“Americans are suffering from a bad case of loneliness. The number of people in the United States living alone has gone through the studio-apartment roof. A study released by the insurance company Cigna last spring made headlines with its announcement: “Only around half of Americans say they have meaningful, daily face-to-face social interactions.” Loneliness, public-health experts tell us, is killing as many people as obesity and smoking. It’s not much comfort that Americans are not, well, alone in this. Germans are lonely, the bon vivant French are lonely, and even the Scandinavians—the happiest people in the world, according to the UN’s World Happiness Report—are lonely, too. British prime minister Theresa May recently appointed a “Minister of Loneliness.”
The hard evidence for a loneliness epidemic admittedly has some issues. How is loneliness different from depression? How much do living alone and loneliness overlap? Do social scientists know how to compare today’s misery with that in, say, the mid-twentieth century, a period that produced prominent books like The Lonely Crowd? Certainly, some voguish explanations for the crisis should raise skepticism: among the recent suspects are favorite villains like social media, technology, discrimination, genetic bad luck, and neoliberalism.
Still, the loneliness thesis taps into a widespread intuition of something true and real and grave. Foundering social trust, collapsing heartland communities, an opioid epidemic, and rising numbers of “deaths of despair” suggest a profound, collective discontent. It’s worth mapping out one major cause that is simultaneously so obvious and so uncomfortable that loneliness observers tend to mention it only in passing. I’m talking, of course, about family breakdown. At this point, the consequences of family volatility are an evergreen topic when it comes to children; this remains the subject of countless papers and conferences. Now, we should take account of how deeply the changes in family life of the past 50-odd years are intertwined with the flagging well-being of so many adults and communities.”
“So many young people are self-harming that it risks becoming normalised and increasing the number who kill themselves when they are older, a study reveals.
One in five girls and young women in England aged 16 to 24 have cut, burned or poisoned themselves, according to research that mental health experts said was “very worrying”.
The findings, published in the Lancet Psychiatry journal, show that self-harm has risen across both sexes and all age groups since 2000. In the population as a whole it almost trebled from 2.4% then to 6.4% in 2014.
The number of people overall cutting themselves jumped from 1.5% to 3.9% over those 14 years.
Growing numbers of people are harming themselves as a way of coping with feelings of anger, tension, anxiety or depression. However, a lack of NHS services and people’s unwillingness to seek help means that more than half of those who self-harm do not receive any medical or psychological care.”
“Trump administration bans government scientists from using aborted fetal tissue in research”
“The Trump administration will block government scientists from acquiring new fetal tissue from abortions to use in medical research, a major victory for abortion opponents.
“Promoting the dignity of human life from conception to natural death is one of the very top priorities of President Trump’s administration,” the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement Wednesday that announced the change.
The decision comes after months of speculation, as well as backlash from anti-abortion groups that demanded President Trump fire the head of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, for saying that research using fetal tissue could provide useful study for treatments of devastating illnesses.
The ban applies to scientists at NIH, the government’s medical research agency, and would not apply to fetal tissue obtained from miscarriages, but only to fetal tissue that was donated after elected abortions. HHS, which is the NIH’s parent agency, in September had already asked most government scientists to temporarily halt the acquisition of new fetal tissue while it reviewed the issue.
The new ban does not apply to outside groups that receive NIH grants to conduct their research, though HHS did announce it would not be renewing a multi-million dollar contract with the University of California, San Francisco, that used fetal tissue in HIV research.
The contract has been renewed every 90 days since the end of September as federal officials have reviewed it, but it won’t be extended past Wednesday, when it was set to expire.”
Now he’s turning into Uncle Serial Plagiarist Creepy Joe.
Joe Biden: Serial plagiarist.
Less than 24 hours after it was exposed that Biden plagiarized his climate plan, The Washington Post caught him plagiarizing his education plan too.https://t.co/PLQOg3aXze
“I’ll give him this. Joe Biden is certainly consistent.
Yesterday, Biden was caught plagiarizing major parts of his “climate” plan, which appeared on his website. He apparently lifted the language from left-wing non-profits with no citation.”
WATCH: 97-year-old US paratrooper veteran Tom Rice, who served with the Army's 101st Airborne Division, recreates his D-Day jump in Normandy 75 years later. pic.twitter.com/qAth429XCA
“‘Why is this not a bigger story?’ Guy in mask tries to chain UW College Republicans in room after Antifa issues call ‘to deplatform’ [video]”
‘Antifa’ member caught trying to imprison Republican students in a UW classroom in Seattle, chaining the door shut during a College Republicans meeting.
“The wife of House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings used her charity to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars into her private LLC, according to new documents obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.
Maya Rockeymoore Cummings’s charity receives funding from organizations with interests before her husband’s congressional committee.
Multiple charity watchdogs said the previously undisclosed financial arrangement between Rockeymoore Cummings’s charity and for-profit company raises red flags.
House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings’s wife has funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars from her charity to her private for-profit organization, according to a previously undisclosed cost-sharing arrangement that multiple experts said raises red flags.
——–
Maya Rockeymoore Cummings’s charity, the Center for Global Policy Solutions (CGPS), paid her for-profit venture, Global Policy Solutions LLC, over $250,000 in “management fees” between 2013 and 2015, according to the charity’s audited financial statements covering those years. The management fees were paid in addition to a cost-sharing agreement where the charity pays for its share of equipment, personnel and other expenditures.
Rockeymoore Cummings’s charity is funded by companies with interests before her husband’s congressional committee, according to the Washington Examiner.
“It’s self-dealing. It’s taking the charity’s resources and turning them into personal profits,” National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) investigator Tom Anderson told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “IRS law doesn’t allow a charity for this purpose. This isn’t for the public interest, this is for her personal interest. You can’t do that.”
Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, listed his wife’s LLC on his most recent financial disclosure reports as an asset worth between $250,001 and $500,000.
The NLPC filed an IRS complaint against Rockeymoore Cummings’s charity and LLC in May, alleging that companies with interests before the House Oversight Committee are potentially buying favorable treatment from the congressman through their donations to the charity.
“The problem is there are millions of dollars coming into these entities from corporations and special interests with business before Elijah Cummings, and any time you have that, every rule has to be followed or else it opens the door for massive corruption,” Anderson previously told TheDCNF.
Multiple nonprofit experts are questioning why Rockeymoore Cummings’s private company charges a 5% management fee to her charity on top of a cost-sharing agreement.
Charity Watch President Daniel Borochoff said the funds flowing from Rockeymoore Cummings’s charity from the 5% management fee is problematic given her husband’s regulatory authority over the business interests funding her charity.”
“More than 55,000 children caught at border in May”
“The government set another grim record in May with more than 55,000 children nabbed by Border Patrol agents along the southwest border.
They were part of more than 130,000 unauthorized migrants Border Patrol agents and officers at the ports of entry encountered last month, up from about 109,000 in April and far higher than the 51,000 or so nabbed in May 2018.
But even record overall numbers shield the true expanse of the crisis, officials said.
