A Sovereign Nation = Common Language, Culture, Secure Borders

Why Democrats Wants No Walls—And Why We Must Build Them

9/29/2017 - Larry Taunton Townhall.com

Islamic terrorist attacks.

People in Western countries blown-up, burned, shot, stabbed, crushed under the tires of automobiles, and, lately, doused with acid.

It has become routine. Also, routine is the response of many Western politicians who are to Islamic extremism what Hillary is to Bill’s philandering—de facto enablers. Following the Westminster Bridge rampage earlier this year, British Prime Minister Theresa May said it was wrong to describe the attack as “Islamic terrorism.” 

How would she have us describe it? The perpetrator was a convert to Islam, not Mormonism. Would she think it wrong to link, say, kamikaze attacks in World War II with fanatical emperor worship and Imperial Japan? Or is it that they really can’t see what is fueling terrorism throughout the Western world?

Expressing frustration over this phenomenon, NY Congressman Peter King said:

“I wish the Democrats would put aside political correctness, [and] realize there is nothing racist or bigoted about having a border wall … you have these good intentions, we’re an Open Society, people come across the border, well, listen, if you saw the dead bodies in my district as a result of people coming across the border freely, you’d see the consequences of this.”

So why don’t they realize there is nothing wrong with a border wall? Why don’t they acknowledge what Bill Maher rightly calls “the connective tissue” between Islam and terrorism?

Contrary to what many believe, advocates of the open borders policy now being championed by just about every left-of-center politician in the Western world are not blind to Islam’s penchant for violence. They know it very well. It is, rather, that they are gambling everything—or should I say everyone?—on a grand, continental-sized social experiment that is based, in part, on the ideas of Austrian philosopher Karl Popper and his seminal work The Open Society and its Enemies (1945). 

Like all philosophies, Popper’s was born as a reaction to the world in which he lived. Writing during World War II, his native Europe was then rent in two by ideologies claiming to be absolute “scientific” truth: communism on the one hand and fascism on the other. These were, he said, “tribal” or “closed societies.” Popper’s solution was the “open society”—a borderless world free of tribalism, nationalism, and provincialism; a democratic society that shares a universal morality and where truth is tentative at best. 

Philosophers like Popper—and Machiavelli and Malthus and Marx and others before him— however noble their intentions, have left the landscape of history pockmarked and heaped with corpses. But that has never stopped a bad philosophy before. All a philosophy really needs is someone with the resources and the determination to implement it, and, for Popper’s, billionaire George Soros is that guy.

It is no coincidence that Soros, whose money fuels both liberal politicians and policies, should name his non-profit advocacy group The Open Society Foundation. Soros was, after all, one of Popper’s students at the London School of Economics. In a February 2016 interview with the New York Review of Books, Soros explained why he is “a strong supporter of the values and principles of an open society” and how German Chancellor Angela Merkel, through her “open door” immigration policy, demonstrates that she “shares those values.” He goes on to say that the European Union is “the embodiment of the principles of the open society.”

But how is it supposed to work in real terms? How is the West going to absorb millions of people whose religion, as many would practice it, is anathema to Western values? Herein lies the great gamble. The architects of the Open Society believe the West’s seductive powers—politically, materially, and sexually—will eventually win-out over Islam and any other form of tribalism. 

One might have thought, however, that after so many terrorist attacks, that the engineers of the Open Society would want to pause and reconsider their program.

Nope.

Following the November 2015 Paris attacks in which suicide bombers and gunmen killed 130 people and injured 368 others, Judy Dempsey, a senior fellow of Carnegie Europe, a think tank providing policy recommendations to the European Union, published a piece titled, “After the Paris Attacks: The Open Society and Its Enemies.” In it, Ms. Dempsey writes that Europe has reached a defining moment:

“At stake is how to strike a balance between the open society and the defense of citizens. It will require steady nerves from all European governments not to bow to populist, Euroskeptic, and anti-Muslim movements that wish to batten down the hatches.”

In other words, Ms. Dempsey urged European leaders to ignore the howls of their citizens who are skeptical of globalism, alarmed by mass Muslim resettlement within their own countries, and who want their borders secured and regulated by a sensible immigration policy.

There is a subtle contempt for democracy in all of this. Note how globalists use the word “populism.” In their usage, it’s synonymous with tribalism; and tribalism, according to Ms. Dempsey, is the “enemy within.”

Brexit? Trump elected president? That’s populism.

Angela Merkel re-elected? That’s democracy!

What the globalist ideologues like Ms. Dempsey—and Soros and Merkel and Obama and Macron—don’t see, of course, is that they are a tribe unto themselves, albeit an elitist and very dangerous one.

Why dangerous?

Because, at bottom, they believe that ideas—their ideas, anyway—matter more than people. Victims of terrorism? They are merely the price that we—i.e., those of us not protected by walls and armed guards—must pay to build the Open Society Utopia. Yes, the thinking here is that of an old Russian proverb:

“When you cut down a forest, woodchips fly.”

So far, woodchips have flown in New York, San Bernardino, Ft. Hood, Orlando, London, Paris, Berlin, Nice, Stockholm and dozens of other places.

Where next?

