April 22, 2000: Clinton sends armed agents to kidnap Cuban refugee boy Elian Gonzalez.
April 22nd is a dark day in Cuban American history. On this day in 2000, Clinton and Janet Reno sent heavily armed agents to storm a family home in Miami and kidnapped a small child, all to appease the Cuban dictatorship.
On Point: Russian and Chinese Shows of Force Confront Biden Administration
Russia and China are conducting multiple probing operations intended to test President Biden’s administration as a whole and, to be frank, directly target Joe Biden as the septuagenarian human being who ostensibly leads what China’s communist propagandists ritually deride as the U.S.-led “Liberal International Order” but recently scorned as “U.S.-led anti-China cliques.”
These cliques include but are not limited to Japan, South Korea, France, Great Britain, Australia, Canada, Poland and, in my view, Taiwan.
The ongoing probing operations are classic examples of “power cocktails” mixing what strategists dub the basic elements of power. The Pentagon uses the acronym DIME to sketch them: diplomacy, intelligence/information, military and economic.
Yes, they’re words and the words we use do matter.
The aliens that are here illegally are illegal aliens.
Why use ‘inclusive language?
Propaganda to cloud men’s minds.
Biden administration orders CBP, ICE to stop using the term ‘illegal alien’
The Biden administration has ordered federal immigration enforcement agencies to nix the use of terms like “illegal alien” and “assimilation” when referring to illegal immigrants, in favor of more “inclusive language,” according to a report on Monday.
The new directive was included in a memo sent to the heads of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection as part of an effort by the Biden White House to build a more “humane” immigration system, the Washington Post reported, citing copies it obtained.
According to the document, “alien” will become “noncitizen or migrant,” “illegal” will be called “undocumented,” and “assimilation” will be referred to as “integration.”
“The words we use matter,” Troy Miller, a senior CBP official, said in his memo.
Moms Demand Action calls for stricter gun laws after FedEx shooting
……….The Indiana chapter said Red Flag laws work.
(pssssst)
Legislatures can pass all the laws they want, but laws, whatever they are – whether you agree with them or not – do not work if the authorities don’t enforce them.
Prosecutor Offers Bizarre Reason Why Red Flag Law Wasn’t Used Against FedEx Shooter
We learned over the weekend that the young man responsible for the shooting at the FedEx facility in Indianapolis legally purchased the rifles used in the attack, despite the fact that police had confiscated a shotgun from him last March after his mother warned that she was afraid her son was going to commit “suicide by cop.”
That raised questions about how the suspect was able to legally acquire any firearms, given the state’s red flag law that’s been on the books for decades. Paul Helmke, the former head of the Brady Campaign and an Indiana resident, was quick to say that the state’s red flag law is rife with “loopholes” that don’t prevent those subject to a red flag order from purchasing other guns. It would appear that Helmke is wrong about that, at least according to the Indiana State Police, which says that when a red flag order is authorized, the warrant to seize the firearms in question should also include the suspension of any carry license and a prohibition on the subject “renting, receiving transfer of, owning, or possessing firearms.”
While the author thinks the vaccines are ‘safe and effective’ he (and I) have the same questions that Carlson asked.
Tucker Carlson Responds to Fauci: Man, I Was Just Asking a Question
Always cruising for a fight, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson hit back at Dr. Anthony Fauci, who accused the host of peddling vaccine conspiracy theories on CNN yesterday. It stems from Carlson’s lengthy commentary about the vaccines, whether they’re safe, and whether they’re effective. Do I agree with Carlson’s commentary about the J&J vaccine and its safety concerns? Not really, but that’s about it. I disagree with it. I’m not calling for him to be banned or anything. I also get that this commentary was actually what millions of Americans are thinking right now as the Johnson and Johnson vaccine was paused over concerns about blood clots. It’s only six cases. There have been nearly 7 million doses administered. It’s safe. All three vaccines are effective. You’re more likely to form clots by taking birth control pills or smoking than if you had this vaccine injected into your body. The panic caused isn’t Tucker’s fault. It’s the medical experts thinking we need to hit the brakes and create more vaccine hesitancy over the data point that 1 in 1 million might have an adverse reaction.
