconfigure OUR USA into some godless anarchy – or worse. Yup, may God have mercy on their misguided pitiful souls because I probably wouldn’t piss on their heads if they were on fire considering what they have already done.

My best to you and yours, Lew

BELOW: AUDIO OF THE LAST MEETING ONLY – enjoy

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U.S. Postal Service Postmaster General Louis DeJoy departs following a hearing in Washington on Feb. 24, 2021. (Al Drago/Getty Images) US News

By Zachary Stieber February 25, 2021 Updated: February 25, 2021 biggersmallerPrint

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy apologized on Feb. 24 for the mail delays that Americans across the nation have seen dating back to last year, while defending changes that were made to the U.S. Postal Service under his watch.

DeJoy told the House Oversight and Reform Committee in Washington that the service “fell far short of meeting our service targets” during the holiday season.

“Too many Americans were left waiting for weeks for important deliveries of mail and packages. This is unacceptable, and I apologize to those customers who felt the impact of our delays,” he said, adding that officials would “strive to do better in our service to the American people and we will do better.”

Americans saw delays of days or even weeks throughout the Christmas season, as the country saw what officials described as “a historic record of holiday volume.” Struggles with staffing due to COVID-19 were a contributing factor.

Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) blamed the delays on changes DeJoy made to the service after taking the top post.

DeJoy said his focus has been on making the service financially sustainable since Congress has repeatedly been forced to infuse billions in funding to the beleaguered independent agency, which falls under the Executive Branch of the government.

“While our performance during the election was tremendous, the service performance issues that we otherwise experienced during much of the year demonstrate why we must make fundamental changes to provide our customers with the service they expect and deserve,” he said, calling the status quo unacceptable and requesting Congress intervene to help assist with reform.

The changes ordered by DeJoy, including reducing hours, were rolled back in October 2020 in the settlement of a lawsuit.

Ron Bloom, a Democratic member of the post office’s Board of Governors, told lawmakers that changes are needed to “address the systemic issues plaguing” the current model of the service, noting that it isn’t self-subsistent. The service is projected to lose $160 billion over the next 10 years if nothing changes.

Maloney circulated draft legislation last week that she said would address some of the most important factors driving up costs of the service, since it’s facing “a dire financial situation.”

DeJoy, a donor to former President Donald Trump, was selected by the Postal Service’s board.

Asked how long he plans to stay as postmaster general, DeJoy told lawmakers, “A long time.”

“Get used to me,” he said.

But President Joe Biden on Feb. 24 announced three nominations to the board: former Deputy Postmaster General Ron Stroman, Amber McReynolds of the nonprofit National Vote at Home Institute, and Anton Hajjar, former general counsel for the American Postal Workers Union.

Democrats praised the nominations, including Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), who had called on Biden to fire every member of the board.

“I am gratified that we have a President in office who gets what is at stake in saving our Post Office and is acting with urgency. This is an impressive group of diverse nominees selected by President Biden who will be well-suited to the work of saving our Post Office,” he said in a statement.

The board currently comprises six Trump appointees, four of whom are Republicans. Three seats are vacant.

If Biden’s nominations are approved, the board would have a Democrat majority, enabling the removal of DeJoy.

Senate Judiciary Committee members Sen. Marcia Blackburn (R-TN), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) hold a news conference to voice their opposition to adding justices to the U.S. Supreme Court outside the court’s building in Washington, on April 22, 2021. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Republicans

By Isabel van Brugen April 23, 2021 Updated: April 23, 2021 biggersmallerPrint

Leading Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Thursday held a press conference expressing their opposition to the Democrat proposal to expand the Supreme Court from 9 to 13 seats.

The three senators compared the Democrat-led effort as a push to “rig” the Supreme Court that would ultimately “destroy judicial independence.”

“Packing the court and tearing down the institutions that protect our rights is fundamentally wrong,” said Cruz at a press conference in front of the Supreme Court. “They’re [Democrats] trying to rig the game … fix the system.”

The Judiciary Act of 2021, which was put forward last week, would add four seats to the nation’s top court, effectively flipping the balance from six to three in favor of conservative-appointed justices, to seven to six in the opposite direction.

Lobbying efforts by liberal activists to “pack the court” have ramped up in recent months following their unsuccessful attempt last year to stop then-Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) introduced the bill with Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), and Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.).

Nadler sought to justify the proposal by saying that 13 seats would match the 13 circuit courts.

Speaking Thursday, Graham suggested that Democrats are pushing for the expansion of the Supreme Court “to make the court liberal so that when they fell at the ballot box, they can get the Supreme Court to enact their agenda.”

“That’s been a liberal dream for decades, and they’re willing to destroy the rule of law as we know it to achieve their goal. They are willing to change the makeup of the United States Senate to achieve their goal,” he said.

He added, “We’re not going to allow the most radical liberal movement in modern American history to destroy the rule of law for partisan purposes.”

The Republican senator noted that when his party was in the “same position” under former President Donald Trump, they didn’t get rid of the filibuster.