Americans - Stand Firm - Oppose Illegal Immigration

Here’s My Dream: Deport the Illegal Alien “Nightmares”

9/25/2017 - Arthur Schaper Townhall.com

Last week, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and uber-liberal Congresswoman Barbara Lee held a press conference with fellow open-border and amnesty advocates. They wanted to discuss their proposed legislative deal to grant legal status to the 800,000 DACA recipients who are losing that status following President Trump’s executive order to phase out the program. Suddenly, a small crowd of irate illegal alien youth crowded the stage, stole the show, and demanded complete amnesty for all illegals in the country: not just for themselves, but for their parents, their siblings, for anyone else who has broken into this country. Pelosi lost her cool, then tried to pick up the pieces afterwards, defending their outrageous conduct but displacing their demands for full-blown immigration “Reform”.

While that press conference has gone viral, one part of the event did not get proper coverage. In addition to the repeated phrases demanding full inclusion of all illegals, one of organizers shouted at Pelosi and the press crowd: “We are not ‘Dreamers’!” They want to be recognized as young and innocent, not at fault for their unlawful presence in the country. They insist that everyone respect their “right” to have a future in the United States, even if they have resided in the country illegally. But do not call them “dreamers”! Why? The label has engendered an ongoing narrative of “good illegals” vs. “bad illegals”, and they want to phase out the moral distinctions entirely, treating all migrants in the country illegally, adverse criminal records notwithstanding, as entitled to full legal status in the United States.

I say we call the illegal alien youths “nightmares” and end this illegal immigration nightmare once and for all. Some of my closest allies in the fight against illegal immigration have called out this false dichotomy before. “There are no good illegal aliens vs. bad ones. Illegal is illegal.” Part of the reason why this immigration debate has fallen into such confused rancor is precisely because of this false division. Let’s not forget, however, who created this mess: The Democratic Party, with Alzheimer’s Nancy at the helm for the greater part of her tenure in Democratic leadership.

Yes, we all know that illegal alien “nightmares” showed their true colors when they took over Alzheimer’s Nancy’s press conference last week in San Francisco.  Notice that I wrote “nightmares” to describe these young illegals. I think we should stop using the term “dreamers” altogether to describe this cohort of DACA recipients. That politicized abuse of the English language represents the unwarranted friction in the whole immigration debate. Calling a criminal a “dreamer” is patently offensive, just like calling illegal aliens in general “undocumented immigrants” is outrageous political correctness and moral fraud. Human beings are not pieces of paper, but moral agents charged with making decisions and accepting the consequences for their actions. “Nightmares” is a perfect label for these arrogant illegals, and they are living up to that moniker.

They have become arrogant and incorrigible. After 8 years of hasty, lawless promises and reassurances from the Democratic Party, the Nightmares refuse to be placated, and they will raise as much hell as they can--as though they are entitled to dismiss all decorum. They are not just spoiled, self-absorbed Millennials, but they are fear-fueled politicized Marxist-leaning college militants who have been indoctrinated to define their own truth and go off their feelings: a very bad combination. 

Beside, we have so many Americans with dreams in this country, young and old. And some American dreamers never got to fulfill their dreams in the first place. At the 2016 RNC Convention, keynote speaker Sabine Durden had dreams of being a grandmother, but her son Dominick was killed by an illegal alien. Angie Morfin dreamed that her son Ruben would grow up and take on the world. He was executed by an illegal alien. Those dreamers mattered, and yet their dreams will never materialize because of the illegal alien nightmare, both their criminal presence and activities in this country. Young dreamer Drew Rosenberg was killed by an illegal alien, and his father Don Rosenberg fights to ensure that American dreamers come first, that their dreams receive full attention.

Fortunately for all of us, these illegals are also sorely mistaken about their chances of success. The vast majority of Americans oppose sanctuary cities and want enforcement of our immigration laws. They sent that message loud and clear on election day.No matter how much lawmakers on both sides of the aisle try to engage in the Potomac Two-Step, talking a tough game but then caving to amnesty, We the People have seen enough.  

Foolishly, they are playing off the same play book that helped Barack Obama get elected in 2008. Political engagement of this kind failed in 2016. All the rallies, protests, screaming and yelling in the public square cannot out-shout the 95 million Americans forced out of work because of regulatory schemes and open border policies. Not being able to pay your bills at the end of the month resonates a lot louder for average voters than the screaming brats who took over Nancy Pelosi’s press conference last week. They have overplayed their hand, and we have had enough. Their protests cannot overcome the grief that American families have suffered watching their loved ones get murdered by illegal aliens.

The more criminal riots and unlawful assemblies they engage in, the more that We the People will stand firm in our conviction that this country is welcoming for those who come legally, and we will not be bullied or guilt-tripped into throwing amnesty to spoiled brats convinced that they have the moral high ground because their college professors told them so. With the American people’s unwavering demand for secure borders, the rancor among left-wing grassroots activists will merely make them look bad, and all but assures that our dreams will come true: the Nightmare kids will be deported, and this nightmare of illegal immigration will finally draw to a close.

Words of Wisdom - Spot On Pat!

Trump -- American Gaullist

9/22/2017 - Pat Buchanan Townhall.com

If a U.S. president calls an adversary "Rocket Man ... on a mission to suicide," and warns his nation may be "totally destroyed," other ideas in his speech will tend to get lost.

Which is unfortunate. For buried in Donald Trump's address is a clarion call to reject transnationalism and to re-embrace a world of sovereign nation-states that cherish their independence and unique identities.

Western man has engaged in this great quarrel since Woodrow Wilson declared America would fight in the Great War, not for any selfish interests, but "to make the world safe for democracy."

