A couple of weeks ago the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court decision which blocked Donald Trump’s policy of sending asylum seekers back to Mexico to await their hearing, claiming it was unsafe for the people who were sent back. Here is more on that decision:
the appeals court backed a lower court’s preliminary injunction against the administration’s Migrant Protection Protocol requiring asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases are adjudicated.
Judge William A. Fletcher argued in an opinion that the policy imperils immigrants in violation of legal protections by exposing them to “targeted discrimination, physical violence, sexual assault, overwhelmed and corrupt law enforcement, lack of food and shelter, and practical obstacles to participation in court proceedings in the United States.”
“Uncontested evidence in the record establishes that non-Mexicans returned to Mexico under the MPP risk substantial harm, even death, while they await adjudication of their applications for asylum,” Fletcher wrote.
That was not the end of the case as it is still winding its way through the court system and today the Supreme Court informed the Trump administration it could continue the policy while the lawsuit is pending. Here is more:
The Supreme Court has told the administration that it can keep sending migrants back to Mexico, pending the final decision in a lawsuit against the “Remain in Mexico” policy.
“The application for stay presented to Justice Kagan and by her referred to the Court is granted, and the district court’s April 8, 2019 order granting a preliminary injunction is stayed pending the timely filing and disposition,” said the court’s order.
This is a small victory for the President, however I wonder if it is any indication of how the Supreme Court will rule on this issue when the lawsuit makes it there.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Joe Biden’s brother accused of fraud for using his family name to advance his healthcare company
Those wacky Biden’s, the more you learn about them the more corrupt they seem. Of course we all know about his son Hunter’s various assorted sordid affairs which have been well covered in the blogosphere and we needn’t go back into them here, and we recently learned the Presidential hopeful used his position in the White House to launch his son-in-law’s healthcare company. But that was not all because it was also reported that Joe Biden’s brother Frank secured a land deal in Costa Rica at taxpayer expense while good ole Uncle Joe was visiting that country as part of an Obama initiative to rebuild relations with Costa Rica.
If you are keeping a scorecard that means Joe Biden has used his position to help his son, his daughter, and his brother but it looks like the score is about to change because Joe Biden has another brother. Meet James Biden:
A new report reveals legal problems and allegations of possible fraud involving former Vice President Joe Biden’s brother James, in the latest instance of the Democratic primary front-runner’s family members’ dealings drawing scrutiny amid his presidential bid.
According to Politico, James Biden’s business with medical companies – including Americore Health – has led to allegations that he potentially engaged in fraud and traded on his brother’s name, by claiming Joe was interested in the venture and the family name could provide opportunities.
“It was all smoke and mirrors,” former Americore Health executive Tom Pritchard told Politico. James Biden reportedly convinced Americore that he could use his political clout to deliver a significant influx of cash in the form of an investment from the Middle East, and even convinced the company to take on financial burdens including a six-figure loan to James that he has yet to repay.
James Biden, Americore and Americore founder Grant White are among those now facing a lawsuit from medical companies in Tennessee federal court accusing them of fraud over alleged promises made. Biden and the other defendants have denied any wrongdoing, but the plaintiffs last month reportedly said in a court filing that they were willing to drop their claims against White, who had provided exculpatory evidence as well as information that further implicated Biden and others.
According to the report, James Biden introduced White to his brother. The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment but had confirmed to Politico that White had bought a ticket to a Beau Biden Foundation event in 2017. Any meeting between White and the former vice president “would have been a handshake and nothing more,” they said. The campaign also claimed that Joe Biden never showed support for Americore or even discussed it with his brother.
James Biden did introduce his partner to his famous politically connected brother but nothing ever came from the meeting. Riiight…
And did you notice the charges might be dropped on his partner after he provided exculpatory evidence that implicated James Biden?
There is now a total of two family members in the healthcare industry that Joe Biden apparently helped while he was Vice President and what was Barack Obama’s signature legislation? Could it be possible that these two profited from Obamacare? If so we now know why Joe Biden thought passing the healthcare law was such a big bleeping deal!
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
With the nation in the midst of a media created coronavirus outbreak fear reminiscent of the bird and swine flu scares one Democrat is calling for the President to cancel all of his campaign rallies in order to ensure his most ardent supporters do not become infected.
Here is some of what Jackie Speier:
“The fact that he is not willing to cancel his various rallies suggests that he is willing to place even his most ardent supporters at risk because we’re supposed to stay six feet away from other persons in order to mitigate the exchange of those viruses. I think that he is showing, unfortunately, why he is so ill-prepared to guide our country during this time of the crisis.”
Where do I even begin with this?