As much as 60 percent of agents’ time is now spent babysitting illegal immigrants rather than patrolling the border, and they’re setting records for making rescues of migrants in distress. Meanwhile border detention facilities are packed, with more than 19,000 people in space that is already in crisis when it reaches 6,000.
Personnel have been pulled off the lines at the border crossings and used to help care for the record numbers of children and families, but it’s meant people crossing are having to wait longer. The delays during peak times are 40 minutes longer for regular traffic, and 25 minutes longer in the commercial traffic lanes, said Randy Howell, executive director of port operations at Customs and Border Protection.”
“Dana Kawaoka-Chen, executive director of a new group called Justice Funders, issued a rallying cry in a recent talk with the Chronicle of Philanthropy. She said, “There needs to be a shift from wealth and power being accumulated within institutions toward a new vision where philanthropy is about redistributing wealth, democratizing power, and shifting economic control to the community.”
Her colleague, Marie Nakae, put it more succinctly, saying it’s time for foundations to pay “reparations.”
The idea of reparations recently became the rage among 2020 Democratic presidential contenders, with Sen. Kamala Harris of California, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts specifically floating the idea. There is also a growing list of institutions wondering if they “owe” reparations too, from the federal government to private businesses to colleges and universities. Georgetown University’s student body recently voted to pay a fee to the descendants of slaves owned by the institution’s Jesuit founders.
But among these institutions, charitable foundations have felt the great sustained pressure to “pay up” for alleged sins against the ideals of racial and economic equality. It started out as pressure from a few vocal activists banging on the doors of large foundations. It’s turned into a movement in which philanthropic leaders are falling over themselves to throw money at their critics in hopes of mollifying them, even if it means ignoring the original mission of their institutions.
Justice Funders is not a random or rogue group of community activists or small donors. Its membership includes some of the largest foundations in the country that appear committed to serving penance for the wealth and power they have accumulated over generations. Wealthy institutions have decided to let other people decide how to spend their money, regardless of the original instructions of their founders. And it’s worth exploring how this came to pass.”
In 2008, the California State Assembly passed a bill requiring foundations with assets of more than $250 million to disclose the race, gender, and sexual orientation of their trustees, staff, and even grantees. The legislation was promoted by the Greenlining Institute, an advocacy group that blamed foundations for failing to donate enough money to “minority-led” think tanks, community groups, and businesses. The group’s president said at the time that he hoped the legislation would “shame” foundations into giving more to groups whose boards and staffs were majority-minority.
The Foundation Diversity and Transparency Act, as it came to be called, didn’t pass the state Senate, but only because 10 of California’s largest foundations agreed in advance to contribute an undisclosed amount of money — hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the Greenlining Institute — to such minority-led organizations. There seems to be little doubt the foundations responded to a political threat. Robert Ross, CEO of the California Endowment, reported that a candidate for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors warned him, “If you guys show some problem-solving leadership on this, we’ll look to that kindly.”
In the years since, activists have continued to pile on. The Greenlining Institute attempted to get legislation passed in Pennsylvania and Florida. And the institute has been one of a number of organizations and activists pushing the federal government to do away with the charitable tax deduction if foundations don’t change their giving priorities.”
“Over the past 18 years, Reynolds has observed the deterioration of social media and shared his observations and experiences in a new publication: The Social Media Upheaval. I had a chance to read it last week, and I wanted to share my thoughts about his most recent work.
The Social Media Upheaval is not so much a book as an in-depth treatise on the dark side of today’s platforms, especially Twitter and Facebook. This style of presentation allows a more substantive review of Reynolds’ opinion on the current problems with social media (Too Fast, Too Incomplete, Too Emotional, and Too Untrustworthy) and his solutions, but keeps the price-point down and allows the reader to digest a substantial mental meal easily.
As a professional who deals with biosafety issues regularly, perhaps the most satisfying aspect of Reynolds’ analysis was his comparing the spread of bad ideas, fake news, and toxicity on social media to that of early civilizations’ experiences with viruses. Ancient humans had to develop sanitation and medicines to handle physical diseases, which the new living conditions created when they established cities. Likewise, modern peoples must create safeguards against the mental illnesses that may be generated by how electronic media is handled and processed, as well as the outrage mobs that pop-up like plague boils on our society.
Right now, it seems as if the social media world was designed to spread viruses of the mind. And that’s probably because it was. While in the earlier days of the internet ideas spread faster than before, today in the walled gardens of social media outlet like Facebook, Instagram, or especially Twitter, ideas spread much, much faster, and with less time for rumination or consideration, than ever before.
And that’s by design, as social media companies use algorithms that promote posts based on “engagement” — which typically means users’ emotional reactions — and “share” buttons allow each user to pass them onto hundreds or thousands of friends, who can then do the same. This repeated sharing and resharing can produce a chain reaction reminiscent of a nuclear reactor with the control rods removed.
Reynolds also stresses that using antitrust regulations to break-up the power of Big Tech should be part of the solution set in dealing with its unhealthy influence on our politics, culture, and civic environment. The number of acquisitions that Silicon Valley firms have been allowed to make has been astonishing.”
“President Macron, Mrs. Macron, and the people of France, to the First Lady of the United States, and members of the United States Congress, to distinguished guests, veterans and my fellow Americans.
We are gathered here on freedom’s altar, on these shores, on these bluffs, on this day 75 years ago, 10,000 men shed their blood, and thousands sacrificed their lives for their brothers, for their countries, and for the survival of liberty.
Today we remember those who fell and we honor all who fought right here in Normandy. They wouldn’t back this ground for civilization. To more than one 170 Veterans of the Second World War, who join us today, you are among the very greatest Americans who will ever live. You are the pride of our nation. You are the glory of our republic. And we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Here with you are over 60 veterans who landed on D-Day. Our debt to you is everlasting. Today we express our undying gratitude. When you were young, these men enlisted their lives in a great crusade – one of the greatest of all times. Their mission is the story of an epic battle and a ferocious eternal struggle between good and evil. On the 6th of June, 1944, they joined a liberation force of awesome power and breathtaking scale.
After months of planning, the Allies had chosen this ancient coastline to mount their campaign to vanquish the wicked tyranny of the Nazi empire from the face of the earth.”
There has been an accident in the vicinity of the Camp Natural Bridge training site. Emergency vehicles are responding. Please avoid Route 293. More information will follow. @USAGWestPoint
— U.S. Military Academy at West Point (@WestPoint_USMA) June 6, 2019
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West Point: 1 cadet killed, others injured when 5-ton truck overturned during summer training accident: U.S. defense official. Roughly 20 West Point cadets inside the truck overturned, some were football players officials say
And to think, some folks mocked the idea there was a “deep state.” And further proof that Kelly was a traitor to his President who deserved to be fired.
"People talk about the deep state, now the deep state's actually protecting their own," says Sen. @RandPaul on ex-CIA Dir. John Brennan keeping his security clearance.
