9th Circuit Court rules against Donald Trump’s asylum policies
I wrote in another post on a court decision that it was getting hard to follow all the lawsuits Democrats and left-leaning organizations have pending in the court against everything Donald Trump is trying to do and this is what I am talking about:
Back in May of last year the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals handed Donald Trump a victory on the President’s policy of sending migrants who did not pass through a port of entry back to Mexico to await their asylum hearing, reversing a Federal court decision, and yesterday the same court ruled against two of the President’s policies, including this very same one. Here is more:
A California appeals court has rejected two of the Trump administration’s efforts to curtail asylum.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with a coalition of immigrant legal services groups in ruling against a Trump administration rule barring asylum claims from people who cross the US-Mexico border without presenting themselves at an official port of entry.
In a separate ruling, 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.
The court felt that risk of “substantial harm” or “even death” was so great that the court issued an immediate stay of its own decision. This appears to be headed to the Supreme Court and it is anybody’s guess how this will turn out.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
It is beginning to look a lot like 2016 all over again for Bernie Sanders and his supporters. Well, actually it has been looking like 2016 all over again for quite some time with some of the stories we have been seeing, but it looks like it is about to get interesting for Bernie Sanders and his supporters who are still upset the Democratic party rigged the primary against him in 2016 because now the superdelegates are warning they could do it again this time around.
Here is more:
Senator Bernie Sanders’ issues with the Democratic establishment may continue past the nominating races and into the Democratic National Convention, according to a new report.
If Mr Sanders arrives at the convention with any less than a majority of delegates pledged to him, he may find himself with a wave of superdelegates voting against his nomination.
The New York Times reported Thursday that in interviews with 93 superdelegates, only nine said that Mr Sanders arriving at the convention with a plurality was reason enough to support him as nominee.
In the event that Mr Sanders does only win a plurality of pledged delegates, there could be a brokered convention and subsequent fight to choose a nominee.
The Times report was “based on interviews with the 93 superdelegates, out of 771 total, as well as party strategists and aides to senior Democrats about the thinking of party leaders.”
The magic number for Bernie Sanders is 1,991, anything less than that in the delegate count and the Democratic party leaders are willing to fight to deny Bernie Sanders the nomination and thwart the will of the Democratic voters. This is what the Democratic National Committee is banking on, which is why they are in the process of changing the rules regarding superdelegates again so that the superdelegates do not have to wait for the second ballot to cast their votes.
It would take some guts for the Democratic party leaders to rob Bernie Sanders of the nomination again, and they would be risking political suicide with their voters, but they are banking on their constituents being so filled with hatred of Donald Trump that it will trump their disdain at being screwed over again.
The Democratic party leaders hope their base will fall in line for what they believe is the greater good and disregard the fact that their party does not care who they want to be the nominee. We’ll see how it plays out if this comes to fruition but this sure is entertaining.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
AP fact checks Democrats’ claims Donald Trump gutted the CDC
We have not seen the mainstream media and the Democrats try to drum up so much pandemic fear since George W Bush was running for reelection in 2004. But they are dipping back into the playbook and they are hoping that this time around they will be able to scare Americans into voting for the Democrats by claiming the country is not ready for a pandemic because Donald Trump has already failed to protect us.
It did not work against George Bush but they are hoping this time around the second time will be a charm, there really is nothing new under the sun when it comes to the Democratic playbook. We have heard several Democratic leaders come out trashing the President for his lack of response to the coronavirus outbreak and during the debate the other night several candidates claimed that the President gutted the CDC and this has left the United States vulnerable. The Associated Press actually decided to do some investigative journalism and fact-checked this claim.
Here is what a couple of the candidates said during the debate:
MIKE BLOOMBERG: “There’s nobody here to figure out what the hell we should be doing. And he’s defunded — he’s defunded Centers for Disease Control, CDC, so we don’t have the organization we need. This is a very serious thing.” — debate Tuesday night.
JOE BIDEN, comparing the Obama-Biden administration with now: “We increased the budget of the CDC. We increased the NIH budget. … He’s wiped all that out. … He cut the funding for the entire effort.”