Our imperialist allies, Britain, France, Russia, Japan, regarded this as self-righteous claptrap and proceeded to rip apart Germany, Austria, Hungary and the Ottoman Empire and to feast on their colonies.

After World War II, Jean Monnet, father of the EU, wanted Europe's nations to yield up their sovereignty and form a federal union like the USA.

Europe's nations would slowly sink and dissolve in a single polity that would mark a giant leap forward toward world government -- Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "Parliament of man, the Federation of the world."

Charles De Gaulle lead the resistance, calling for "a Europe of nation-states from the Atlantic to the Urals."

For 50 years, the Gaullists were in constant retreat. The Germans especially, given their past, seemed desirous of losing their national identity and disappearing inside the new Europe.

Today, the Gaullist vision is ascendant.

"We do not expect diverse countries to share the same cultures, traditions, or even systems of government," said Trump at the U.N.

"Strong sovereign nations let diverse countries with different values, different cultures, and different dreams not just coexist, but work side by side on the basis of mutual respect. ...

"In America, we do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example for everyone to watch."

Translation: We Americans have created something unique in history. But we do not assert that we should serve as a model for mankind. Among the 190 nations, others have evolved in different ways from diverse cultures, histories, traditions. We may reject their values but we have no God-given right to impose ours upon them.

It is difficult to reconcile Trump's belief in self-determination with a National Endowment for Democracy whose reason for being is to interfere in the politics of other nations to make them more like us. Trump's idea of patriotism has deep roots in America's past.

After the uprisings of 1848 against the royal houses of Europe failed, Lajos Kossuth came to seek support for the cause of Hungarian democracy. He was wildly welcomed and hailed by Secretary of State Daniel Webster.

But Henry Clay, more true to the principles of Washington's Farewell Address, admonished Kossuth:

"Far better is it for ourselves, for Hungary, and for the cause of liberty that, adhering to our wise, pacific system, and avoiding the distant wars of Europe, we should keep our lamp burning brightly on the western shore as a light to all nations, than to hazard its utter extinction amid the ruins of fallen or falling republics in Europe."

Trump's U.N. address echoed Clay: "In foreign affairs, we are renewing this founding principle of sovereignty. Our government's first duty is to its people ... to serve their needs, to ensure their safety, to preserve their rights, and to defend their values."

Trump is saying with John Quincy Adams that our mission is not to go "abroad in search of monsters to destroy," but to "put America first." He is repudiating the New World Order of Bush I, the democracy crusades of the neocons of the Bush II era, and the globaloney of Obama.

Trump's rhetoric implies intent; and action is evident from Rex Tillerson's directive to his department to rewrite its mission statement -- and drop the bit about making the world democratic.

The current statement reads: "The Department's mission is to shape and sustain a peaceful, prosperous, just, and democratic world."

Tillerson should stand his ground. For America has no divinely mandated mission to democratize mankind. And the hubristic idea that we do has been a cause of all the wars and disasters that have lately befallen the republic.

If we do not cure ourselves of this interventionist addiction, it will end our republic. When did we dethrone our God and divinize democracy? And are 21st-century American values really universal values?

Should all nations embrace same-sex marriage, abortion on demand, and the separation of church and state if that means, as it has come to mean here, the paganization of public education and the public square?

If freedom of speech and the press here have produced a popular culture that is an open sewer and a politics of vilification and venom, why would we seek to impose this upon other peoples?

For the State Department to declare America's mission to be to make all nations look more like us might well be regarded as a uniquely American form of moral imperialism.

Read 8 USC Sections 1324, 1325 and 1644

Sittin' Pretty in Sanctuary City

9/16/2017 - Timothy Meads Townhall.com

Lefties continue to defy the Federal government as Democrat politicians pass into law asinine policies that place American citizens at risk. 

Democrats cheered Friday when a Federal judge placed an injunction on the Department of Justice, blocking Attorney General Jeff Sessions from withholding federal dollars from Sanctuary Cities such as Chicago. While in California the state legislature moved one step closer to deeming the entire state a “Sanctuary State”, requiring police forces to limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. 

Earlier this year, AG Sessions threatened to with hold federal dollars from Sanctuary Cities that refused to enforce simple laws such as reporting the immigration status of suspects in custody to immigrations agents. The city of Chicago sued the Justice Department, claiming that the order from Sessions violated an individual’s Fourth Amendment right to not be held in custody without being charged with a crime. Chicago also argued that this provision infringed upon separation of powers principles, in other words the city argued in favor of States’ rights. 

Chicago refuses to report illegal aliens because not doing so “promotes cooperation between local law enforcement and immigrant communities.”

Indeed, many in the legislature of California want this policy for the entire state. On Friday, California’s state Assembly passed a bill deeming the state “Sanctuary State.” This bill drastically decreases required police cooperation with federal immigration authorities. 

Yet, not even a month ago in San Francisco, another California citizen died at the hands of an illegal immigrant who federal authorities were tracking for deportation. 18 year old Erick Garcia-Pineda was detained by authorities in December of 2016, but released on a judge’s order.  As part of the judge’s order, Garcia-Pineda was required in April to wear an ankle tracking bracelet while authorities reviewed his case. He also was required to check in with immigration officials.

