The Front Page Cover
The Events of the Week -- Featuring:
Lawmakers probe US funding
for Soros groups, left-wing causes in Europe
by Adam Shaw
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Defining Deportation Criteria Down
By Arnold Ahlert: "Drunk driving that does not lead to any other negative outcome, I could define as that." —NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio explaining why illegals who commit "minor" crimes will be shielded from deportation.
"Rather than tracking down violent criminals and drug dealers, ICE is spending its energy deporting a woman with two American children who has lived here for more than two decades and poses a threat to nobody." —Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton expressing his outrage over the deportation of Garcia de Rayos, an illegal alien convicted of felony criminal impersonation.
Remember when the American Left used to insist that deporting illegals whose only offense was being in the United States illegally was an affront to decency? As two Democrat mayors indicate, the bar has been lowered substantially. In fact, de Blasio studiously avoided the other component of reporter Jake Tapper's question, namely whether or not grand larceny was sufficient grounds for deportation. Perhaps that's because a 2014 sanctuary city law passed by the City Council and signed by de Blasio prevents the transfer of an illegal to ICE without a warrant, unless the suspect is on a terrorism watch list or has committed a violent felony.
NYPD Lt. Chris Czark, who insisted the city was "acting within guidelines and the scope of the law," nonetheless revealed the utter lunacy of such a policy, noting that while "you could be detained for any felony" prior to the law's implementation, now it's only "certain felonies" that precipitate cooperation with federal immigration officials.
Not on that list? Crimes like sexual abuse, money-laundering, bribery, grand larceny and drunk driving. City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito's response to critics who challenge the assertion that the law makes the city safe? "Any suggestion that our common-sense law does otherwise is nothing more than cheap political posturing," huffed spokeswoman Amy Varghese.
New York progressives are hardly outliers. Alisa Wellek, executive director of the Immigrant Defense Project, reveals the mindset that animates the Left's casual relationship with the Rule of Law regarding illegal aliens. "We see a ton of people deported for misdemeanors, probation violations, petty theft, shoplifting," she states. "The federal government has these really overreaching laws on the books, laws that are very unforgiving for anyone who's had any contact with the criminal justice system — even if you've never served a day in jail."
The headline of a Denver Post editorial is equally absurd. "Trump should deport criminals, but let's be reasonable," it states. The editorial board offers up the boilerplate progressive rationale that crime thrives "in an environment where the threat of deportation prevents victims and witnesses from contacting law enforcement or even from seeking emergency medical attention." So the paper concludes that Trump, who has "demonized immigrants in his climb to the White House," should "reconsider his inexorable march to mass deportation."
The Atlantic's J. Weston Phippen is another hand-wringer upset with Trump's executive order regarding illegals. "There is no priority anymore," he laments. "The language in the order says that any unauthorized immigrant convicted of any crime can be deported."
In other words, no illegal convicted of a crime should be deported if that deportation offends progressive sensibilities.
This sentiment is shared by "Monarca," a group of Mexican legislators, governors and public figures whose name is the Mexican word for a butterfly that migrates throughout North America. Their strategy is straight out of Cloward-Piven: overwhelm the immigration court system until it breaks down. "The backlog in the immigration system is tremendous," said former Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda. Monarca intends to double or triple the backlog, "until Trump desists in this stupid idea," Castañeda adds.
The courts are already in chaos with a backlog of more than 500,000 cases. That number that has steadily increased over the last eight years, due to a shortage of immigration judges. The current number of judges is 296, and Human Rights First (HRF) estimates the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), the DOJ agency that adjudicates immigration cases, needs to hire 524 immigration judges to eliminate the backlog by 2023.
That's not soon enough. The Trump administration needs to make the hiring of judges a top priority to counter Monarca's contemptible strategy, as well as the reality expressed in 2011 by former Miami immigration jurist Mark H. Metcalf. He explained that the current system is "built to fail" because deportation orders "are rarely enforced," illegals don't show up for court dates and immigration judges "can't enforce their own orders."