"I was sitting in the White House when President Trump said I want his security clearance taken." pic.twitter.com/YcKRG26L1c
“Paul: “Deep State” Defied Trump’s Order to Revoke Brennan Security Clearance”
“Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said he believes the “deep state” defied President Trump’s order to revoke former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance.
Paul was asked by CNN why–according to a New York Times report–the White House never followed through with the president’s August 2018 request to revoke the former CIA Director’s security clearance.
“People talk about the deep state, now the deep state’s actually protecting their own and not listening to the President’s orders. I was sitting in the White House when President Trump said I want his security clearance taken and I saw the order given. I saw the chief of staff was there, not the current chief of staff, the previous chief of staff [John Kelly],” said Paul.”
Ole Jim never tells the whole truth, only his dishonest and partisan version of events.
CNN’s Jim @Acosta: “One of the reasons why he [Trump] was late getting here, he was sitting down with a Fox News personality…and so it’s possible he was dishing out a lot of that red meat while he was sitting down with Fox before giving this speech.” @IngrahamAngle#DDay75pic.twitter.com/Jiy7I6PjO6
Reminder that @MichaelWolff is an utterly insane person who claimed Trump was screwing Nikki Haley and it's deeply irresponsible to put him on air… as @CNN did tonight. https://t.co/aDujJ9gdmS
Totally enjoyed the D Day speech by the President. Glory to God, may He continue to work in the President’s life, bringing him to Himself, and giving him wisdom.
Amen Mumsee.
I didn’t know anyone who was in the D-Day assault, but a guy, retired Colonel, he made it a career, jumped into France three days after D-Day. He said the objective was to capture and hold a bridge. .
Our guy was at Utah Beach and gives the same story. He was taken from mechanic and made medic that day. Lots of men dying in his arms. Yesterday, when husband stopped by his house with the guy’s favorite type of ice cream as a surprise, he found some folk there interviewing him. Grandpa Meiners asked husband to go pick up his mail for him as he had been unable to get to the post office the past few days.. He still writes a weekly column for the paper, honoring God and mentioning his life experience in following Him.
I wonder if all those children arriving at the border are really a signal of desperation on behalf of their families. Why else would you send away a child to a place so far away where you may or may not be able to keep or care for him/her?
If this is true, do the children really need to be placed in foster homes where they can learn about American values and have a chance? If they reach us young enough–five, six–we really might be able to make a big difference in their lives.
Or, they’re simply exploiting further a system already at it’s breaking point, with the help pf outsiders and complicit South American govts. It’s an invasion. It’s that simple.
Even some in the media are coming around.
It’s time Dems stop holding up the funding to fix this.
Michelle – From what I have read, many (most?) of these refugees/asylum seekers are escaping horrible conditions, risking their lives for a chance at a better life. In their articles on the issue, World has done a good job of balancing compassion for the refugees with concern over the effect of the influx on the border.
So now we’re the world’s babysitter, and should take in everyone living in horrible conditions in Africa, India, the Mid East as well?
How long you think that would last? We’d be 3rd world country in no time too.
I fear your emotions are overriding common sense. We can’t take in everybody.
And there is also ample evidence out there, as I’ve posted numerous times, that explains how these people and their govts are gaming it. Right down to place cards telling them what to tell border agents, all funded by a Soros open border org. of course, and free legal reps for their asylum claims. It’s a scam.
“Congressional Democrats have made it clear that they will oppose President Trump’s commonsense request for $5 billion to expand fencing and begin work on a wall along our southern border. But the fight over the wall is just a small skirmish in a war to decide the future of our country and whether we can control our own borders.
Neither President Trump nor the Democrats created the migrant caravans currently camped to our south. The caravans were organized and launched outside of the U.S. with the intent of demonstrating that large groups of immigrants can breech our borders illegally and with impunity – an outcome that will only encourage more illegal immigration.
Nor did Trump or the Democrats draft the United Nations global compacts on migration and refugees, looking to a day when international “norms” supplant the right of sovereign nations to manage their own borders.
It was not Trump or the Democrats who flooded Europe with over 1 million refugees and dispersed them – without vetting – throughout the continent.
But European officials who opened their borders to the migrants now find themselves beset by an intense political backlash, severe security challenges, and widespread social and economic unrest.
Europe today stands as a case study in the problems caused by uncontrolled migration.
If America fails to maintain firm control of who gets into our country – and who stays – the resulting crisis could make the woes of Europe look petty.”
“Calling the surprising May surge in illegal immigrant arrests on the border the “worst case scenario,” a top immigration analyst has boosted the expected level of crossings 10%, to over 1 million.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Wednesday revealed that May apprehensions topped 144,000. This year has seen 676,315 apprehensions so far, up 99% over this time last year.
That shocked immigration officials who had hoped it would drop in part due to the Trump administration’s get tough efforts on the border and the potentially deadly heat migrants encounter traveling through northern Mexico.”
“TSA allowing illegal migrants to fly without proper documents”
“The federal agency tasked with overseeing security at transportation hubs has been violating its own policy by allowing migrants who have been released from federal custody onto flights despite not having required documents, according to several Department of Homeland Security officials.
For the past six months, the Transportation Security Administration has allowed migrants released from the custody of other Homeland Security agencies to board flights to other parts of the country despite the passengers lacking any of the 15 documents it states are the only acceptable forms of identification.
Since early December, the agency has avoided temporarily changing federal policy and also not introduced a permanent solution to address this new phenomenon, despite no indication border apprehensions and mass releases are slowing down any time soon.”
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And without a Real ID by next year, you, a US citizen, will be barred from flying, even domestically, without a passport.
All these stories, just from this week alone. An alternative view to the “they’re just fleeing (fill in the blank)” is out there, everyday. If you look in the right place. Some media just doesn’t want to discuss the truths of the matter.
“Del Rio Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 500 migrants from the continent of Africa since May 30. The numbers jumped after large numbers of African migrants adopted a strategy of crossing in large numbers. On Wednesday, a group of 34 African migrants crossed the border illegally near Eagle Pass, Texas.
Eagle Pass Station agents apprehended a group of 34 illegal aliens from Africa on June 5, according to information provided to Breitbart Texas by Del Rio Sector Border Patrol officials. On May 30, large numbers of African migrants who had been waiting in Mexico to cross at ports of entry changed their strategy and began crossing illegally in the largely-unsecured Del Rio Sector. The first group to cross included 117 African migrants, mostly from the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Angola, officials stated.”
As to why govts would support it and encourage illegal immigration, it can best be summed up in one word.
Remittance.
In many South American economies, monies sent from the US are large portions of these countries economies.
Money. Plain and simple. From the illegals on up.
30 billion to Mexico. Almost 8 to Guatemala, 5 billion to the Dominican and El Salvador…… and so on. Every year at slightly varying rates, billions bled from the US economy.
“Remittance flows worldwide in 2017
$148,489,000,000 in remittances was sent from United States to other countries in 2017.”