But on August 19^th, an ICE contractor received an ankle bracelet tampering notification from Garcia-Pineda's device. Authorities could not find the illegal alien, but local sheriffs arrested the man on September 3rd on misdemeanor battery charges that occurred that day. Deputy officials refused to listen to ICE’s request and released him from jail that day.

Several days later, the illegal immigrant was arrested in the connection of an August 15^th killing. Authorities say that he killed 23 year old Abel Esquivel during a robbery, with a stolen police weapon.

The unfortunate death of Kate Steinle at the hands of an illegal immigrant in San Francisco several years ago sparked Congress into action. This past July, they passed Kate's law which mandates a minimum five-year prison sentence for anyone who reenters the country illegally at least twice after being deported. 

Still, Federal judges continue to overrule the Constitution while State legislatures place illegal immigrants before American citizens. The Department of Justice has not indicated any motion to appeal the injunction and California representatives seem oblivious to the havoc in their communities caused by illegal aliens. 

Immigration Football Game In Last Quarter - Score Is Tied!

No Amnesty Is a Good Amnesty

9/13/2017 - Ann Coulter Townhall.com

Donald Trump is being told that amnesty for "Dreamers," or DACA recipients, will only apply to a small, narrowly defined group of totally innocent, eminently deserving illegal immigrants, who were brought to this country "through no fault of their own" as "children." (Children who are up to 36 years old.)

Every syllable of that claim is a lie, and I can prove it.

To see how DACA will actually work, let's look at another extremely limited amnesty that was passed in 1986.

Farmers wanted temporary guest-worker permits for their cheap labor, so that they could continue pretending that the Industrial Revolution never happened and refuse to mechanize. (And, boy, did that work! We haven't heard a peep about "crops rotting in the fields" since then.)

The agricultural amnesty was supposed to apply to -- at most -- 350,000 illegal aliens. It would be available only to illegals who were currently in the country doing the back-breaking farm work that no American would do. Without them, crops would wither on the vine. They were saving us from starvation!

Talk about deserving. Are any Dreamers saving us from starvation?

But instead of guest-worker permits, then-Rep. Charles Schumer -- from the lush farmland of Brooklyn -- decided to grant full amnesty to any illegals who had done farm work for at least 90 days in the previous year.

That's pretty restrictive, isn't it?

In the end, "up to 350,000 farm workers" turned into 1.3 million.

Oh well, what are you going to do? No use worrying -- let's just move forward and get all these people voter registration cards!

This innocent little amnesty for a small, clearly defined group of illegals quickly became amnesty for anyone who applied. The same thing will happen with any other amnesty, no matter how strictly the law is written. (And it won't be written strictly.)

In the first few years of the agricultural amnesty, internal Immigration and Naturalization Service statistics showed that 888,637 legalization applications were fraudulent. According to immigration agents, "farm workers" stated in their interviews that cotton was purple or that they had pulled cherries from the ground.

Of the 888,637 fraudulent applications, guess how many our government approved. Answer: More than 800,000.

The agricultural amnesty was so carefully administered that not one, but TWO of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers were in this country because of it. (More on that in another column.)

The main problem with the farm worker amnesty, the DACA amnesty or any amnesty is that everyone involved in the entire immigration apparatus is feverishly working, on the taxpayer's dime, to transform this country into a Third World hellhole. Lawyers for La Raza and lawyers for the government both believe it is their mission to humiliate and destroy white Christian America. (Actually, this country is "biracial Christian America," plus a few Amerindians and anyone else who assimilated to Western European culture.)

There are multitudes of them, and they will never, ever stop.

Congress could pass a law granting amnesty to any 7-foot-tall, left-handed, red-headed illegal aliens from Lichtenstein -- and hundreds of left-wing outfits would instantly set to work, demanding amnesty for witch doctors, cannibals, pederasts, terrorists and the rest of the multicultural universe that makes America so vibrant.

On the other side of the application process would be government immigration bureaucrats who either used to work at La Raza, or hope to in the future.

On the off chance that some particularly risible amnesty application is denied by a stodgy rules-follower in our immigration bureaucracy, that denial will be litigated before a federal judge in Hawaii, then appealed to the Ninth Circuit.

For two decades after the 1986 amnesty, the federal courts were tied up with dozens of class-action lawsuits brought on behalf of illegal aliens -- regular illegal aliens, farm worker illegal aliens and still-in-Mexico illegal aliens -- challenging every aspect of the law.

Is that how American tax dollars should be spent? On endless litigation, brought by America-hating activists on behalf of people who have no right to be in our country and decided by Democrat-appointed judges? (Who are also America-hating activists.)

And when their work is done, there will be a lot more Democrat-appointed judges because there will be a lot more Democrats.

Lawyers sued over everything -- the absence of Creole interpreters, the requirement that illegals have proof of prior farm work and the rare denials of amnesty. Congress desperately tried passing laws that would prevent courts from hearing these cases -- all to no avail. Left-wing lawyers just had to pick the right judge, and they won.

In 2005 -- nearly 20 years after the 1986 amnesty -- the Ninth Circuit was still granting amnesty to hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens who claimed they had been unfairly denied because they were not in the country for the first amnesty. Seriously.

No matter how the law is written, as long as anyone is eligible for amnesty, everybody's getting amnesty.

President Trump is the last president who will ever have a chance to make the right decision on immigration. After this, it's over. The boat will have sailed.

If he succeeds, all the p@ssy-grabbing and Russia nonsense will burn off like a morning fog. He will be the president who saved the American nation, its character, its sovereignty, its core identity. But if he fails, Donald Trump will go down in history as the man who killed America.