How about beginning with the fact that by showing he is not afraid of the virus personally this would be a great way to guide the country during this time of crisis? You know, that whole nothing to fear but fear itself mentality Democrats used to have. But of course the media makes its living by spreading fear…
Or maybe I could begin with the fact that Jackie Speier and the Democrats do not care about the health and well-being of Trump supporters. Just the other day a woman said if she caught coronavirus she would attend every MAGA rally she could in order to infect as many Trump supporters as she could, and this tweet was shared by Democratic lawmakers.
Or maybe I could begin by asking why she is only concerned about the health and well-being of Trump supporters and is not calling for the cancellation of any and all upcoming campaign events by any of the remaining Democratic Presidential candidates? Or for any other candidate running for the Congress? And, as a member of the House of Representatives she is running for reelection, is she going to take her own advice? Wouldn’t that be the proper thing to do if she was indeed afraid of the virus spreading at campaign rallies?
Most of the panic over this virus the Democrats and the media are spreading has to do with trying to hurt Donald Trump’s chances of being reelected, and this is an obvious attempt to put the President at a disadvantage when the campaign is really starting to heat up. These comments are so disingenuous and politically motivated that it is actually silly.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Sunday, March 8th open thread: ‘Hero’
“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24 KJV)
Here is this week’s open thread. Please feel free to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever issues arise during the course of the day. Nothing is off-topic here.
You can subscribe to America’s Watchtower to receive email updates and you can also follow America’s Watchtower on Facebook and Twitter by clicking the links on the right.
Here is Michael Kiwanuka performing “Hero” live:
Democratic National Committee changes rules to keep Tulsi Gabbard out of the next debate
We have seen over the course of this primary season the way the Democratic National Committee has used rule changes to manipulate which candidates qualify for the debates, thus limiting or expanding a candidate’s national exposure. We saw them do this to help Mike Bloomberg, although in the end giving him a national stage was the worst thing the party could have done for him, and now we are seeing the Democratic National Committee using its power to eliminate Tulsi Gabbard from the debate stage. Here is more:
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Friday announced new qualifying standards for the upcoming Arizona debate that will leave only the top two contenders on stage.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) did not meet the single qualifying factor: earning at least 20 percent of the delegates awarded as of March 15.
Tulsi Gabbard was not happy and she called out the Democratic National Committee for helping Michael Blommberg the last time around while changing the rules to hurt her this time around.
“To keep me off the stage, the DNC again arbitrarily changed the debate qualifications. Previously they changed the qualifications in the OPPOSITE direction so Bloomberg could debate. I ask that you stand w/ me against the DNC’s transparent effort to exclude me from the debates. #LetTulsiDebate,” she said.
I would love to take this opportunity to bash the Democratic National Committee for manipulating the rules again but the truth is that at this point there are only two candidates with legitimate chances to win the nomination and there is no reason to have any other candidate on the debate stage.
The truth is the blame for this lies with the Democratic voters themselves for rejecting every single candidate who was not a rich, white, straight, old man (and one who was) and I find that extremely ironic coming from the voters who consider themselves to be the people that accept diversity…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Former Obama Homeland Security IG indicted for theft, wire fraud, and attempting to defraud the government
According to a release by the Department of Justice a former Obama era acting Homeland Security Inspector General and one other person have been charged with theft of government property, wire fraud, and attempting to defraud the government. Here is more:
A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned a 16-count indictment against a former Acting Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and a former subordinate for their alleged theft of proprietary software and confidential databases from the U.S. government as part of a scheme to defraud the U.S. government.
The indictment charges Charles K. Edwards, 59, of Sandy Spring, Maryland, and Murali Yamazula Venkata, 54, of Aldie, Virginia, with conspiracy to commit theft of government property and to defraud the United States, theft of government property, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft. The indictment also charges Venkata with destruction of records.
According to the allegations in the indictment, from October 2014 to April 2017, Edwards, Venkata, and others executed a scheme to defraud the U.S. government by stealing confidential and proprietary software from DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG), along with sensitive government databases containing personal identifying information (PII) of DHS and USPS employees, so that Edwards’s company, Delta Business Solutions, could later sell an enhanced version of DHS-OIG’s software to the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Agriculture at a profit. Although Edwards had left DHS-OIG in December 2013, he continued to leverage his relationship with Venkata and other DHS-OIG employees to steal the software and the sensitive government databases.
The indictment further alleges that, in addition to stealing DHS-OIG’s software and the sensitive government databases, Venkata and others also assisted Edwards by reconfiguring his laptop so that he could properly upload the stolen software and databases, provided troubleshooting support whenever Edwards required it, and helped him build a testing server at his residence with the stolen software and databases, which contained PII. As further part of the alleged scheme, Edwards retained software developers in India for the purpose of developing his commercial alternative of DHS-OIG’s software.