“Worldwide, an estimated $625 billion (USD) was sent by migrants to individuals in their home countries in 2017, a 7% increase from 2016, when the amount was $586 billion, according to economists at the World Bank. This increase follows two consecutive years of decline.”
“While the President is overseas honoring D-Day, the cable news talking heads back home have been busy critiquing his recently announced plan to impose an increasing series of tariffs on Mexico unless that nation stops the flood of migrants passing through their country toward the United States. The plan has been described in the press with a variety of terms ranging from reckless to impossible. After all, even if Mexico was willing to consider such a deal, how could they possibly stop the human tide from flowing across their own southern border?
Well, the tariffs must have gotten their attention. I don’t know if they can shut down their border entirely, but as of this morning, they seem to be giving it the good old college try. (Reuters)”
“Victory? Mexico Might Agree To “Sweeping” Plan To Change Regional Asylum Laws To Avoid Tariff Threat, Says WaPo”
“It’d be a yuuuuuge win for Trump if so, arguably the biggest of his presidency. Certainly the biggest on immigration. And of course it’d be vindication of his decision to play hardball with tariffs — which would leave Mexico in a precarious position. If this deal comes off because Trump threatened to choke them economically if they didn’t meet his demands, he’s bound to resort to the same tactic again the next time he wants something for them. If you pay the danegeld once, you’ll eventually be asked to pay it again.
Which is to say, we’re probably destined for a trade war with Mexico at some point. But maybe not right now.”
“It embraces an expansive definition of asylum, then passes the buck by waving asylum-seekers northward.
President Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on Mexican goods starting next week may or may not get Mexico to be more cooperative in preventing third-country “asylum-seekers” from passing through on the way to our border. I’m not too concerned about the costs that such a tariff would impose on U.S. businesses and consumers (which would be real), because the costs would be worth it if the tactic were actually to work. I’m skeptical it will, since Mexico always has a chip on its shoulder with regard to us. But recent signs suggest I might be pleasantly surprised. Here’s hoping.
Perhaps more important than the means, however, are the desired ends. During a call with reporters last week, acting DHS secretary Kevin McAleenan laid out three specific steps the administration wants Mexico to take. First is tightening security on Mexico’s border with Guatemala and chokepoints in southern Mexico (such as the Isthmus of Tehuantepec). Second is targeting the smuggling organizations; as McAleenan said, “The logistical effort to move 100,000 people through a country every four weeks is immense. This is noticeable.”
Mexico might well agree to these two demands, potentially averting the tariffs. But the third demand is the most consequential, and the most difficult. As McAleenan put it, “We need to be able to protect people in the first safe country they arrive in — really, all through the hemisphere, but certainly with our partner to the south.” In other words, the administration wants Mexico to sign a “safe third country” agreement, whereby foreigners who pass through Mexico would not be permitted even to apply for asylum at the U.S. border, and Mexico would agree to take them back, because if they were genuinely fleeing persecution, they should have applied in the first safe country they reached. As Hans von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation wrote last fall about one of the migrant caravans, “ignoring Mexico’s asylum process is prima facie evidence that a claim for asylum in the U.S. is bogus.””
I’m not arguing any of your points, AJ, it’s just I like to turn the prism and look at a problem from different angles. I asked myself, why would I send my children on a trip like that one? How bad does the situation have to be that I would do such a thing?
I should also point out we know a family in Nicaragua whose sons are seeking asylum in the US. The older son participated in a peaceful demonstration at the university and a few months later the police/thugs came after him. They held up the father, tied him up at gunpoint and ransacked the house looking for signs of the teenagers–they wanted to throw them in jail or worse. The family would rather stay in Nica, and the parents will remain because to leave would be to forfeit their property. But do they risk their sons?
AJ – The way I see it is that it is possible to realize that there is a “crisis at the border” but also have compassion for the refugees, not looking upon them as criminals, and realize that many, many of them left dire situations, feeling they had no choice. I don’t remember the details, but one of World’s articles included details on how they are being misled to think that they can get into the U.S, and have a chance at staying.
I know we cannot save the world, but I also don’t blame people for wanting, and trying for, a better, safer life for themselves and their families. It is definitely a situation for which there are no easy, good answers, and it is heartbreaking.
AJ, Mumsee can’t save the world, but she can take in a few foster children. Michelle can’t save the world, but she can minister to young women who can’t even imagine carrying this pregnancy to term. I can’t save the world, but I can write and edit books and work with kids at my church.
As Christians, we are called to care for orphans and widows. Does that mean we argue for an open border policy? Not necessarily. But it certainly does mean we care about desperate people and don’t see them as only a pesky political issue. They are human beings made in the image of God. Who knows if we will live to see the day when we ourselves face desperate poverty and don’t know how to care for our families?
But not one of those things will do a darn thing about the crisis on our southern border.
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As Christians we are called to those things, not as a secular country. What we are to do as Christians is not what our secular govt is obligated to do. That’s not the govts job, law and order is. Nor should Christian charities being encouraging the lawlessness, and they are, for financial reasons, both govt funding and prospective donations. They actively work against our govt. and it’s laws. The Catholic Church especially, encouraged by their SA pope.
They are human beings made in the image of God. By they are willingly and criminally ignoring our nations laws and borders. It amazes me that people continue to excuse this. As I’ve shown, most of these people are ineligible for entrance or asylum, because their claims are false. People need to stop falling for the media narrative.
Also I’d note there are already way more here now than could be ministered to should folks be inclined to do so. There are numerous opportunities to help those already granted asylum for the legitimate reasons mentioned here already. There’ll be no shortage even if the flow was stopped completely, which no one is proposing by the way.
I’m all for Christian outreach, but common sense says you have to fix the problem, not just treat the “victims”. We don’t, and shouldn’t have to abandon one for the other. It’s not necessary. There is ample opportunity here to do both our Christian and civic duty.
Wandering Views 
First up….. related?
I’d have to say yes.
https://www.city-journal.org/decline-of-family-loneliness-epidemic
“Americans are suffering from a bad case of loneliness. The number of people in the United States living alone has gone through the studio-apartment roof. A study released by the insurance company Cigna last spring made headlines with its announcement: “Only around half of Americans say they have meaningful, daily face-to-face social interactions.” Loneliness, public-health experts tell us, is killing as many people as obesity and smoking. It’s not much comfort that Americans are not, well, alone in this. Germans are lonely, the bon vivant French are lonely, and even the Scandinavians—the happiest people in the world, according to the UN’s World Happiness Report—are lonely, too. British prime minister Theresa May recently appointed a “Minister of Loneliness.”
The hard evidence for a loneliness epidemic admittedly has some issues. How is loneliness different from depression? How much do living alone and loneliness overlap? Do social scientists know how to compare today’s misery with that in, say, the mid-twentieth century, a period that produced prominent books like The Lonely Crowd? Certainly, some voguish explanations for the crisis should raise skepticism: among the recent suspects are favorite villains like social media, technology, discrimination, genetic bad luck, and neoliberalism.