Word of Urgent Caution to Everyone

The Blackout Next Time

9/12/2017 - Frank Gaffney Townhall.com

During and after Hurricane Harvey, a chemical plant suffered repeated explosions. Because the power went out. Beaumont, Texas was without drinking water. Because the power went out. Gasoline prices across the nation have spiked, thanks to oil refineries going off line. Because the power went out.

Now, we are being told that Hurricane Irma has knocked out the power for Puerto Rico for between four and six months, with repercussions that may prove not just burdensome but life-threatening for large numbers of the island’s residents. Far less powerful hurricanes have taken down the electric grid in parts of Florida and it is anybody’s guess how long and how widespread that problem will be after what’s being called a “nuclear storm” assaults most, if not all, the peninsula, and perhaps beyond.

If all these naturally precipitated nightmares were not enough, North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong Un, has explicitly threatened to destroy the rest of the U.S. electricity infrastructure with an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack. Should that happen, blacking out large parts of the continental United States for a protracted period of a year or more duration, the chairman of a blue-ribbon congressional committee has estimated that 9 out of 10 Americans will die.

Because the power went out – and stayed out.

Are you seeing a pattern here? 

The conclusion made plain by such developments from the recent past and immediate future is that the most critical of all critical infrastructures – the nation’s bulk power distribution system, better known as the grid – is not resilient. Indeed, it is dangerously vulnerable to both naturally occurring disasters and deliberate enemy action.

If this insight is news to you, it is not to our government. In fact, a compilation of the executive summaries of 11 different studies performed by or for the Feds shows that, whether the grid is subjected to devastating physical sabotage, cyberattacks, man-induced EMP or intense solar storms, the effect could be the same: the end of this country as we know it.

That’s the very, very bad news. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way.

For over 50 years, the U.S. military has been protecting high value assets against such threats to our strategic forces and the communications systems that command and control them. We know how to do it and understand that it can be accomplished reasonably quickly and cost-effectively using such techniques as surge arresters, shunts and Faraday cages.

Unfortunately, to date very little has been done measurably to enhance the grid’s resiliency. There’s plenty of blame to go around. And none of the reasons why we remain needlessly vulnerable stand up to scrutiny – not the irresponsible indifference of the utilities who own 85 percent of the grid; not the Pentagon’s refusal to view this as the national security peril it is; not the fecklessness of federal regulators, executive branch officials and lawmakers – can be allowed to continue to render us catastrophically vulnerable to the power going out catastrophically.

Consequently, several steps are in order – immediately:

First, that blue-ribbon panel, the Congressional Electromagnetic Pulse Threat Commission, needs to have its mandate extended well beyond its planned termination date at the end of this month. Otherwise, all other things being equal, the nation’s most eminent, authoritative and valuable resource on grid vulnerability will be lost when it is arguably needed most. A perfect opportunity to re-up the EMP Commission will occur this week when the Senate considers the National Defense Authorization Act.

Second, the Commission’s previous recommendations for enhancing grid resiliency – dating back to 2004 – should be adopted and aggressively implemented by President Trump and/or the Congress. There is simply no time to waste.

Finally, the commitment expressed by Mr. Trump and legislators on both sides of the aisle to upgrade America’s infrastructure must begin with a commitment to design, build and operate a new grid featuring modern electrical power plants, transformers, control systems, etc., that are “hardened” against the various military and natural perils we confront today and will face tomorrow.

We are all on notice: A failure to act now leaves us in unacceptable, even mortal peril when, not if, the power goes out. 

Speaker Ryan is Playing Left Field

The House Will Not Pass a DREAM Act Without New Immigration Enforcement Measures

9/8/2017 - Guy Benson Townhall.com

In an interview with me last evening on Fox News Radio, House Speaker Paul Ryan addressed several pressing issues facing Congressional Republicans.  First, he made the economic case for tax reform, asserting that despite a logjam of legislative items piling up this fall, he remains confident that GOP leaders have "daylight" on the calendar to get tax reform accomplished before Christmas recess.  Next, he correctly predicted that the House would approve the Senate-passed Harvey relief package today; the bill contained short debt ceiling and continuing resolution extensions, thanks to President Trump's agreement with Democratic leaders' request.  Trump's "early Christmas gift" to Schumer and Pelosi passed easily, overcoming some (totally justifiable) conservative opposition.  Ryan then poured ice water on reports of another potential Trump/Schumer collaboration, this time on eliminating the debt ceiling altogether:

GB:  There are reports today that the president is in talks with Chuck Schumer to eliminate the debt ceiling altogether. Is that something that you categorically oppose?

PR:  Yes, that's not something that we're interested in doing.  And the reason is, look, I'm a constitutionalist.  I very much passionately believe in Article One of "The Constitution," the legislative branch writes these laws.  The legislative branch has the power of the purse. And as ugly and uncomfortable as the debt limit is -- can become, I've found it to be a useful tool as a check on fiscal policy to help us get smaller government, to help us get some good fiscal conservative policy done. So it's something that we have found is a good speed bump in the road to big government that we want to use to actually, you know, get good policy done, so that we can actually...

GB:  Could we...

PR:  -- get a handle on our debt and our deficits. So it's a thing that Congress has used from time and time again to do that and it's just one of those responsibilities that really squarely lands in the lap of congratulate, its Article One powers in "The Constitution," which is also the power of the purse.