“We had a Republican Senate, a Republican president, and a Republican House. We didn’t do this. We could have,” Graham said.

“We were under pressure. President Trump argued every day about changing the filibuster rule so we could get the things that we wanted through and many of us said no,” Graham added.

It comes as several groups of Republican lawmakers have launched countermeasures in an effort to keep the number of seats on the bench to nine.

On Thursday, 20 Republican state attorneys general sent a letter (pdf) to President Joe Biden and congressional leaders, urging them not to expand the Supreme Court. They called the effort “a naked political power grab.”

A number of Democrats including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have yet to completely back the bill.

“I have no plans to bring it to the floor,” Pelosi told reporters in Washington. Instead, she said she supports President Joe Biden’s commission to study possible reforms to the court.

Earlier this month, Biden signed an executive order to form a commission to study possible reforms to the court, including proposals to expand it. He presented the idea of a commission as an alternative to “court-packing” efforts.

https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2021/04/23/gop-and-court-packing-e1619174920375-1200×707.jpg

Arizona elections officials continue to count ballots inside the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office in Phoenix on Nov. 6, 2020. (Matt York/AP Photo) Election Integrity

By Samuel Allegri April 17, 2021 Updated: April 18, 2021 biggersmallerPrint

The Arizona Senate, which is controlled by Republicans, is ready to start a major audit of 2.1 million ballots for the 2020 presidential election. The recount will be done by hand this time.

The state Senate said in March they would be conducting a “broad and detailed” audit, adding that they will test voting machines, scan ballots, look for IT breaches, and perform a hand count.

The state-issued subpoenas needed in order to execute the audit have been pending since mid-December and were ruled as valid (pdf) on Feb. 25.

Since then, lawmakers have been working on the specifics for the audit. Karen Fann, the Arizona Senate president, told Just the News that the audit process will commence during the next week.

Fann said the state’s Republicans have faced “sabotage” by Maricopa County’s Board of Supervisors and that the process has been hindered.

“The Maricopa BOS has refused to allow us to perform the audit at their facilities,” Fann said, “and has gone so far as to refusing to even answer simple questions such as ‘how are the ballots sequestered?’”

“It’s taken the Senate two and a half months to win in court to uphold our right to issue subpoenas for election materials and another 6 weeks of researching to select the audit team to perform the full forensic audit.”

She said previously that their intention was “never about overturning the election, it was about the integrity of the Arizona election system.”

Fann signed a contract earlier this week to rent the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix for about a month starting April 19, reported azcentral. She previously said that she wanted to use spaces in the county but that they declined.

She explained that there will be physical and live streaming security in the more than 20,000 square foot facility.

“The audit teams are assembling and transporting the equipment and personnel to Arizona with an expected start date of April 22nd,” she added.

Fann noted that the Arizona State Senate and auditors do not have a particular expectation of the findings.

“We are performing the full forensic audit to either dispel our voter’s concerns or, if a problem is uncovered, we must fix the problems before the next election,” she said.

“We have never accused anyone of fraud or misconduct, whether it be the hardware, software or actions of personnel,” Fann added.

“We hope there is no intentional illegal tampering but, if found, we will turn the information over to the state and federal attorney generals for their further legal action and we will proceed to make the appropriate corrections.”

A report is expected to be released in about two months, according to a statement from the state Senate.

The independent audit will be conducted by four out-of-state companies; Wake Technology Services, CyFIR, Digital Discovery, and Cyber Ninjas. Florida-based cybersecurity company Cyber Ninjas will be leading the audit, the Senate said, adding that they focus on computer application security for financial services and government clients.

According to Just the News, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jack Sellers told Fann in an email that the upcoming audit “is not a joint effort between the County and the Senate Republican Caucus.”

“Maricopa County will not communicate with your vendors or interpret Arizona law for them,” Sellers added.

He also said that because of the unsettled legal ramifications of the documents, Maricopa “cannot be involved in supporting your audit as to do so may expose it to liability for which it has no similar legal protection.”

The Epoch Times reached out to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors for comment.

Andy Ngo in a file photograph. (Brendon Fallon/The Epoch Times) US News

By Zachary Stieber April 18, 2021 Updated: April 18, 2021 biggersmallerPrint

Members of the infamous Antifa cell in Portland are anxious after an informant in their midst gave information to police, leading to arson charges, Antifa expert Andy Ngo says.

“They’re panicking because this may possibly mean that somebody has infiltrated high … and there’s a lot at risk, because this is a criminal cartel,” Ngo said Saturday on NTD’s “The Nation Speaks.”

“And if there’s somebody in there and they don’t know who it is who’s informing on them, it could bring down the entire cell,” Ngo added. “I’m hopeful that that will happen, although I’m not sure if there’s the political will for the investigators to actually go through and fully investigate all the links and ties that this individual suspect has. But this is at least a little bit of good news in regards to months and months of really terrible things happening in Portland with no changes happening.”