Still, the loneliness thesis taps into a widespread intuition of something true and real and grave. Foundering social trust, collapsing heartland communities, an opioid epidemic, and rising numbers of “deaths of despair” suggest a profound, collective discontent. It’s worth mapping out one major cause that is simultaneously so obvious and so uncomfortable that loneliness observers tend to mention it only in passing. I’m talking, of course, about family breakdown. At this point, the consequences of family volatility are an evergreen topic when it comes to children; this remains the subject of countless papers and conferences. Now, we should take account of how deeply the changes in family life of the past 50-odd years are intertwined with the flagging well-being of so many adults and communities.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jun/04/one-in-five-young-women-have-self-harmed-study-reveals
“So many young people are self-harming that it risks becoming normalised and increasing the number who kill themselves when they are older, a study reveals.
One in five girls and young women in England aged 16 to 24 have cut, burned or poisoned themselves, according to research that mental health experts said was “very worrying”.
The findings, published in the Lancet Psychiatry journal, show that self-harm has risen across both sexes and all age groups since 2000. In the population as a whole it almost trebled from 2.4% then to 6.4% in 2014.
The number of people overall cutting themselves jumped from 1.5% to 3.9% over those 14 years.
Growing numbers of people are harming themselves as a way of coping with feelings of anger, tension, anxiety or depression. However, a lack of NHS services and people’s unwillingness to seek help means that more than half of those who self-harm do not receive any medical or psychological care.”
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Another win for pro-lifers thanks to Trump.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/healthcare/trump-administration-bans-government-scientists-from-using-aborted-fetal-tissue-in-research?utm_source=WEX_Breaking%20News%20Alert_06/05/2019&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WEX_Breaking%20News&rid=63
“Trump administration bans government scientists from using aborted fetal tissue in research”
“The Trump administration will block government scientists from acquiring new fetal tissue from abortions to use in medical research, a major victory for abortion opponents.
“Promoting the dignity of human life from conception to natural death is one of the very top priorities of President Trump’s administration,” the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement Wednesday that announced the change.
The decision comes after months of speculation, as well as backlash from anti-abortion groups that demanded President Trump fire the head of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, for saying that research using fetal tissue could provide useful study for treatments of devastating illnesses.
The ban applies to scientists at NIH, the government’s medical research agency, and would not apply to fetal tissue obtained from miscarriages, but only to fetal tissue that was donated after elected abortions. HHS, which is the NIH’s parent agency, in September had already asked most government scientists to temporarily halt the acquisition of new fetal tissue while it reviewed the issue.
The new ban does not apply to outside groups that receive NIH grants to conduct their research, though HHS did announce it would not be renewing a multi-million dollar contract with the University of California, San Francisco, that used fetal tissue in HIV research.
The contract has been renewed every 90 days since the end of September as federal officials have reviewed it, but it won’t be extended past Wednesday, when it was set to expire.”
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Now he’s turning into Uncle Serial Plagiarist Creepy Joe.
—————
https://www.redstate.com/bonchie/2019/06/05/less-24-hours-later-joe-biden-caught-plagiarizing/
“I’ll give him this. Joe Biden is certainly consistent.
Yesterday, Biden was caught plagiarizing major parts of his “climate” plan, which appeared on his website. He apparently lifted the language from left-wing non-profits with no citation.”
https://twitter.com/HashtagGriswold/status/1135978001202655233
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A nice way to remember. 🙂
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You already know why. It doesn’t fit the narrative.
https://twitchy.com/sarahd-313035/2019/06/05/why-is-this-not-a-bigger-story-guy-in-mask-tries-to-chain-uw-college-republicans-in-room-after-antifa-issues-call-to-deplatform-video/
“‘Why is this not a bigger story?’ Guy in mask tries to chain UW College Republicans in room after Antifa issues call ‘to deplatform’ [video]”
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And this piece of corrupt trash has the nerve to say the President and his family should be investigated?
https://dailycaller.com/2019/06/05/elijah-cummingss-wife-charity/
“The wife of House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings used her charity to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars into her private LLC, according to new documents obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.
Maya Rockeymoore Cummings’s charity receives funding from organizations with interests before her husband’s congressional committee.
Multiple charity watchdogs said the previously undisclosed financial arrangement between Rockeymoore Cummings’s charity and for-profit company raises red flags.
House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings’s wife has funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars from her charity to her private for-profit organization, according to a previously undisclosed cost-sharing arrangement that multiple experts said raises red flags.
——–
Maya Rockeymoore Cummings’s charity, the Center for Global Policy Solutions (CGPS), paid her for-profit venture, Global Policy Solutions LLC, over $250,000 in “management fees” between 2013 and 2015, according to the charity’s audited financial statements covering those years. The management fees were paid in addition to a cost-sharing agreement where the charity pays for its share of equipment, personnel and other expenditures.
Rockeymoore Cummings’s charity is funded by companies with interests before her husband’s congressional committee, according to the Washington Examiner.
“It’s self-dealing. It’s taking the charity’s resources and turning them into personal profits,” National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) investigator Tom Anderson told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “IRS law doesn’t allow a charity for this purpose. This isn’t for the public interest, this is for her personal interest. You can’t do that.”
Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, listed his wife’s LLC on his most recent financial disclosure reports as an asset worth between $250,001 and $500,000.
The NLPC filed an IRS complaint against Rockeymoore Cummings’s charity and LLC in May, alleging that companies with interests before the House Oversight Committee are potentially buying favorable treatment from the congressman through their donations to the charity.
“The problem is there are millions of dollars coming into these entities from corporations and special interests with business before Elijah Cummings, and any time you have that, every rule has to be followed or else it opens the door for massive corruption,” Anderson previously told TheDCNF.
Multiple nonprofit experts are questioning why Rockeymoore Cummings’s private company charges a 5% management fee to her charity on top of a cost-sharing agreement.
Charity Watch President Daniel Borochoff said the funds flowing from Rockeymoore Cummings’s charity from the 5% management fee is problematic given her husband’s regulatory authority over the business interests funding her charity.”
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Nearly 2000 children a day in May, as well as another 2500 adults.
Per. Day.
This madness needs to stop.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jun/5/more-55000-children-caught-border-may/
“More than 55,000 children caught at border in May”
“The government set another grim record in May with more than 55,000 children nabbed by Border Patrol agents along the southwest border.
They were part of more than 130,000 unauthorized migrants Border Patrol agents and officers at the ports of entry encountered last month, up from about 109,000 in April and far higher than the 51,000 or so nabbed in May 2018.
But even record overall numbers shield the true expanse of the crisis, officials said.
As much as 60 percent of agents’ time is now spent babysitting illegal immigrants rather than patrolling the border, and they’re setting records for making rescues of migrants in distress. Meanwhile border detention facilities are packed, with more than 19,000 people in space that is already in crisis when it reaches 6,000.
Personnel have been pulled off the lines at the border crossings and used to help care for the record numbers of children and families, but it’s meant people crossing are having to wait longer. The delays during peak times are 40 minutes longer for regular traffic, and 25 minutes longer in the commercial traffic lanes, said Randy Howell, executive director of port operations at Customs and Border Protection.”
