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~ Featuring ~  

America Is Greater Than 'Just OK'
Marc A. Thiessen  

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Barry makes landfall over Louisiana 

as some levees get overwhelmed

by Daniel Chaitin

{ washingtonexaminer.com } ~ Hurricane Barry made landfall west of New Orleans midday Saturday, bringing with it a high-risk flooding event that could last for days in southern Louisiana... Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said the slow-moving hurricane made landfall during a news conference at around 1:45 p.m. Moments later, the National Hurricane Center confirmed the landfall near Intracoastal City and announced an immediate downgrade to tropical storm strength. Yet the stormy weather and the risks associated with it are from over. “I want to caution everybody. This is just the beginning," Edwards said. Barry was a hurricane for roughly three hours. The National Hurricane Center made that call just shy of 11 a.m. ET, determining the maximum sustained winds were 75 miles per hour, as the Category 1 hurricane was only dozens of miles south of the coast. Barry was the first named hurricane of the Atlantic hurricane season. Among its hazards are life-threatening storm surge to coastal areas of Louisiana and Mississippi, heavy rainfall and flash flooding, and strong wind and the threat for downed trees and power lines, according to the National Weather Service. Tornadoes are also possible. Flooding remains a significant concern as the ground is already saturated in places such as New Orleans, the streets of which flooded due to heavy rain on Wednesday. The National Hurricane Center said up to rain accumulations are expected to be 10 to 20 inches in south-central and southeast Louisiana and southwest Mississippi, and 25 inches of rain could fall in some isolated areas...

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/hurricane-barry-makes-landf...  

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‘Helping People Avoid Justice’: Border Patrol 

Union President Reacts to scumbag/liar-Clinton’s Advice to Illegal Aliens

by Jason Hopkins

{ dailysignal.com } ~ National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd blasted scumbag/liar-Hillary Clinton for publicly coaching illegal immigrants on how to avoid apprehension from Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents... “I’m amazed that somebody … that ran for president of the United States—that was willing to promise to uphold the laws of the United States, the Constitution of the United States—is now actively helping people avoid justice,” Judd, who leads the Border Patrol’s union of nearly 20,000 members, said Friday on Fox News. Judd’s comments follow a tweet scumbag/liar-Clinton sent Thursday. The former first lady and Democratic presidential candidate published an image that contained a list, written in Spanish, of recommendations for illegal aliens to follow in order to avoid apprehension and deportation from ICE agents. The instructions advised illegal aliens “not to open the door” for agents and to report their badge number, type of vehicle they are driving, and where they were seen. scumbag/liar-Clinton’s tweet was in response to President Donald Trump’s planned immigration raids. ICE agents are expected to target roughly 2,000 illegal immigrants across 10 U.S. states Sunday, the first day of an ongoing operation by the agency to apprehend and deport illegal immigrants. The deportations target aliens who have ignored court orders to leave the country. “These people have already been ordered deported. They’ve already exhausted all their appeals processes through the court system. They’re not supposed to be here. They’re illegally here, and she’s helping them to continue to break the law,” Judd said Friday. “I don’t understand how the left continues to move further and further left to what the American public wants.” The union leader explained the only people being targeted are those who entered the country illegally, exhausted their due process after being found ineligible to claim asylum or amnesty, and continue to live in the U.S. despite an immigration judge ordering them to leave... The American people where wise not elect her. She is a scumbag and a liar who is welling to break the law.

https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/07/12/helping-people-avoid-justice...  

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We’ll Obstruct Justice to Protect 

Illegal Aliens From Deportation

by R. Cort Kirkwood

{ thenewamerican.com } ~ Chicago’s mayor has declared war on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and again vowed to hamstring raids to deport illegal aliens who have been ordered to leave the country... The obstruction of justice Mayor Lori Lightfoot confessed at a press conference with “immigration advocates” on Wednesday reiterated what she said last month when Trump announced raids that he canceled. Chicago officially stands for illegal-alien anarchy, and won’t help ICE enforce duly-passed immigration laws. Lightfoot charged ICE with “terrorizing” and “traumatizing” immigrants, and said the city had “taken measures over the past few weeks to ensure the Chicago Police Department will not cooperate with ICE.” In late June after Trump announced the raids, the Chicago Tribune reported, she “moved quickly ... to assure residents that the Chicago Police Department would not give federal immigration agents access to police data or participate in any raids amid news of potential immigration sweeps in Chicago and other major cities.” Trump canceled the raids, but then rescheduled them to begin on Sunday. Thus did Lightfoot appear at a news conference with subversive open-borders advocates to assure illegal aliens she would not permit Chicago cops to help ICE to deport them. “They will not team up with ICE to detain any resident. We have also cut off ICE access from any CPD databases and that will remain permanent,” the  mayor vowed. “Chicago is and will always be a welcoming city that will never tolerate ICE tearing our families apart.”... The FBI should arrest this mayor like her buddy scumbag/liar-Hillary.    https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/immigration/item/32841-chicag...   