GB:  Do you really think, though, that it's a strong leverage point? I guess you could point to 2011 and The Budget Control Act.

PR:  You know, it depends.  Sometimes it is and sometimes it's not.  The point, I would simply say, is it is a power of the purse power that belongs to the legislature.

On the DACA controversy, Ryan seemed eager to pursue the president's request to address the DREAMer challenge permanently through legislation. Chuck Schumer demanded a "clean" bill, with no extra elements attached, earlier in the week. Would House Republicans agree to a measure that did not include an added border security component? Ryan's response was emphatic and clear: 

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GB: What we've heard from the Democrats, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, is that they want a clean bill... 

PR: No. 

GB: -- just the Dream Act, nothing attached. Jon Cornyn, your Republican colleague over on the Senate side, said no, no, there has to be immigration enforcement and some sort of compromise...

PR: That's exactly right. 

GB: That's your position?

PR: That's exactly my position. Look, here's the point I keep making on this, is this DACA dilemma that we are experiencing here, why do we have it? It is a symptom of a bigger problem. And the bigger problem is we do not have control of our borders. And because we do not have control of our borders, we have this problem. So it's just reasonable and natural that we should address the root cause of this problem, lack of control of our borders, and get border security, interior enforcement, the things that you need to do to secure your borders so that you don't have a DACA problem 10 years from now. So we want to address the cause and the effect, the symptom and the root cause of the problem. And that is only reasonable. And that is what our point is. And so there is a compromise to be had here, and that's what this compromise looks like, in my mind.

GB: And so there will not be a stand-alone Dream Act coming out of the House?

PR: That's right...We cannot -- because we -- because we won't fix the problem. If we just rubber-stamp a standalone Dream Act, then we're going to have another Dream Act that we're going to need in 10 years from now.

It seems as though there's been a bit of softening in the last few days, with some Democrats indicating that they'd be willing to bundle enforcement (but not Trump's wall) with a DREAM Act -- and Nancy Pelosi claims Trump told her he'd sign it. They've been rather chummy lately, so perhaps she's in an unique position to know. We wrapped up by discussing whether Ryan fears that GOP leadership on the Hill has been marginalized by the Trump's wheeling and dealing with Democrats (with Trump basking in the glow of positive media coverage), and how the Speaker characterizes his relationship with the president. Here is the entirety of the segment: Click title link to view video.

Dreamers - Insatiable Appetite For Collective Entitlements

There Is No Such Thing As a 'Deserving DREAMer'

9/6/2017 - Michelle Malkin Townhall.com

Over and over again, from the mouths of politicians in both parties, identity politics purveyors and cheap labor lobbyists, we hear the same refrains about President Obama's 800,000 amnestied illegal alien youths:

"They don't deserve to be punished."

"They deserve protection."

"They deserve the American dream."

Deserve, deserve, deserve.

Over and over again, in countless cookie-cutter op-ed pieces published over the past month, so-called DREAMers have vociferously lamented President Donald Trump's push to eventually undo their unconstitutional five-year reprieves from deportation plus coveted work permits:

"DREAMers like me have flourished under DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). Trump might take it all away."

"If Trump ends DACA, DREAMers like me will return to a life of anxiety and doubt."

"I feel exhausted, I feel frustrated, I feel angry, and in the worst moments, I feel helpless. I feel terrified that at any moment this program is going to be taken away and once again I won't be able to work -- how will I pay my bills? ... What is going to happen to me if I get stopped on the street and I no longer have DACA? What's going to happen to me if I get put into deportation proceedings and I don't have thousands of dollars to hire an attorney to stay in this country?"

"I will lose my job, my ability to finish college, my driver's license, and will be subject to deportation. I am not alone either. Almost one million young immigrants like myself will be affected in the same way and possibly even worse."

I, I, I. Me, me, me. My bills. My ego. My education. My job. My anxiety.

Since when did DACA become the Depression and Anxiety Cure for Amnesty-seekers?

It's this insatiable appetite for collective entitlement that demonstrates the perils of blanket amnesty. Give a privileged political class an inch and they'll take, take, take until feckless public servants give away their country.

The proper response to illegal alien activists demanding that Washington act "NOW!" to preserve their comfort, allay their anxieties and extend their unconstitutional protections indefinitely is this:

Why?

Americans in uniform who've dedicated their lives to defending our nation are struggling to gain access to quality health care they've earned by action, not by accident or circumstance. Imagine their stress.

Five million American young people between 16-34 were unemployed last year and 50 million more are not even in the labor force. Imagine their anxiety.

Hundreds of thousands of law-abiding people from around the world are waiting patiently for their backlogged visa and green card applications to be reviewed. Imagine their frustration.

Why don't their dreams come first?

Nancy Pelosi called on House Republicans to help her "safeguard our young DREAMers from the senseless cruelty of deportation and shield families from separation and heartbreak."

Never has this Bay Area elitist called on House Republicans to join her in shielding native-born and law-abiding immigrant families from the senseless and preventable violence committed by criminals in this country illegally who've caused immeasurable heartbreak for decades in her overrun California sanctuary.

Jamiel Shaw Sr., whose son was mercilessly shot to death by a sanctuary-protected gang member living in outlaw-coddling Los Angeles illegally, administered a bracing reality check:

"You want to talk about families being separated? Try spending your holidays talking to a grave!"