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Next level community organizer social justice warriors here.
🙄
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/injustice-funders
“Dana Kawaoka-Chen, executive director of a new group called Justice Funders, issued a rallying cry in a recent talk with the Chronicle of Philanthropy. She said, “There needs to be a shift from wealth and power being accumulated within institutions toward a new vision where philanthropy is about redistributing wealth, democratizing power, and shifting economic control to the community.”
Her colleague, Marie Nakae, put it more succinctly, saying it’s time for foundations to pay “reparations.”
The idea of reparations recently became the rage among 2020 Democratic presidential contenders, with Sen. Kamala Harris of California, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts specifically floating the idea. There is also a growing list of institutions wondering if they “owe” reparations too, from the federal government to private businesses to colleges and universities. Georgetown University’s student body recently voted to pay a fee to the descendants of slaves owned by the institution’s Jesuit founders.
But among these institutions, charitable foundations have felt the great sustained pressure to “pay up” for alleged sins against the ideals of racial and economic equality. It started out as pressure from a few vocal activists banging on the doors of large foundations. It’s turned into a movement in which philanthropic leaders are falling over themselves to throw money at their critics in hopes of mollifying them, even if it means ignoring the original mission of their institutions.
Justice Funders is not a random or rogue group of community activists or small donors. Its membership includes some of the largest foundations in the country that appear committed to serving penance for the wealth and power they have accumulated over generations. Wealthy institutions have decided to let other people decide how to spend their money, regardless of the original instructions of their founders. And it’s worth exploring how this came to pass.”
In 2008, the California State Assembly passed a bill requiring foundations with assets of more than $250 million to disclose the race, gender, and sexual orientation of their trustees, staff, and even grantees. The legislation was promoted by the Greenlining Institute, an advocacy group that blamed foundations for failing to donate enough money to “minority-led” think tanks, community groups, and businesses. The group’s president said at the time that he hoped the legislation would “shame” foundations into giving more to groups whose boards and staffs were majority-minority.
The Foundation Diversity and Transparency Act, as it came to be called, didn’t pass the state Senate, but only because 10 of California’s largest foundations agreed in advance to contribute an undisclosed amount of money — hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the Greenlining Institute — to such minority-led organizations. There seems to be little doubt the foundations responded to a political threat. Robert Ross, CEO of the California Endowment, reported that a candidate for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors warned him, “If you guys show some problem-solving leadership on this, we’ll look to that kindly.”
In the years since, activists have continued to pile on. The Greenlining Institute attempted to get legislation passed in Pennsylvania and Florida. And the institute has been one of a number of organizations and activists pushing the federal government to do away with the charitable tax deduction if foundations don’t change their giving priorities.”
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Book Review: The Social Media Upheaval by Glenn Reynolds
https://legalinsurrection.com/2019/06/book-review-the-social-media-upheaval-by-glenn-reynolds/#more-285238
“Over the past 18 years, Reynolds has observed the deterioration of social media and shared his observations and experiences in a new publication: The Social Media Upheaval. I had a chance to read it last week, and I wanted to share my thoughts about his most recent work.
The Social Media Upheaval is not so much a book as an in-depth treatise on the dark side of today’s platforms, especially Twitter and Facebook. This style of presentation allows a more substantive review of Reynolds’ opinion on the current problems with social media (Too Fast, Too Incomplete, Too Emotional, and Too Untrustworthy) and his solutions, but keeps the price-point down and allows the reader to digest a substantial mental meal easily.
As a professional who deals with biosafety issues regularly, perhaps the most satisfying aspect of Reynolds’ analysis was his comparing the spread of bad ideas, fake news, and toxicity on social media to that of early civilizations’ experiences with viruses. Ancient humans had to develop sanitation and medicines to handle physical diseases, which the new living conditions created when they established cities. Likewise, modern peoples must create safeguards against the mental illnesses that may be generated by how electronic media is handled and processed, as well as the outrage mobs that pop-up like plague boils on our society.
Right now, it seems as if the social media world was designed to spread viruses of the mind. And that’s probably because it was. While in the earlier days of the internet ideas spread faster than before, today in the walled gardens of social media outlet like Facebook, Instagram, or especially Twitter, ideas spread much, much faster, and with less time for rumination or consideration, than ever before.
And that’s by design, as social media companies use algorithms that promote posts based on “engagement” — which typically means users’ emotional reactions — and “share” buttons allow each user to pass them onto hundreds or thousands of friends, who can then do the same. This repeated sharing and resharing can produce a chain reaction reminiscent of a nuclear reactor with the control rods removed.
Reynolds also stresses that using antitrust regulations to break-up the power of Big Tech should be part of the solution set in dealing with its unhealthy influence on our politics, culture, and civic environment. The number of acquisitions that Silicon Valley firms have been allowed to make has been astonishing.”
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from the 7:13 post:
a new vision where philanthropy is about redistributing wealth, democratizing power, and shifting economic control to the community.”
“Redistributing wealth” is a certain way of insuring that everyone is poor.
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“President Macron, Mrs. Macron, and the people of France, to the First Lady of the United States, and members of the United States Congress, to distinguished guests, veterans and my fellow Americans.
We are gathered here on freedom’s altar, on these shores, on these bluffs, on this day 75 years ago, 10,000 men shed their blood, and thousands sacrificed their lives for their brothers, for their countries, and for the survival of liberty.
Today we remember those who fell and we honor all who fought right here in Normandy. They wouldn’t back this ground for civilization. To more than one 170 Veterans of the Second World War, who join us today, you are among the very greatest Americans who will ever live. You are the pride of our nation. You are the glory of our republic. And we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Here with you are over 60 veterans who landed on D-Day. Our debt to you is everlasting. Today we express our undying gratitude. When you were young, these men enlisted their lives in a great crusade – one of the greatest of all times. Their mission is the story of an epic battle and a ferocious eternal struggle between good and evil. On the 6th of June, 1944, they joined a liberation force of awesome power and breathtaking scale.
After months of planning, the Allies had chosen this ancient coastline to mount their campaign to vanquish the wicked tyranny of the Nazi empire from the face of the earth.”
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Bad news. 😦
—————–
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And to think, some folks mocked the idea there was a “deep state.” And further proof that Kelly was a traitor to his President who deserved to be fired.
———————-
https://bongino.com/paul-deep-state-defied-trumps-order-to-revoke-brennan-security-clearance/
“Paul: “Deep State” Defied Trump’s Order to Revoke Brennan Security Clearance”
“Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said he believes the “deep state” defied President Trump’s order to revoke former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance.
Paul was asked by CNN why–according to a New York Times report–the White House never followed through with the president’s August 2018 request to revoke the former CIA Director’s security clearance.
“People talk about the deep state, now the deep state’s actually protecting their own and not listening to the President’s orders. I was sitting in the White House when President Trump said I want his security clearance taken and I saw the order given. I saw the chief of staff was there, not the current chief of staff, the previous chief of staff [John Kelly],” said Paul.”