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Crypto Rogues

by Yaya J. Fanusie and Trevor Logan

{ fdd.org } ~ In the 1800s, few economists imagined that the U.S. dollar would eclipse the British pound sterling as the world’s leading currency in the next century... Nor could most foresee how American banks, businesses, and U.S. foreign policy itself would drive much of the global economic order well into the next millennium. The primacy of the dollar has enabled U.S. policymakers to deploy tools of financial coercion and economic sanctions to promote U.S. national security interests without relying solely on diplomacy and military action. For decades, U.S. adversaries have been trying to evade and undermine this power, but there has been no way to conduct significant international commerce without moving through the pipes of the U.S.-led global financial system. Now, however, new pipelines are being built. Efforts are underway around the world to build new systems for transferring value that work outside of conventional banking infrastructure. The Bitcoin software code enables users to send non-copyable digital assets, known as cryptocurrency or digital currency, to another person without an intermediary, removing the role of the traditional banking sector. The transaction history is stored on an immutable, distributed ledger known as a blockchain, with software code that typically is openly sourced and free. Blockchain is gaining popularity in the U.S., with cryptocurrency startups growing and some large financial institutions piloting elements of the innovative software to increase payment efficiencies. While cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology may benefit millions of consumers by reducing the role of intermediaries and increasing transparency, U.S. adversaries see this development as an opportunity to reduce Washington’s ability to impose economic sanctions, which depend on intermediaries like traditional banks to monitor compliance. At the moment, blockchain platforms are experimental and small in scale compared to the conventional financial system, but they are evolving quickly. Blockchain technology may be the innovation that enables U.S. adversaries for the first time to operate entire economies outside the U.S.-led financial system. These governments, therefore, are prioritizing blockchain technology as a key component of their efforts to counter U.S. financial power. Russia, Iran, and Venezuela have initiated blockchain technology experiments that their leaders paint as tools to offset U.S. financial coercive power and increase sanctions resistance. China is also wary of U.S. financial power and the ever-present threat of sanctions against Chinese officials. The efforts of these four nations go beyond mere sanctions evasion, typically characterized by sanctioned entities hiding or disguising business and financial operations in order to continue operating within the global financial system. Instead, these nations seek to reduce the potency of unilateral and multilateral sanctions by developing alternative payment systems for global commerce. It is also notable that China, Iran, and Venezuela, in particular, have restricted their citizens’ access to existing cryptocurrencies as they explore developing a state-backed digital currency. Blockchain sanctions resistance is a long-term strategy for U.S. adversaries. None of the blockchain platforms currently operational could support the volume and speed of financial transactions moving through the conventional banking system. And most importantly, because blockchain ventures currently depend on real-world fiat currency and conventional bank accounts, U.S. sanctions pressure for now can reach businesses in the cryptocurrency and blockchain tech space. However, the U.S. position of influence is not necessarily permanent. Technology has created a potential pathway to alternative financial value transfer systems outside of U.S. control. The target timeline may be two to three decades, but these actors are developing the building blocks now. They envision a world in which cryptocurrency technology helps them eclipse U.S. financial power, much the way that the dollar once eclipsed the British pound. Washington, therefore, must understand the benefits and threats posed by new financial technologies, maintain the integrity of global finance, and cultivate the expertise and influence to lead in what is becoming an international crypto race. The U.S. has the opportunity to harmonize digital currency technology with the law-based financial order if it stays ahead of its adversaries’ attempts at building the financial system of the future...  https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2019/07/11/crypto-rogues/  

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Acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan under 

federal investigation for alleged leaks

by Anna Giaritelli

{ washingtonexaminer.com } ~ Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan is at the center of a federal investigation into the leak of confidential government information in late June that forced Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to call off a nationwide operation... three senior administration officials told the Washington Examiner. Following the publishing of sensitive leaked law enforcement information on June 21, then-acting ICE Director Mark Morgan’s team followed department protocol and reported the incident to the ICE Joint Intake Center so they could investigate. JIC is an agency office that handles internal investigations of personnel misconduct, sexual abuse, staff neglect, or violations of responsibilities that may have contributed to such incidents. “There is an ongoing investigation. An internal investigation has been launched,” one official said in a phone call Friday. The investigation, which is not a criminal probe, is centered around the leader of the department’s 240,000 employees, as well as at least one aide, for possible involvement in the leak. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It's not clear if JIC has referred the matter to the DHS Office of the Inspector General. “Any investigation into the malicious, unauthorized disclosure of the operations is completely justified. Any causal observer would logically deduce that McAleenan’s dodgy response and coy behavior warrant additional scrutiny,” a second senior official said late Thursday. A third official said the department’s decision to pursue the investigation of the acting secretary in itself was “very troubling.”...

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/acting-dhs-secretary-mcalee...  