Portland has seen repeated rioting since the spring of 2020. At least some of the violence has been linked to members of Antifa, a far-left, anarcho-communist network that has carried out violent acts in cities across the country.

Last week, prosecutors announced they were charging Alma Raven-Guido, a 19-year-old who has attended multiple riots, with arson, criminal mischief, and rioting—all felonies.

Raven-Guido is accused of pouring flammable liquid onto a fire that had been started at the building housing the Portland Police Association, a police union, during a riot on April 13. That liquid “resulted in the fire growing,” Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt said.

A witness saw one of the bottles Raven-Guido use catch fire and start melting and also told police that they saw her place the three bottles into a backpack. In a court document, a police officer described the witness as “the informant.”

Portland police officers found an accelerant and lighters when they arrested Raven-Guido shortly after the fire was set. They also found her to be in possession of a crow bar, spray paint, and heavy marker.

The fire caused an estimated $25,000-plus damage to the police union building. Daryl Turner, executive director of the union, said in a statement that no one was inside the building when it was set on fire and that neighboring homes were not damaged.

The arsonists were “a splinter group of rioters” who broke off from a peaceful march, Turner said.

Slogans favored by Antifa were scrawled on the side of the building, including “ACAB,” an anti-police acronym.

A court-appointed attorney for the defendant, who was released after being arraigned last week, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Antifa network in Portland does not have a public-facing brand, such as a spokesperson.

After publications started reporting on the informant’s information helping lead to Raven-Guido being charged, a lot of Antifa members on social media “were trying accuse one another, saying, ‘who was it?’” Ngo, the journalist who has tracked the network for years, was beaten by alleged members in 2019, and later left the United States because of threats, told NTD.

“And they’re really scared, so they’re locking down their social media accounts so that you can’t see what they’re saying anymore,” he added.

Screenshots shared by Ngo on Twitter, and other posts that are still publicly available, show people wondering about who informed on Raven-Guido.

“Somebody sold us out. Somebody sold every single one of us out. There’s somebody out there that would rather send a 19 year old indigenous person to prison than protect a single one of us. [expletive] you. Absolutely [expletive] you. I hope we find out who the [expletive] you are,” one wrote.

“So where did this happen and what’s that snitches address?” another posted.

Another user shared a meme that stated, “snitches get stitches.”

Ngo said he’s hopeful that the anxiety that has set in among Antifa members will lead to a decrease in the violence in Portland.

“I think that the group of people who are organizing, carrying out the violence is relatively small. So they stand a lot to lose actually if there’s going to be a high level of distrust within the ranks and Portland Police and even federal authorities have not been effective at clamping down on the violence in Portland, which is still ongoing to this day,” he said. “But hopefully, this—Antifa’s own paranoia—can be their undoing. One can hope.”

New York police officers were hit with liquid chemicals and Molotov cocktails during a traffic stop in Brooklyn on Saturday. (NYPD) US News

By Jack Phillips April 18, 2021 Updated: April 18, 2021 biggersmallerPrint

New York police officers were hit with liquid chemicals and Molotov cocktails during a traffic stop in Brooklyn on Saturday.

When NYPD officers stopped a car on Saturday morning for running a red light, the driver tossed “a chemical” at an officer before “speeding off,” the NYPD wrote on Twitter.

Later, the car was stopped by officers, and the driver “threw a lit Molotov cocktail at cops” and sped off before crashing, said the NYPD.

After the man was arrested, several other Molotov cocktails were recovered, the NYPD wrote.

It’s not clear if the attack is related to the resurgence of Black Lives Matter protests and anti-police rhetoric in the wake of two police shootings in Chicago and Minnesota.

Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said that anti-police graffiti had appeared in New York City before the attack.

“Words matter. Earlier this week we said that again after graffiti that proclaimed ‘kill cops.’ This morning..a Molotov cocktail thrown at an occupied marked police car,” he wrote in a tweet over the weekend. “Now more than ever is the time to come together, to move forward together.”

Meanwhile, a large NYPD union, the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York, released a statement that condemned the attack.

“Make no mistake: this is the environment that our elected officials have created. This is the violent behavior that their anti-police rhetoric has inspired. Until politicians stop encouraging hatred and violence towards police officers, we must be prepared to face such attacks AT ALL TIMES, both on and off duty,” Patrick Lynch, the head of the NYC PBA, wrote in the statement. “Remain alert and back each other up.”

On Friday night and Saturday night, demonstrations, looting, and rioting erupted across several major U.S. cities following the two police shootings.

Rioters in Portland, Oregon, smashed windows at a number of businesses after police fatally shot a man at a nearby park. At the same time, police said that rioters were arrested for setting fires.

In Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, after 20-year-old Daunte Wright was shot by an officer carrying out a warrant on him, agitators tried tearing down fencing surrounding the police headquarters. Around 100 people were arrested, officials said.

Riots and looting incidents also broke out in Oakland, California, where hundreds of demonstrators allegedly assaulted an officer and at least one person, smashed windows, set a car on fire, and engaged in other acts of vandalism, authorities said. No arrests or citations were made.