The left-wing DREAM racket is a self-perpetuating political marketing machine. Its primary contribution to American society? Lashing out at how cruel, racist, ignorant and ungrateful the rest of us are for not bowing down before the hallowed angel children of the Obama administration's amnesty program. It's no coincidence that the publicity-hungry leaders of the DREAMer movement are full-time fulminators in government-funded academia, community organizing outfits, immigration law foundations and the grievance-nursing media.

A deserving DREAMer would respect the sovereign right of an independent nation to determine who stays and who goes based on its national interest and constitutional obligations to put its citizenry first.

The deserving DREAMer, in other words, would admit he or she is owed nothing and deserves nothing.

There is no such thing as a "deserving DREAMer."

DACA is Obama Lawlessness in Action

Reports Say DACA Is Over, But There's A Six-Month Enforcement Delay

9/3/2017 - Matt Vespa Townhall.com

Well, it’s been discussed. It’s been debated. And now the Trump White House supposedly has a final decision: The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that originated under the Obama administration is over. There will be a six-month enforcement delay, however. Eliana Johnson of Politico has more [Emphasis mine]:

President Donald Trump has decided to end the Obama-era program that grants work permits to undocumented immigrants who arrived in the country as children, according to two sources familiar with his thinking. Senior White House aides huddled Sunday afternoon to discuss the rollout of a decision likely to ignite a political firestorm — and fulfill one of the president’s core campaign promises.

Trump has wrestled for months with whether to do away with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as DACA. He has faced strong warnings from members of his own party not to scrap the program and struggled with his own misgivings about targeting minors for deportation.

Conversations with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who argued that Congress — rather than the executive branch — is responsible for writing immigration law, helped persuade the president to terminate the program, the two sources said, though White House aides caution that — as with everything in the Trump White House — nothing is set in stone until an official announcement has been made.

In a nod to reservations held by many lawmakers, the White House plans to delay the enforcement of the president’s decision for six months, giving Congress a window to act, according to one White House official. But a senior White House aide said that chief of staff John Kelly, who has been running the West Wing policy process on the issue, “thinks Congress should’ve gotten its act together a lot longer ago.”

Katie reported on Friday that a decision was imminent, though the White House said an official announcement is slated for Tuesday. Under DACA, there are around 800,000 illegal aliens benefitting from the program and they’ve been preparing “for the worst” (via USA Today):

We're taking it day by day, because one day it's one thing and another day it's another, but we must be prepared for the worst," said Luz Gallegos, community programs director at TODEC Legal Center. "We're making sure the community has all their family plans in place, making sure kids are aware, you know, if something were to happen to parents, what next steps to take."

[…]

Gary Finn, an Indio immigration attorney, said the effects of a DACA repeal would not be immediate. Some people would lose their jobs when their work permits expired, if not sooner. Immigration and Customs Enforcement could begin removal proceedings for DACA recipients, but that process takes years

"People may go into a panic, I'm kind of afraid of that, but it's not like ICE will be knocking on the doors the next day," Finn said.

Last week, Axios’ Jonathan Swan reported that one of the reasons why DACA was n the chopping block was that the Trump administration’s lawyers felt that they could not defend its legality. Moreover, Swan added that even the Department of Homeland Security noted that if Congress wanted to keep DACA as it is today, it would require an act of Congress. The constitutionality of this Obama-era executive action has been in legal limbo for years. In short, the program allows illegal aliens who entered the U.S. as minors to be shielded from deportation, with the possibility of a work permit, if they meet certain criteria. The application fee is $495. Donald Trump ran on a hardline immigration enforcement platform. It’s looking like this will be another promise kept by Trump.

DACA - An Acronym For Illegal Immigration

Hey Hey, Ho Ho—DACA Has Got to Go

9/2/2017 - Arthur Schaper Townhall.com

I have argued the illegal immigration discussion on many levels. I have outlined the attacks on our country’s sovereignty. I am sure that millions of you have read on this news site as well as other media organs how the DACA program is unconstitutional, and an extreme executive overreach. Hopefully, you read something that I wrote on this divisive issue three months ago: “I’m a DREAMER TOO!”

I am a dreamer. Yes, and I have a dream that the elected officials commissioned to enforce our immigration laws will stop being baited by the sob stories of young illegal aliens who were brought to this country by their law-breaking parents. Besides, there are many American dreamers whose dreams have been cut short by illegals, like Dominic Durden, Jamiel Shaw Jr., Ruben Morfin, Drew Rosenberg, among many others.

During the presidential campaign, Trump made it crystal clear that he cared about American dreamers—their dreams come first—I would add foremost and finally, not the rights of illegal aliens. “But what about the young illegal aliens?” I have had this discussion back and forth with close friends as well as younger people on colleges, policy makers, and those who enforce our immigration laws. We are a nation of laws, and sovereignty and security go hand in hand. No more guilt-tripping, please. Nope. The only thing lacking is the political will to enforce our laws, which then presidential candidate Ted Cruz had announced during one of the final contentious debates before the make-or-break primaries ensued earlier in the year.

Political will is needed. Why is this so hard? The Democratic Party has played the race card, the identity politics game, but they are now losing. They exploited this illegal issue, tugging at the heart-strings of the average voter. All Americans who are still heartbroken about the difficult plight of “The DREAMers” need to come to California. Then again, even the native-born Californians don’t want to live here. They could go to Texas, and see what these illegal alien youth are doing in that legislature, too. 