The questions posed are: “If this ‘vaccine’ is *that* safe (less adverse reactions than commonly used drugs) why has it been pulled from use? Could the CDC & FDA be lying? naaaahhhh
But where Carlson did hit on is what everyone, vaccinated and unvaccinated, sees on a daily basis from the COVID czars. If these vaccines are effective, then why aren’t we acting like it? Hence, his lengthy commentary and response to Fauci hitting at him for supposedly being a detriment to public health.
Mr. Fauci has zero grasp of the damage he’s caused for months. The endless flip-flopping and pervasive attachment to trying to have it both ways on protocols have led to confusion and contradiction on an epic scale. It’s to the point where he should be kept off-camera, though you know he loves it. All Fauci has done over the past months is undermine public health and safety by giving us half-assed medical assessments. He’s also doled out science fiction that Ray Bradbury would probably have liked.
But weren’t we told by the demoncraps that the wall was racist and a moral outrage? Why didn’t SloJoe drop the suit?
Biden Admin Wins ‘Immediate Possession’ Of Private Land To Expand Border Wall
The federal government won the right to take immediate possession of private land along the United States-Mexico border in order to continue construction of the border wall — and it does not appear the Biden administration is giving it back to landowners.
“The federal government can take ‘immediate possession’ of a Texas family’s land along the US-Mexico border after a years-long court battle, a federal judge has ruled — a move at odds with President Joe Biden’s pledge to halt wall construction,” CNN reported Wednesday. “Tuesday’s ruling from Judge Micaela Alvarez of the Texas Southern District Court was a blow to the Cavazos family, who for years have been fighting to keep the land that’s been passed down for generations.”
The federal government, the outlet noted, “filed the motion for possession in 2020, sought ‘to construct, install, operate, and maintain roads, fencing, vehicle barriers, security lighting, cameras, sensors, and related structures designed to help secure the United States/Mexico border within the State of Texas.’”
Previously, most of the border wall had been constructed on land owned by the federal government, but during the Trump administration, the government sought to take control of swaths of private land so that it could build in missing segments of the border wall; eventually, then-President Donald Trump wanted a wall across the full southern border.
Although President Joe Biden halted construction on the border wall with an executive order, signed on the first day of his presidency, the federal government did not drop the lawsuit, the landowners — who told CNN they voted for the Democrat — said.
How to Start a War
Joe Biden, and those around him, seem determined to upset the peace they inherited.
Wars often arise from uncertainty. When strong countries appear weak, truly weaker ones take risks they otherwise would not.
Sloppy braggadocio and serial promises of restraint can trigger wars, too. Empty tough talk can needlessly egg on aggressors. But mouthing utopian bromides convinces bullies that their targets are too sophisticated to counter aggression.
Sometimes announcing “a new peace process” without any ability to bring either novel concessions or pressures only raises false hopes — and furor.
Every new American president is tested to determine whether the United States can still protect friends such as Europe, Japan, South Korea, and Israel. And will the new commander in chief deter U.S. enemies Iran and North Korea — and keep China and Russia from absorbing their neighbors?
Joe Biden, and those around him, seem determined to upset the peace they inherited.
In case you hadn’t noticed, the offices where these jerks work has been completely fenced in with barbed wire. There are armed guards all over the Capitol. Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley and Ilhan Omar are being protected by the very men and women they claim to revile.
It wasn't an accident. Policing in our country is inherently & intentionally racist.
Daunte Wright was met with aggression & violence. I am done with those who condone government funded murder.
No more policing, incarceration, and militarization. It can't be reformed.
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) April 12, 2021
And on that note:
Pelosi talks “increasing the size of the Capitol Police force” after deadly incident.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi considers "increasing the size of the Capitol Police force" in response to last Friday's deadly incident at the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/RtFbmSLzuX
— The Recount (@therecount) April 8, 2021
Police for me, but not for thee……..
BLUF:
We will not be bullied into serfdom. If power is the currency, we normal Americans have plenty of cash. Our failed elite would be wise to not encourage a spending spree.
Letting Hunter Biden Off Is A Message To Us Peasants
The fact that the loser spawn of Grandpa Badfinger is thumbing his coke-caked nose at the justice system represents not merely the tacky machinations of a crusty pol protecting the family Fredo. It has a deeper and more cynical purpose – to show us that our overlords are unaccountable and that the law is now merely another implement in the regime’s toolkit of oppression. They are telling us that they and their scumbag progeny can do whatever they want, but that we can’t.