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lowlife-Harris and Gabbard not constitutionally qualified to be president

By Larry Klayman

{ renewamerica.com } ~ Senator lowlife-Kamala Devi Harris (D-California) cannot become president unless she is a "natural born Citizen." The U.S. Constitution contains few eligibility criteria for our nation's highest post... But being born to the country is one of them. Since a vice president must be able to succeed to the presidency, lowlife-Harris could not run as vice president, either. Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 requires that only a natural born citizen can serve as president. The Constitution clearly distinguishes between a citizen and a "natural born Citizen." There is a special case of citizen who is also natural born. An interesting but often-ignored requirement is that one must also have "been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States." The intent indicates an attempt to ensure allegiance to the United States by a strong connection. This was the result of continued loyalties to the British Crown among Tories and others after the Revolutionary War, where some politicians even suggesting the nation should return to a limited monarchy. The Framers thus wanted to eliminate "family influences" among our presidents. Some may think of the Fourteenth Amendment. Even if we ignore the requirement that a person born in the country must be "under the jurisdiction thereof," the Constitution clearly recognizes that not all citizens are eligible to be president. Both of Harris's parents were present in the United States under student visas when lowlife-Harris was born in Oakland, California. They were not U.S. citizens at that time. A student visa requires a non-immigrant intent. That is, one must swear that they have no intent to stay. lowlife-Harris' parents appear to have lied. Her father is described as "an African-American from Jamaica." Her mother Shyamala Gopalan was from India and graduated from the University of Delhi at nineteen. Her parents separated a few years after lowlife-Harris was born and divorced when lowlife-Harris was seven. Her mother entered the country only 4 years before lowlife-Harris was born, and her father only 3 years before...   http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/klayman/190712

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America Is Greater Than 'Just OK'

Marc A. Thiessen

 

Maybe President Trump was right that we needed a “Salute to America” last week, because apparently some Americans have lost sight of the greatness of our country. Case in point: To mark Independence Day, The New York Times posted a video op-ed challenging what it called the “mythology” of American greatness. “America may once have been the greatest,” the Times video declares, “but today, America, we’re just OK.”

The video is like a caricature of how conservatives think the left sees America — except it isn’t a caricature; it’s real. It’s a straw man come to life. As evidence we’re just OK, the video cites statistics showing that other developed countries, such as Luxembourg, Sweden and Norway, have lower poverty rates or better education and health care outcomes than America. And as for our “kick-ass democracy,” the Times says, it’s not that big a deal because “a lot of countries have freedoms.”

Put aside for a moment all the misleading data the video uses to show America is not so great. The fact is, all the freedom and progress those other countries enjoy today would not be possible without the United States.

The reason that “a lot of countries have freedoms” today is because our Founding Fathers pioneered the principle of popular sovereignty, where governments answer to the people instead of the other way around. At the time of our founding, the rest of the world was ruled by monarchs. Our founders established the first country in human history that was built on an idea — the idea of human liberty.

For most of our history, American democracy was a global outlier. In 1938, on the eve of World War II, there were just 17 democracies. It was not until 1998 — just two decades ago — that there were more democracies than autocracies.

That dramatic explosion of freedom didn’t just happen. It was the direct result of the rise of the United States as a global superpower. The U.S.-powered victory over Nazi tyranny in World War II and our triumph over Soviet tyranny in the Cold War defeated the hateful ideologies of fascism and communism, and unleashed a wave of freedom that has spread across the world. Today, 4.1 billion people live in democracies. (Of those who do not, four out of five live in China.)

The unprecedented expansion of liberty has produced unprecedented prosperity. Last September, the Brookings Institution reported that “for the first time since agriculture-based civilization began 10,000 years ago, the majority of humankind … some 3.8 billion people, live in households with enough discretionary expenditure to be considered ‘middle class’ or ‘rich.’”

None of that would be possible without the Pax Americana guaranteed by U.S. military. Americans liberated a continent, rebuilt much of it from the rubble of war with the Marshall Plan, and then stood watch on freedom’s frontier and prevented a Soviet tank invasion across the Fulda Gap. And today, the only thing that stops North Korea from invading South Korea or China from invading Taiwan is American military might.

So, let’s be clear: Every country that enjoys democratic governance today owes its birth of freedom to our Founding Fathers, and the continued existence of their democracy to the U.S. military.

Today, for all its flaws, America remains the freest, most innovative, most prosperous country in the history of the world. We invented the lightbulb and the iPhone. We put a man on the moon and a rover on Mars. We are a nation of unparalleled military power and unlimited opportunity. There’s a reason we have a crisis on our southern border; millions want to come here so that they can share in the abundance of American prosperity.

The men and women who flew those fighters and bombers over the Mall last week make it all possible. They provide the critical foundation of peace and security upon which our freedom, and the freedom of all the world’s democracies, is built. Maybe Luxembourg scores better on some measures, but no one is counting on Luxembourg to secure the peace of the world. Trump was right to shine a spotlight on our men and women in uniform and to remind those who have lost sight of it that the United States is not simply the greatest nation on Earth; we are indispensable. Without us, the world would be mired in the darkness of totalitarianism rather than the light of liberty.

That is better than “just OK.”  ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/opinion/64179?mailing_id=4410&utm_medium...