The message is clear: Progressives and their media enablers embrace orchestrated anarchy. Orchestrated anarchy that essentially defines criminal deviancy down to the point where leftists demand that people already here illegally be allowed to stay, even if they have committed additional crimes — including "acceptable" felonies. And if these would-be anarchists don't get their way, they will attempt to crash the court system.
It remains to be seen if the GOP will abide the Left's "by any means necessary" approach, or stand up for "deplorable" Americans tired of being told they are bigoted or xenophobic because they reject a de facto invasion — and the bastardization of the law necessary to facilitate it.
How this plays out is America's ultimate litmus test. There is either national sovereignty and the Rule of Law — or there isn't.
~The Patriot Post
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7 new Earth-like exoplanets
discovered, NASA announces
by Rob Verger
by Rob Verger
{foxnews.com} ~ Talk about lucky number seven. Astronomers have discovered not one, not two, but seven Earth-sized planets orbiting a star called TRAPPIST-1... What’s more, three of them are in the habitable zone— the happy place where liquid water can exist on the surface of rocky planets, as it’s not too hot or cold. (Although liquid water could potentially exist on any of the seven, NASA said, it likes the odds on those three best.) The space agency calls the discovery of the fascinating solar system record-breaking. “The discovery gives us a hint that finding a second Earth is not just a matter of if, but when,” Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, said at a news conference announcing the discovery... http://www.foxnews.com/science/2017/02/22/7-new-earth-like-exoplanets-discovered-nasa-announces.html?cmpid=NL_fntop
.Trump administration revokes liar-nObama-era
transgender bathroom guidance for schools
by foxnews.com
{foxnews.com} ~ The Trump administration Wednesday revoked federal guidelines issued by former President Barack liar-nObama that allowed public school students to use restrooms and other facilities corresponding to their gender identity... A document submitted to the Supreme Court by the Solicitor General's office said that the liar-nObama-era directive issued this past May did not "undergo any formal public process" or explain how the directive was "consistent with the express language of Title IX," the federal law outlawing sex discrimination in education and activities. "This is an issue best solved at the state and local level," Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said. "Schools, communities, and families can find -- and in many cases have found -- solutions that protect all students."...
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The Terrorists Among Us: Rarely Mentioned
Not-so-peaceful Refugees and Immigrants
by William F. Jasper
{thenewamerican.com} ~ Judge Robart asked Justice Department lawyer Michelle Bennett, “Have there been terrorist attacks in the United States by refugees or other immigrants from the seven countries listed, since 9/11?”... When Bennett was unable to give Robart a response, he rephrased the question again, then stated, “Let me tell you. The answer to that is none, as best I can tell.” Like many other public officials, journalists, and commentators, Judge Robart was repeating a false talking point that, having been endlessly repeated in the media, has become dogma with defenders of unrestricted migration and open borders. Many have erroneously taken Judge Robart’s claim to even more ridiculous heights, asserting the same claim not only for refugees and immigrants from the seven countries referred to in President Trump’s order, but claiming there have been no cases of terrorism committed by any refugees. We have listed below a fraction of the cases of terrorism and mass murder by Muslim immigrants from various countries, including those referred to in the executive order. In addition, there are many more Muslim refugees and immigrants who have been arrested and convicted of terrorism-related crimes, but who were apprehended and their plots foiled before they were carried out...The city of Seattle is in serious harm by this judge. https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/immigration/item/25429-the-terrorists-among-us-rarely-mentioned-not-so-peaceful-refugees-and-immigrants?utm_source=iContactPro&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=TNA+Top+Daily+Headlines
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Dallas Pension Plan Solution:
Everyone Shares the Pain
by Bob Adelmann
{thenewamerican.com} ~ Following the pension plan board meeting on Monday, Presidents’ Day, a decision was made to accept the rough outlines of a proposal by Texas House Pensions Committee Chairman Dan Flynn to keep the Dallas police and firefighters pension plan from going bankrupt... Said city council member Philip Kingston, “Flynn’s plan is the best of the bad options.” Everyone involved will share the pain: some by having their benefits cut back, and some by having the contributions increased... https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/item/25448-dallas-pension-plan-solution-everyone-shares-the-pain?utm_source=iContactPro&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=TNA+Top+Daily+Headlines
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UCLA Professor Accuses University of
Hypocrisy on Anti-Hamas Posters
by Truth Revolt
{truthrevolt.org} ~ UCLA communications professor Keith Fink—a rare conservative lecturer on the radical, left-wing campus... bravely took the university’s top administrators to task for immediately tearing down posters exposing the connections between the anti-Israel hate group Students for Justice in Palestine and the terror group Hamas while allowing a brazenly anti-Semitic cartoon in the campus paper to pass without comment. Fink, who does not have tenure, appeared Tuesday night on Tucker Carlson’s program on the Fox News channel to accuse UCLA administrators of blocking students from enrolling in his course, “Sex, Politics, and Race: Free Speech on Campus,” because his views deviate from the standard leftist fare typically served up on campus... http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/ucla-professor-accuses-university-hypocrisy-anti-hamas-posters
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Lawmakers probe US funding
for Soros groups, left-wing causes in Europe
by Adam Shaw
{foxnews.com} ~ George Soros' alleged meddling in European politics has caught the attention of Congress.