The violent arrogance of this sticking, needling DACA cohort is astounding. Thy have burst into state legislative sessions demanding amnesty. One lawmaker had the guts to call ICE and scare them off! On college campuses across the country, too (not just in blue states) young illegals are taking advantage of legal loopholes and diffident state legislatures who think that they can thumb their noses to our federal laws. In a Cudahy, CA city council meeting, the fierce hatred from these illegal youth should condemn DACA outright. Young illegals wearing bandanas, holding Communist signs, agitating in public, violating our public meeting laws—these young illegals here and elsewhere are not innocents. They are now joining the Antifa hordes—the same hordes shutting down freedom of speech and attacking innocent citizens

Yet lawmakers still fall for the “poor illegal” lie, especiallly Republicans. Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner is pandering for Hispanic support in his tough re-election fight. Despite his epic backbone in one budget battles, he signed off on a sanctuary state bill. What is this man thinking? Does he not understand that slip-siding upside-down, amoral compromising is why this country faces this convoluted immigration mess? Chicago, Illinois is the only illegal-alien magnet municipality in the state, and it’s going bankrupt. If Chicago goes down, Illinois goes red. Pretty simple concept. But no, like many squishy Republicans more concerned about looking bad than doing good, Rauner went with the “poor illegal” narrative.

Enough! It’s time for us to stop being nice. It’s time for men and women in Washington and throughout the states to stop governing from their hearts and start leading with their minds. In fact, most politicians want to cave and roll out the red carpet to the “poor illegal aliens” who were brought here against their will.

Reports have circulated before and after today that Trump was cutting the program. Now there’s a delay. Who are the culprits making all the noise?

1. Speaker Paul “Big Business” Ryan. This guy just gave more grassroots Republicans and House candidates a reason to distance themselves from himself. Fire this guy right now.

2. Silicon Valley—these are abject liberals and their Millennial cohorts who think that they can devise an app for just about everything. There is no social media device that will excuse lawlessness. Pay American techies more money, you tightwads!

3. “Conservative” US Senators like Thom Tillis of North Carolina. He has been pushing legal status programs for illegals for the past three years. Geez, when will GOP politicos get a clue? We don’t want amnesty!

Enough! This is what needs to happen, President Trump:

1. Revoke DACA now.

2. Issue a time-limit for all former DACA recipients: 6 months to return to one’s country of origin. No one should cry about this. The program was called “Deferred Action,” was it not?

3. Ensure adequate staffing in American consulates around the world. Then those illegal aliens can get in line and enter the country the right away, with the advantage of speaking English, with American education and upbringing.

4. Ensure that every immigrant (meaning lawfully present resident) has been taken care of who is still waiting for their full naturalization status.

That’s it.

Yet Trump is thinking about making a deal with Congress? Why? He already has bad Republicans on the run, including Jeff “Open Borders” Flake. Conservatives are poised to pick up the Alabama US Senate Seat (go Judge Moore!) Ohio and Montana are flappable US Senate seats in 2018, along with the 2012 and 2016 red states won by Romney and Trump.

No more deals. The American people have seen their best interests danced away with the Potomac Two-Party Bipartisan shuffle. Stop this immigration lunacy for good. Build the wall, deport them all, watch American wages rise, and crime rates fall. By 2020, the American electorate will be so thrilled with Trump’s MAGA agenda that illegal immigration will have become a minor political footnote.

DACA is Obama's Unconstitutional Action

A Decision on DACA is Imminent

9/1/2017 - Katie Pavlich Townhall.com

Speaking from the White House Friday afternoon President Trump confirmed his decision about DACA, amnesty provided by President Obama in 2012 for children illegally brought into the U.S. by their parents, is imminent. 

Trump said a decision will be made today or over the weekend about whether to keep or scrap the program as a lawsuit from several Republican states against DACA looms. 

“We’ll issue it sometime over the weekend. Sometime today or over the weekend, we’ll have a decision. We’ll issue it sometime over the weekend, maybe this afternoon," the President told White House pool reporters. "Will be releasing on DACA sometime over the weekend, probably Sunday,  Saturday, latest will be Monday."

When asked if DREAMERs (DACA recipients) should be worried, Trump responded by saying, "We love the DREAMERs. We love everybody. We think the DREAMERs are terrific."

Fox News reported Thursday the President will end the program, but White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders pushed back, saying DACA was still under legal review by the administration and that a final decision had not been made. 

The President has until September 5 to prevent a lawsuit from 12 states, led by Texas, from being filed to get rid of DACA. If Trump chooses to uphold the program, the states will move forward. From The Daily Signal: 

Ten state attorneys general, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, wrote U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions calling for the Trump administration to end a program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.

According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, 1.4 million DACA requests were accepted. The state attorneys general have filed a lawsuit, but are willing to drop it if the Trump administration acts.

“There is no way around it: DACA is an unlawful program that must be phased out,” Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, who signed the letter, told The Daily Signal in a prepared statement.

“I am not asking the government to remove any person currently covered by DACA or for the administration to rescind DACA permits that have already been issued—this is about upholding the rule of law,” Rutledge said. “Even former President Obama acknowledged many times that he did not have authority to unilaterally grant this type of legal status to over 1 million aliens.”

Meanwhile, House Speaker Paul Ryan is urging President Trump to keep the program and allow Congress to offer changes.