In the short term, this is infuriating. In the long term, it could bring down the system our garbage ruling caste inherited.
They are throwing it in our faces, thinking it’s a good plan to force us to submit.
Continue reading “”
“If you don’t have it in your hands, it’s not really yours”
After FBI seizure of safe deposit boxes in Beverly Hills, legal challenges mount
A retired flooring contractor was watching television one night last month when he saw a news report about federal agents raiding U.S. Private Vaults, a store in a Beverly Hills strip mall that let customers rent safe deposit boxes anonymously.
He knew the place well. It’s near his home and, for years, he has rented a long, narrow box there to keep about $60,000 in cash, gold and silver. It also contained the title certificate for his pickup truck.
The 69-year-old man, who declined to be named because of privacy and safety concerns, said he has kept the stockpile of currency and precious metals since getting spooked by the 2008 financial crash. “You never know what’s going to happen, the way the world’s going today,” he said.
That financial net vanished — at least for now — in the raid.
Armed with a warrant, agents with the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration pulled each of the store’s several hundred boxes out of the walls and seized all the contents. It took five days to inventory everything and take it to an undisclosed warehouse. Prosecutors said drugs, weapons and stacks of currency that drew the attention of drug-sniffing dogs were discovered.
To reclaim property, people must identify themselves to federal authorities and prove they are the rightful owners of the items — a bar that may prove challenging to clear when dealing with cash, gold, heirloom jewelry and other undocumented items.
The raid has set off legal challenges from five box holders who say the government violated the constitution’s ban on unreasonable search and seizure.
Klausner, however, left open the possibility that the sweeping nature of the seizures violated the box renters’ rights.
BLUF:
Not that any of that will matter. As it stands, without at least 10 Republicans crossing over to support the bills in the Senate–something unlikely to happen just because President Biden called for it–none of that is going to happen. Even without that, though, we’re going to have a lot to deal with from just these executive orders.
Biden Lies About Background Checks & More During Anti-Gun Presser
Well, ladies and gents, the wait is over.
We all knew this day would come. Today, we have it. President Joe Biden has issued a number of executive orders relating to gun control.
After all, gun control groups have been pushing this since his inauguration. Biden himself campaigned on gun control, so it’s unsurprising. All that was left up for debate was what he’d do and just when.
Now, we know.
20 states already with permitless carry and still this.
Indiana Senate leaders kill ‘constitutional carry’ bill despite wide GOP caucus support
Republican Senate leaders in Indiana have killed a so-called ‘constitutional carry’ bill that would have nixed carry permits for handguns in Indiana.
The bill had seemed to have significant momentum until recently. The move comes despite more than half of the Senate Republican caucus signing on as co-sponsors to the bill, which already had passed the Indiana House.
Under the proposal, certain offenders still would have been prohibited from carrying handguns.
Fort Wayne Republican Sen. Liz Brown, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee where the bill has been sitting, declined to give the bill a hearing before the deadline, effectively killing the legislation.
Instead, in the last week bills can be heard in committee, she gave a hearing to a resolution emphasizing the Indiana Senate’s commitment “to protect the constitutional right to keep and bear arms.”
Here’s the ‘executive actions’ SloJoe’s puppet masters are going to try.
Yada-Yada-Yada-Yada
Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing six initial actions to address the gun violence public health epidemic. The recent high-profile mass shootings in Boulder – taking the lives of 10 individuals – and Atlanta – taking the lives of eight individuals, including six Asian American women – underscored the relentlessness of this epidemic. Gun violence takes lives and leaves a lasting legacy of trauma in communities every single day in this country, even when it is not on the nightly news. In fact, cities across the country are in the midst of a historic spike in homicides, violence that disproportionately impacts Black and brown Americans. The President is committed to taking action to reduce all forms of gun violence – community violence, mass shootings, domestic violence, and suicide by firearm.
Get ready to get sued, Joe. https://t.co/MfESZgCh5r
— Cam Edwards (@CamEdwards) April 7, 2021
Biden to unveil long-awaited executive action on guns
The announcement, expected for Thursday, comes amid a spate of high-profile shootings and as some advocates have grown frustrated in the White House’s delay.
President Joe Biden is expected to unveil a long-awaited package of executive actions to curb gun violence Thursday at the White House, according to four people familiar with the plan.