Concerns about Soros' involvement most recently were raised by the Hungarian prime minister, who last week lashed out at the Soros "empire" and accused it of deploying "tons of money and international heavy artillery."
But days earlier, Republican lawmakers in Washington started asking questions about whether U.S. tax dollars also were being used to fund Soros projects in the small, conservative-led country of Macedonia.
Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., led a group of House lawmakers in writing to Ambassador Jess Baily -- an liar-nObama appointee -- demanding answers. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, also expressed concerns about USAID money going to Soros' Open Society Foundations as part of a broader concern that the U.S. Embassy has been taking sides in party politics.
“I have received credible reports that, over the past few years, the US Mission to Macedonia has actively intervened in the party politics of Macedonia, as well as the shaping of its media environment and civil society, often favoring groups of one political persuasion over another,” Lee said in his letter.
Together, the concerns reflect growing conservative pushback against Soros' operations in Europe.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban last week ripped the Hungary-born billionaire's "trans-border empire." Orban has been one of the central European voices speaking out against the push by E.U. leaders to absorb Syrian refugees and has been criticized for his hardline stance.
Soros' Open Society Foundations -- one of the billionaire's biggest groups operating across the globe -- fired back, saying Orban was trying to deflect attention from other issues.
“The Open Society Foundations for over 30 years have supported civil society groups in Hungary who are addressing profound problems in education, health care, media freedom and corruption," Laura Silber, the organization's chief communications officer, said in a statement to The Associated Press. "Any attacks on this work and those groups are solely an attempt to deflect attention from government inability to address these issues."
The group's stated goal is “to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens” but critics claim it's a front for Soros’ hard-left political maneuverings.
Former Macedonian PM Nikola Gruevski says Soros has a "decisive influence" on his country’s politics.
“If it were not for George Soros behind it with all the millions he pours into Macedonia, the entire network of NGOs, media, politicians, inside and out ... the economy would be stronger, we would have had more new jobs,” he said in a recent interview with Macedonia’s Republika newspaper.
Macedonia, while small, is a broadly conservative country. It has a flat rate tax of 10 percent, a small-government philosophy and a ruling conservative party (VMRO-DPMNE) that has greeted the election of President Trump warmly and pledged to work with him.
Lee’s staff recently met with Macedonia lawmakers, who also passed on a white paper from a citizen’s initiative called “Stop Operation Soros” which alleges U.S. money has been funding hard-left causes in the country -- including violent riots in the streets, as well as a Macedonian version of Saul Alinsky’s far-left handbook “Rules for Radicals.”
In an extensive 40-page dossier, the group alleges USAID money is being used to fund activists and exclusively left-wing media groups as a way to sway the country’s politics.
The Open Society Foundations did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News.
On the Soros connection, Lee’s letter asked if the Mission has “selected the Open Society Foundations as the major implementer of USAID projects in Macedonia” and if the group has been perceived to have political bias in Macedonia.