Move along, nothing to see here. There was not even a hint of corruption in the Obama administration…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Yesterday Chuck Schumer stood on the steps of the Supreme Court and warned the penultimate court about consequences for Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh if the court did not rule the way he wanted it to on an abortion case. He stated these two justices (both Trump appointees by the way) would “pay the price” unless they went along with his wishes.
This led to the highly unusual move of John Roberts speaking out publicly against a member of the government, here is what he said:
“Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements for this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, but also dangerous. All members of the court will continue to do their job, without fear or favor, from whatever quarter.”
Chuck Schumer is defending his comments by claiming he was talking about political retribution or a backlash against conservatives in the election and not physical violence but John Roberts is right. This type of rhetoric is dangerous and can lead to violence even if it is not intended. Just ask Steve Scalice…
Now it looks like Senator Hawley is going to introduce a censure motion against Chuck Schumer for his dangerous comments, here is more:
I think you probably know how I feel about censure, it is nothing but a slap on the wrist and in the end Chuck Schumer will take it as a medal of honor for standing up to Republicans and for women’s rights but at the same time somebody has to let these people know that this temper tantrum the left is still on after almost four years is unacceptable.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Believe it or not while everybody else has forgotten, Judicial Watch is still trying to get answers from Hillary Clinton about her email scandal and a Federal judge has now ruled that the former Secretary of State must sit down with the conservative watchdog group and give a sworn deposition.
Here is more:
A federal judge Monday granted a request from conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch to have former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sit for a sworn deposition to answer questions about her use of a private email server to conduct government business.
Clinton has argued that she has already answered questions about this and should not have to do so again — the matter did not result in any charges for the then-presidential candidate in 2016 after a high-profile investigation — but D.C. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth said in his ruling that her past responses left much to be desired.
“As extensive as the existing record is, it does not sufficiently explain Secretary Clinton’s state of mind when she decided it would be an acceptable practice to set up and use a private server to conduct State Department business,” Lamberth said.
The judge went on to recognize that while Clinton responded to written questions in a separate case, “those responses were either incomplete, unhelpful, or cursory at best. Simply put her responses left many more questions than answers.” Lamberth said that using written questions this time “will only muddle any understanding of Secretary Clinton’s state of mind and fail to capture the full picture, thus delaying the final disposition of this case even further.”
There you have it, according to the judge Hillary Clinton’s response left more questions remaining than answers provided and while I have to give Judicial Watch credit for still trying to get to the bottom of this scandal at this point I have to paraphrase Hillary Clinton and ask what difference does it make any more?
Nothing is ever going to come from this and she is never going to be held accountable for her actions so at this point I take solace in the fact that it might have helped prevent her from becoming President.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
A couple of weeks ago a contributor on MSNBC made the claim that Bernie Sanders supporters were “racist, liberal whites” and while I enjoy seeing the left turn on each other the comment did seem to come out of the blue and without reason or explanation.
However after seeing the reaction from some Bernie Sanders supporters after the Vermont socialist lost to Joe Biden is South Carolina yesterday I am beginning to understand that this MSNBC contributor was actually ahead of the curve on this one.
Racist liberal supporters were out in full throat on Twitter after the loss calling South Carolina voters “rodents” (which we know is a racist dog whistle after Donald Trump called Baltimore “rodent infested”) who were “uneducated” and claimed the votes of black people in South Carolina should not count.
They even went so far as to claim they should suppress the black vote in the south because once Bernie Sanders is elected black people will realize it was for their own good.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, you can read more at The Right Scoop to see the full scope of Bernie Sanders supporters self-important and racist reaction to a single loss in a southern state.
Can you imagine if anybody else called for the suppression of the black vote under the guise of doing it for their own good?! In fact the left has been claiming for years that the Republicans want to suppress the black vote and that is what the voter ID laws are all about, yet here we have them actively calling for voter suppression and all I hear is crickets.
If Sanders supporters are this upset over a single primary loss so early in the contest I can only imagine the sky-screaming that is going to happen after the Democratic party leaders steal the nomination from Bernie Sanders at the convention.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Sunday, March 1st open thread: ‘Someone You Loved’
“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24 KJV)
Here is this week’s open thread. Please feel free to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever issues arise during the course of the day. Nothing is off-topic here.
You can subscribe to America’s Watchtower to receive email updates and you can also follow America’s Watchtower on Facebook and Twitter by clicking the links on the right.
Here is Lewis Capaldi performing “Someone You Loved” live from last year:
America's Watchtower 