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Ole Jim never tells the whole truth, only his dishonest and partisan version of events.
—————–
https://twitter.com/JonLemire/status/1136566696230227968
—————
They were waiting on the French President, as was Trump. Jim’s a bad joke and a poor excuse for a journalist.
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But hey, this is CNN we’re talking about.
—————-
—————–
No Brit, they didn’t….. not a dang thing.
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Totally enjoyed the D Day speech by the President. Glory to God, may He continue to work in the President’s life, bringing him to Himself, and giving him wisdom.
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Amen Mumsee.
I didn’t know anyone who was in the D-Day assault, but a guy, retired Colonel, he made it a career, jumped into France three days after D-Day. He said the objective was to capture and hold a bridge. .
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Our guy was at Utah Beach and gives the same story. He was taken from mechanic and made medic that day. Lots of men dying in his arms. Yesterday, when husband stopped by his house with the guy’s favorite type of ice cream as a surprise, he found some folk there interviewing him. Grandpa Meiners asked husband to go pick up his mail for him as he had been unable to get to the post office the past few days.. He still writes a weekly column for the paper, honoring God and mentioning his life experience in following Him.
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I wonder if all those children arriving at the border are really a signal of desperation on behalf of their families. Why else would you send away a child to a place so far away where you may or may not be able to keep or care for him/her?
If this is true, do the children really need to be placed in foster homes where they can learn about American values and have a chance? If they reach us young enough–five, six–we really might be able to make a big difference in their lives.
Mission fields, not enemies?
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Or, they’re simply exploiting further a system already at it’s breaking point, with the help pf outsiders and complicit South American govts. It’s an invasion. It’s that simple.
Even some in the media are coming around.
It’s time Dems stop holding up the funding to fix this.
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Michelle – From what I have read, many (most?) of these refugees/asylum seekers are escaping horrible conditions, risking their lives for a chance at a better life. In their articles on the issue, World has done a good job of balancing compassion for the refugees with concern over the effect of the influx on the border.
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And no one considers them enemies. They’re children.
Those behind it, including their parents, are another story entirely however.
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So now we’re the world’s babysitter, and should take in everyone living in horrible conditions in Africa, India, the Mid East as well?
How long you think that would last? We’d be 3rd world country in no time too.
I fear your emotions are overriding common sense. We can’t take in everybody.
And there is also ample evidence out there, as I’ve posted numerous times, that explains how these people and their govts are gaming it. Right down to place cards telling them what to tell border agents, all funded by a Soros open border org. of course, and free legal reps for their asylum claims. It’s a scam.
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6 months old, still accurate and relevant because all these issues still exist because Congress won’t do it’s job.
https://www.heritage.org/immigration/commentary/no-asylum-period
“KEY TAKEAWAYS
The vast majority are coming for economic reasons. That doesn’t fit within the statutory requirement for asylum.
Passing through another country without seeking asylum undercuts any claim made upon arrival at the U.S. border.
Mexico is not only shifting this problem to the U.S., it is encouraging illegal immigration by accommodating these caravans.”
—————
https://www.heritage.org/homeland-security/commentary/we-need-trumps-border-wall-plus-other-measures-reduce-illegal
“Congressional Democrats have made it clear that they will oppose President Trump’s commonsense request for $5 billion to expand fencing and begin work on a wall along our southern border. But the fight over the wall is just a small skirmish in a war to decide the future of our country and whether we can control our own borders.
Neither President Trump nor the Democrats created the migrant caravans currently camped to our south. The caravans were organized and launched outside of the U.S. with the intent of demonstrating that large groups of immigrants can breech our borders illegally and with impunity – an outcome that will only encourage more illegal immigration.
Nor did Trump or the Democrats draft the United Nations global compacts on migration and refugees, looking to a day when international “norms” supplant the right of sovereign nations to manage their own borders.
It was not Trump or the Democrats who flooded Europe with over 1 million refugees and dispersed them – without vetting – throughout the continent.
But European officials who opened their borders to the migrants now find themselves beset by an intense political backlash, severe security challenges, and widespread social and economic unrest.
Europe today stands as a case study in the problems caused by uncontrolled migration.
If America fails to maintain firm control of who gets into our country – and who stays – the resulting crisis could make the woes of Europe look petty.”
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How much is enough?
In just one year.
“New border surge prompts 10% jump in 2019 prediction to 1,072,000 illegal immigrants”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/new-border-surge-prompts-10-jump-in-2019-prediction-to-1-072-000-illegal-immigrants
“Calling the surprising May surge in illegal immigrant arrests on the border the “worst case scenario,” a top immigration analyst has boosted the expected level of crossings 10%, to over 1 million.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Wednesday revealed that May apprehensions topped 144,000. This year has seen 676,315 apprehensions so far, up 99% over this time last year.
That shocked immigration officials who had hoped it would drop in part due to the Trump administration’s get tough efforts on the border and the potentially deadly heat migrants encounter traveling through northern Mexico.”
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This is not OK either.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/tsa-allowing-illegal-migrants-to-fly-without-proper-documents
“TSA allowing illegal migrants to fly without proper documents”
“The federal agency tasked with overseeing security at transportation hubs has been violating its own policy by allowing migrants who have been released from federal custody onto flights despite not having required documents, according to several Department of Homeland Security officials.
For the past six months, the Transportation Security Administration has allowed migrants released from the custody of other Homeland Security agencies to board flights to other parts of the country despite the passengers lacking any of the 15 documents it states are the only acceptable forms of identification.
Since early December, the agency has avoided temporarily changing federal policy and also not introduced a permanent solution to address this new phenomenon, despite no indication border apprehensions and mass releases are slowing down any time soon.”
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And without a Real ID by next year, you, a US citizen, will be barred from flying, even domestically, without a passport.
Sounds fair, right? 🙄
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Like I said. Word is out.
All these stories, just from this week alone. An alternative view to the “they’re just fleeing (fill in the blank)” is out there, everyday. If you look in the right place. Some media just doesn’t want to discuss the truths of the matter.
https://www.breitbart.com/border/2019/06/06/500-african-migrants-apprehended-since-may-30-in-single-border-patrol-sector/
“Del Rio Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 500 migrants from the continent of Africa since May 30. The numbers jumped after large numbers of African migrants adopted a strategy of crossing in large numbers. On Wednesday, a group of 34 African migrants crossed the border illegally near Eagle Pass, Texas.
Eagle Pass Station agents apprehended a group of 34 illegal aliens from Africa on June 5, according to information provided to Breitbart Texas by Del Rio Sector Border Patrol officials. On May 30, large numbers of African migrants who had been waiting in Mexico to cross at ports of entry changed their strategy and began crossing illegally in the largely-unsecured Del Rio Sector. The first group to cross included 117 African migrants, mostly from the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Angola, officials stated.”
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As to why govts would support it and encourage illegal immigration, it can best be summed up in one word.