In a reply dated Feb. 9, the State Department told Lee that the Mission in the country has worked to advance U.S. interests “in a non-biased, non-partisan, objective and transparent manner.” The letter claimed U.S. government assistance has not funded partisan political activities in Macedonia, but noted that from 2002 to the present, USAID had provided three grants to Foundation Open Society – Macedonia (FOSM).
One of these grants is outlined on the USAID website. Between 2012 and 2016, USAID gave almost $5 million in taxpayer cash to FOSM for “The Civil Society Project,” which “aims to empower Macedonian citizens to hold government accountable.” USAID’s website links to www.soros.org.mk, and says the project trained hundreds of young Macedonians “in youth activism and the use of new media instruments.”
The letter from the State Department to Lee said USAID also recently funded a new Civic Engagement Project which partners with four organizations, including FOSM. It was not clear how much this project would cost, but Smith put the figure at $9.5 million.
“The money is very significant, in fact there is still money in the pipeline, from 2017 to 2021, 9.5 million,” Smith said in a recent radio interview with the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins. “It’s one thing to do election monitoring, which is a very noble cause to make sure there’s free and fair elections, but it’s quite another thing to be backing parties that Soros and his gang want to see in control of that country.”
It isn’t the only time Soros has worked with the State Department. Among the emails of liar-Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta released by Wikileaks was one from 2011 in which Soros urged liar-Hillary Clinton to take action in Albania over recent demonstrations in the capital of Tirana.
Soros asked liar-Clinton to “bring the full weight of the international community to bear on Prime Minister Berisha and opposition leader Edi Rama to forestall further public demonstrations and to tone down public pronouncements” and appoint a senior European official as mediator.
Within a few days, an envoy was dutifully dispatched.
Former Macedonian PM Gruevski cited the WikiLeaks emails as proof “Soros can go visit top leading American officials whenever he wants to, arranges meetings day in day out and has significant influence.”
While Soros has often been a bogeyman for the American right, the liberal businessman has kept a steady pressure and funding of left-wing causes within America as well.
“This guy is a spider with lots of webs,” GOP strategist Brad Blakeman told Fox News' "Strategy Room." “He controls numerous third-party groups, where he uses his influence. We’ve seen it internally with Black Lives Matter, the demonstrations taken place after the inaugural -- this is what he does.”
After violent left-wing activists rioted at Berkeley in protest of a lecture by Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos, The Daily Caller reported that the main group behind the protests -- Refuse Facism -- was backed by The Alliance for Global Justice -- which in turn is backed by The Tides Foundation, a Soros-funded group.
Soros also has donated to Media Matters and has been a major financial contributor to the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank founded by Podesta.
Concerns about Soros' involvement most recently were raised by the Hungarian prime minister, who last week lashed out at the Soros "empire" and accused it of deploying "tons of money and international heavy artillery."
But days earlier, Republican lawmakers in Washington started asking questions about whether U.S. tax dollars also were being used to fund Soros projects in the small, conservative-led country of Macedonia.
Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., led a group of House lawmakers in writing to Ambassador Jess Baily -- an liar-nObama appointee -- demanding answers. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, also expressed concerns about USAID money going to Soros' Open Society Foundations as part of a broader concern that the U.S. Embassy has been taking sides in party politics.
“I have received credible reports that, over the past few years, the US Mission to Macedonia has actively intervened in the party politics of Macedonia, as well as the shaping of its media environment and civil society, often favoring groups of one political persuasion over another,” Lee said in his letter.
Together, the concerns reflect growing conservative pushback against Soros' operations in Europe.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban last week ripped the Hungary-born billionaire's "trans-border empire." Orban has been one of the central European voices speaking out against the push by E.U. leaders to absorb Syrian refugees and has been criticized for his hardline stance.
Soros' Open Society Foundations -- one of the billionaire's biggest groups operating across the globe -- fired back, saying Orban was trying to deflect attention from other issues.
“The Open Society Foundations for over 30 years have supported civil society groups in Hungary who are addressing profound problems in education, health care, media freedom and corruption," Laura Silber, the organization's chief communications officer, said in a statement to The Associated Press. "Any attacks on this work and those groups are solely an attempt to deflect attention from government inability to address these issues."