The announcement comes nearly three months into Biden’s term in office, a delay that had frustrated activists who wanted the president to fulfill a campaign pledge to take action on gun violence on his first day in office. That frustration only grew after a slate of mass shootings in Colorado, Georgia and California.
Biden will direct the administration to begin the process of requiring buyers of so-called ghost guns — homemade or makeshift firearms that lack serial numbers — to undergo background checks, according to three people who have spoken to the White House about the plans. He is expected to be joined at the event by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
AAAhhhhhhhhahahahahahaha. Yeah, that working as an EO set off another giggle fit. ATF would have to re-re-regulate the definition of what a firearm receiver is, and they just got their hat handed to them in federal district court about their re-re-regulation that a bump-stock is a machinegun.
Other executive actions remain unclear. But stakeholders have speculated that the president could announce regulations on concealed assault-style firearms; prohibitions on firearm purchases for those convicted of domestic violence against their partners; and federal guidance on home storage safety measures.
More than 100 House Democrats wrote to Biden last week, urging him to take action on the concealed assault-style firearms, which is similar to the one used in the Colorado shooting in which 10 people were killed.
Oregon’s largest newspaper, The Oregonian, has published a mea culpa over their previous endorsement of defunding the police, after 266 shootings and 25 homicides in the first quarter of 2021. In fact, in a Monday article from the paper’s editorial board, they heaped praise on the city’s gun violence reduction team and defended the mayor’s recent proposal to restart the ‘canceled’ unit after a spate of violence ensued.
“While we supported the move at the time, we – and all Portlanders – should recognize what has also been lost. The gun violence reduction team responded to every shooting, identifying incidents that were connected and helping disrupt potential retaliatory action. Officers had established relationships with many of those considered high-risk for being involved in gun-violence, connecting people with resources in the community as well as communicating with them about ongoing disputes to keep violence down. And as part of their work, they took dozens of guns off the street.”
The paper then slams the city council for ignoring the “reality of the threat” that removing cops from enforcement jobs has had on the city, saying that a proposal by commissioners to hand $3.5 million to unspecified community groups reflects a “startling lack of seriousness, if not outright naivete,” which “fails to show the urgency or understanding of the scope of this crisis.”
“The council’s three newest commissioners told Mayor Ted Wheeler that they oppose the $2 million proposal to revive the gun-violence unit that he developed with members of the Interfaith Peace & Action Collaborative…”
And it works so well to stop criminals from possessing guns /sarc
Illinois only state in region requiring a state-issued permit to buy firearms
While Illinois residents continue to wait for their state-issued Firearm Owner Identification card, all neighboring states now have no such requirements for gun owners.
In Indiana, a permit is required to carry a gun, but no permit is required to purchase one and open carry is allowed. The same goes for Kentucky and Wisconsin. Missouri doesn’t require a purchase or a carry permit.
Iowa’s governor signed a measure Friday that allows residents to buy and carry firearms without a permit from the state. Gun rights groups applauded the move. Gun control groups opposed it.
They can’t stop them, so they decide to make some money off them.
BLUF:
“This legislation will make it even more difficult and expensive for law-abiding individuals, especially those living in underserved, high-crime communities, to protect themselves and their families,” said Daniel Reid, western regional director for the NRA Institute for Legislative Action.
Alarmed by recent mass shootings, California lawmakers push to tax guns and ammo
SACRAMENTO — Citing recent mass shootings in Orange, Boulder, Colo., and the Atlanta area, state lawmakers on Tuesday advanced a proposal for a new tax on the sale of guns and ammunition in California to boost funding for violence prevention programs.
The legislation by Assemblyman Marc Levine (D-San Rafael) would place a $25 excise tax on retailers for the sale of each new gun and an as-yet-undetermined levy on ammo sales to raise millions of dollars to fund the efforts.
“Gun violence will not end on its own,” Levine told the Assembly Public Safety Committee during a hearing Tuesday. “We must take responsible action to end the public health crisis that is gun violence in our state, in our nation.”
The panel voted 5 to 2 along party lines to approve the legislation, which still needs approval from the full Assembly.
Deadly Venezuelan military operation sends thousands of refugees to Colombia
ARAUQUITA, Colombia – For days, the explosions and shootings were loud enough that people on both sides of the Venezuela-Colombia border could hear them. The violence was part of a Venezuelan military operation that started about two weeks ago.