Remittance.
In many South American economies, monies sent from the US are large portions of these countries economies.
Money. Plain and simple. From the illegals on up.
30 billion to Mexico. Almost 8 to Guatemala, 5 billion to the Dominican and El Salvador…… and so on. Every year at slightly varying rates, billions bled from the US economy.
The 2017 numbers.
https://www.pewresearch.org/global/interactives/remittance-flows-by-country/
“Remittance flows worldwide in 2017
$148,489,000,000 in remittances was sent from United States to other countries in 2017.”
“Worldwide, an estimated $625 billion (USD) was sent by migrants to individuals in their home countries in 2017, a 7% increase from 2016, when the amount was $586 billion, according to economists at the World Bank. This increase follows two consecutive years of decline.”
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Here’s a 4 year look.
Click to access Remittances-2017-1.pdf
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Some good news though too.
Trump’s hard line approach is making an impact, despite the best efforts of the idiots in Congress.
https://hotair.com/archives/2019/06/06/something-big-just-happened-mexicos-southern-border/
“While the President is overseas honoring D-Day, the cable news talking heads back home have been busy critiquing his recently announced plan to impose an increasing series of tariffs on Mexico unless that nation stops the flood of migrants passing through their country toward the United States. The plan has been described in the press with a variety of terms ranging from reckless to impossible. After all, even if Mexico was willing to consider such a deal, how could they possibly stop the human tide from flowing across their own southern border?
Well, the tariffs must have gotten their attention. I don’t know if they can shut down their border entirely, but as of this morning, they seem to be giving it the good old college try. (Reuters)”
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https://hotair.com/archives/2019/06/06/victory-mexico-might-agree-sweeping-plan-change-regional-asylum-laws-avoid-tariff-threat-says-wapo/
“Victory? Mexico Might Agree To “Sweeping” Plan To Change Regional Asylum Laws To Avoid Tariff Threat, Says WaPo”
“It’d be a yuuuuuge win for Trump if so, arguably the biggest of his presidency. Certainly the biggest on immigration. And of course it’d be vindication of his decision to play hardball with tariffs — which would leave Mexico in a precarious position. If this deal comes off because Trump threatened to choke them economically if they didn’t meet his demands, he’s bound to resort to the same tactic again the next time he wants something for them. If you pay the danegeld once, you’ll eventually be asked to pay it again.
Which is to say, we’re probably destined for a trade war with Mexico at some point. But maybe not right now.”
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Here’s why it’s good news, and necessary.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/06/mexico-asylum-policy-hypocrisy/
“Mexico Is an Asylum Free-Rider”
“It embraces an expansive definition of asylum, then passes the buck by waving asylum-seekers northward.
President Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on Mexican goods starting next week may or may not get Mexico to be more cooperative in preventing third-country “asylum-seekers” from passing through on the way to our border. I’m not too concerned about the costs that such a tariff would impose on U.S. businesses and consumers (which would be real), because the costs would be worth it if the tactic were actually to work. I’m skeptical it will, since Mexico always has a chip on its shoulder with regard to us. But recent signs suggest I might be pleasantly surprised. Here’s hoping.
Perhaps more important than the means, however, are the desired ends. During a call with reporters last week, acting DHS secretary Kevin McAleenan laid out three specific steps the administration wants Mexico to take. First is tightening security on Mexico’s border with Guatemala and chokepoints in southern Mexico (such as the Isthmus of Tehuantepec). Second is targeting the smuggling organizations; as McAleenan said, “The logistical effort to move 100,000 people through a country every four weeks is immense. This is noticeable.”
Mexico might well agree to these two demands, potentially averting the tariffs. But the third demand is the most consequential, and the most difficult. As McAleenan put it, “We need to be able to protect people in the first safe country they arrive in — really, all through the hemisphere, but certainly with our partner to the south.” In other words, the administration wants Mexico to sign a “safe third country” agreement, whereby foreigners who pass through Mexico would not be permitted even to apply for asylum at the U.S. border, and Mexico would agree to take them back, because if they were genuinely fleeing persecution, they should have applied in the first safe country they reached. As Hans von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation wrote last fall about one of the migrant caravans, “ignoring Mexico’s asylum process is prima facie evidence that a claim for asylum in the U.S. is bogus.””
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I’m not arguing any of your points, AJ, it’s just I like to turn the prism and look at a problem from different angles. I asked myself, why would I send my children on a trip like that one? How bad does the situation have to be that I would do such a thing?
I should also point out we know a family in Nicaragua whose sons are seeking asylum in the US. The older son participated in a peaceful demonstration at the university and a few months later the police/thugs came after him. They held up the father, tied him up at gunpoint and ransacked the house looking for signs of the teenagers–they wanted to throw them in jail or worse. The family would rather stay in Nica, and the parents will remain because to leave would be to forfeit their property. But do they risk their sons?
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AJ – The way I see it is that it is possible to realize that there is a “crisis at the border” but also have compassion for the refugees, not looking upon them as criminals, and realize that many, many of them left dire situations, feeling they had no choice. I don’t remember the details, but one of World’s articles included details on how they are being misled to think that they can get into the U.S, and have a chance at staying.
I know we cannot save the world, but I also don’t blame people for wanting, and trying for, a better, safer life for themselves and their families. It is definitely a situation for which there are no easy, good answers, and it is heartbreaking.
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AJ, Mumsee can’t save the world, but she can take in a few foster children. Michelle can’t save the world, but she can minister to young women who can’t even imagine carrying this pregnancy to term. I can’t save the world, but I can write and edit books and work with kids at my church.
As Christians, we are called to care for orphans and widows. Does that mean we argue for an open border policy? Not necessarily. But it certainly does mean we care about desperate people and don’t see them as only a pesky political issue. They are human beings made in the image of God. Who knows if we will live to see the day when we ourselves face desperate poverty and don’t know how to care for our families?
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That’s great.
But not one of those things will do a darn thing about the crisis on our southern border.
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As Christians we are called to those things, not as a secular country. What we are to do as Christians is not what our secular govt is obligated to do. That’s not the govts job, law and order is. Nor should Christian charities being encouraging the lawlessness, and they are, for financial reasons, both govt funding and prospective donations. They actively work against our govt. and it’s laws. The Catholic Church especially, encouraged by their SA pope.
They are human beings made in the image of God. By they are willingly and criminally ignoring our nations laws and borders. It amazes me that people continue to excuse this. As I’ve shown, most of these people are ineligible for entrance or asylum, because their claims are false. People need to stop falling for the media narrative.
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Also I’d note there are already way more here now than could be ministered to should folks be inclined to do so. There are numerous opportunities to help those already granted asylum for the legitimate reasons mentioned here already. There’ll be no shortage even if the flow was stopped completely, which no one is proposing by the way.
I’m all for Christian outreach, but common sense says you have to fix the problem, not just treat the “victims”. We don’t, and shouldn’t have to abandon one for the other. It’s not necessary. There is ample opportunity here to do both our Christian and civic duty.
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