The group's stated goal is “to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens” but critics claim it's a front for Soros’ hard-left political maneuverings.
Former Macedonian PM Nikola Gruevski says Soros has a "decisive influence" on his country’s politics.
“If it were not for George Soros behind it with all the millions he pours into Macedonia, the entire network of NGOs, media, politicians, inside and out ... the economy would be stronger, we would have had more new jobs,” he said in a recent interview with Macedonia’s Republika newspaper.
Macedonia, while small, is a broadly conservative country. It has a flat rate tax of 10 percent, a small-government philosophy and a ruling conservative party (VMRO-DPMNE) that has greeted the election of President Trump warmly and pledged to work with him.
Lee’s staff recently met with Macedonia lawmakers, who also passed on a white paper from a citizen’s initiative called “Stop Operation Soros” which alleges U.S. money has been funding hard-left causes in the country -- including violent riots in the streets, as well as a Macedonian version of Saul Alinsky’s far-left handbook “Rules for Radicals.”
In an extensive 40-page dossier, the group alleges USAID money is being used to fund activists and exclusively left-wing media groups as a way to sway the country’s politics.
The Open Society Foundations did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News.
On the Soros connection, Lee’s letter asked if the Mission has “selected the Open Society Foundations as the major implementer of USAID projects in Macedonia” and if the group has been perceived to have political bias in Macedonia.
In a reply dated Feb. 9, the State Department told Lee that the Mission in the country has worked to advance U.S. interests “in a non-biased, non-partisan, objective and transparent manner.” The letter claimed U.S. government assistance has not funded partisan political activities in Macedonia, but noted that from 2002 to the present, USAID had provided three grants to Foundation Open Society – Macedonia (FOSM).
One of these grants is outlined on the USAID website. Between 2012 and 2016, USAID gave almost $5 million in taxpayer cash to FOSM for “The Civil Society Project,” which “aims to empower Macedonian citizens to hold government accountable.” USAID’s website links to www.soros.org.mk, and says the project trained hundreds of young Macedonians “in youth activism and the use of new media instruments.”
The letter from the State Department to Lee said USAID also recently funded a new Civic Engagement Project which partners with four organizations, including FOSM. It was not clear how much this project would cost, but Smith put the figure at $9.5 million.
“The money is very significant, in fact there is still money in the pipeline, from 2017 to 2021, 9.5 million,” Smith said in a recent radio interview with the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins. “It’s one thing to do election monitoring, which is a very noble cause to make sure there’s free and fair elections, but it’s quite another thing to be backing parties that Soros and his gang want to see in control of that country.”
It isn’t the only time Soros has worked with the State Department. Among the emails of liar-Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta released by Wikileaks was one from 2011 in which Soros urged liar-Hillary Clinton to take action in Albania over recent demonstrations in the capital of Tirana.
Soros asked liar-Clinton to “bring the full weight of the international community to bear on Prime Minister Berisha and opposition leader Edi Rama to forestall further public demonstrations and to tone down public pronouncements” and appoint a senior European official as mediator.
Within a few days, an envoy was dutifully dispatched.
Former Macedonian PM Gruevski cited the WikiLeaks emails as proof “Soros can go visit top leading American officials whenever he wants to, arranges meetings day in day out and has significant influence.”
While Soros has often been a bogeyman for the American right, the liberal businessman has kept a steady pressure and funding of left-wing causes within America as well.
“This guy is a spider with lots of webs,” GOP strategist Brad Blakeman told Fox News' "Strategy Room." “He controls numerous third-party groups, where he uses his influence. We’ve seen it internally with Black Lives Matter, the demonstrations taken place after the inaugural -- this is what he does.”
After violent left-wing activists rioted at Berkeley in protest of a lecture by Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos, The Daily Caller reported that the main group behind the protests -- Refuse Facism -- was backed by The Alliance for Global Justice -- which in turn is backed by The Tides Foundation, a Soros-funded group.
Soros also has donated to Media Matters and has been a major financial contributor to the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank founded by Podesta.
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