The military operation prompted thousands of refugees — including children and dozens of pregnant women — to cross the Arauca River, which rises in the Andes Mountains of Colombia and ends at the Orinoco River in Venezuela.
The crowded fishing boats have been arriving from Venezuela’s Apure state where the government runs the Guafita and Victoria oilfields and produces natural gas. Most were from the areas of La Capilla and La Victoria. Some brought farm animals and appliances.
Police defunded: Major cities feeling the loss of police funding as murders, other crimes soar
Cities in parts of the U.S. that slashed their police department funding last year, in part as a result of police-involved shootings, have seen an uptick in certain crimes over the past year, according to data analyzed by Fox News.
Cities such as Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, Portland, Ore., and Austin, Texas, have shifted funds from police departments to social services programs. Such cuts have led some departments to lay off officers, cancel recruiting classes or retreat from hiring goals.
As police departments were left to make do with shrunken budgets and less support, some big cities have seen sometimes drastic upticks in murders and other violent crimes, a Fox News crime analysis found.
The ATF ‘considered’ classifying Arm Braces as stocks late last year, then dropped it like the radioactive potato it is. With the latest judicial kick in the seat of the pants about bump-stocks, rolling out this canard as another EO will likely end up the same way.
The NFA has been obsolete since the Remington XP-100 pistol was introduced was back in the early 60s.
House Anti-Gunners Want Biden Executive Action on Guns
House Democrats led by Reps. Mike Thompson, Val Demings, Joe Neguse and Ed Perlmutter sent a letter to Joe Biden asking for “Executive Action to regulate concealable assault-style rifles, like the firearm used in the recent tragedy in Boulder, Colorado.”
According to a news release from Thompson’s office, the letter was signed by 101 of their colleagues.
CBS News is reporting the alleged killer in the Boulder mass shooting, which occurred in Neguse’s district, used a semi-auto Ruger AR-556 pistol purchased a week before the attack that left 10 people, including a Boulder police officer, dead.
The suspect, Ahmed Al Aliwi Alissa still has not provided a motive for the attack on a Boulder supermarket. His attack came a week after a Georgia man opened fire at three different spas in the Atlanta area, killing 8 people.
Here is a text of the letter, which is available at Thompson’s congressional website:
Dear President Biden,
“The House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force calls on you to take strong executive action to address serious inequities in the implementation of the National Firearms Act which is the federal law regulating the manufacture, transfer, and possession of certain classes of firearms. For too long, gun manufacturers in order to circumvent the National Firearms Act have designed and marketed concealable AR-15 style firearms which fire rifle rounds.
“Concealable assault-style firearms that fire rifle rounds pose an unreasonable threat to our communities and should be fully regulated under the National Firearms Act consistent with the intent and history of the law. The recent tragedy in Boulder, Colorado where 10 people including a police officer were killed is one in a string of deadly incidents involving this style of weapon. On February 6, 2019, Milwaukee Officer Matthew Rittner was killed by an AK-47 style concealable weapon while trying to execute a search warrant. Later that year on August 4, 2019, a concealable .223 caliber AR-15 style firearm was used to kill 9 people and injure 17 others in Dayton, Ohio in less than 1 minute.
“The National Firearms Act has proven to be extremely effective in preventing crimes with the classes of particularly dangerous firearms it regulates through a system requiring a background check, submission of photo identification and fingerprints, and registration of the firearm with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The 1934 law sought to regulate certain weapons because of their frequent use in crime. Some of the features exploited by criminals and included for enhanced regulation under the NFA include, sawed off shotguns, rifles with short barrels and weapons with a high capacity of firing like machine guns.
“The concealability and ability to use ammunition capable of penetrating body armor make these firearms especially dangerous on our streets and for law enforcement personnel. We thank you for your commitment to preventing gun violence and urge you to immediately promulgate regulations to cover these concealable assault firearms under the National Firearms Act.”
CBS News is reporting the White House is “mulling executive actions on gun control.” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters last week, “Executive actions are of course an important lever that every president has at their disposal. There is current discussions and analysis internally of what steps can be taken. That has been ongoing for several weeks, even before these two recent tragedies.”
She indicated that some Republicans appear open to a “debate and a discussion.”
But grassroots gun rights activists writing on social media are apprehensive. The common complaint is that “compromise” typically means giving up some piece of their gun rights with nothing tangible in return.