Here is what the AP found:
They’re both wrong to say the agencies have seen their money cut. Bloomberg is repeating the false allegation in a new ad that states the U.S. is unprepared for the virus because of “reckless cuts” to the CDC. Trump’s budgets have proposed cuts to public health, only to be overruled by Congress, where there’s strong bipartisan support for agencies such as the CDC and NIH. Instead, financing has increased.
The Congress has actually increased the funding for the CDC and while Donald Trump might have proposed cuts to the agency he signed an increase CDC spending into law.
As far as Michael Bloomberg’s claim that there is nobody at the CDC to oversea outbreak response here is what the AP found:
The broader point about there being “nobody here” to coordinate the response sells short what’s in place to handle an outbreak.
The public health system has a playbook to follow for pandemic preparation — regardless of who’s president or whether specific instructions are coming from the White House. Those plans were put into place in anticipation of another flu pandemic, but are designed to work for any respiratory-borne disease.
Among the health authorities overseeing the work are Dr. Anne Schuchat, CDC’s principal deputy director and a veteran of previous outbreaks, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, NIH’s infectious disease chief who has advised six presidents.
Another lie, here is the AP summary on these claims:
Democratic presidential contenders are describing the federal infectious-disease bureaucracy as rudderless and ill-prepared for the coronavirus threat because of budget cuts and ham-handed leadership by President Donald Trump. That’s a distorted picture.
In others words the Democrats are lying and twisting the truth to suit their personal agenda and even the Associated Press could not run cover for the Democrats on this issue. However the Democrats are shameless and they will continue to promote the big lie knowing that for the most part the mainstream media will swear to it.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Appeals court rules Donald Trump can withhold Federal funding from sanctuary cities
It is hard to keep track of all the lawsuits Democrats have pending on virtually everything Donald Trump has tried to do as President. In some cases there are multiple lawsuits against the same issue. One such case is the issue of Donald Trump withholding Federal funding from cities which refuse to cooperate with Federal immigration laws.
Back in 2017 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Los Angeles and stated the President was within his authority to withhold Federal money from sanctuary cities if they did not comply with Federal immigration laws, and today the Second Circuit Court of Appeals handed the President an even bigger victory on sanctuary cities in a lawsuit filed by seven states and New York City.
Here is more:
A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that the Department of Justice (DOJ) could withhold funding from cities and states that refuse to cooperate with the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
A three-judge panel on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously overturned a district court judge’s ruling that the department lacked the authority to impose immigration-related conditions on certain funding.
The panel’s opinion, written by Judge Reena Raggi, found that Congress had delegated authority to the attorney general to set conditions on the federal grant program it had created, called the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program.
“Repeatedly and throughout its pronouncement of Byrne Program statutory requirements, Congress makes clear that a grant applicant demonstrates qualification by satisfying statutory requirements in such form and according to such rules as the Attorney General establishes,” wrote Raggi, who was appointed to the court by George W. Bush. “This confers considerable authority on the Attorney General.”
So basically the panel ruled that if a state must meet requirements in order to recieve grant money the administration has the right to make sure the state is meeting those requirements and if it is not it is not entitled to the money. In other words the administration has the right to enforce the conditions of a bargain it makes with the states. This seems more than obvious to me and these lawsuits should have been thrown out in the first place so this decision was a long time coming but finally common sense seems to be prevailing.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Democratic National Committee distances itself from Bernie Sanders for his praise of Fidel Castro
It is no secret that the Democratic establishment is very worried about Bernie Sanders winning the party’s nomination for President. So much so that the Democratic National Committee changed the rules in order to get Michael Bloomberg onto the debate stage and is in the process of changing the superdelegate rules in order to wrestle the nomination away from the Vermont socialist at a brokered convention.
Now the remaining candidates in the 2020 primary and the Democratic National Committee has been forced to distance themselves from Bernie Sanders after he voiced his support for Fidel Castro. We all knew that deep down inside Bernie Sanders was a communist sympathizer but until now he was able to keep it hidden, but anyway here is what he had to say:
“We’re very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba, but, you know, it’s unfair to simply say everything is bad,” Sanders said. “You know? When Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing? Even though Fidel Castro did it?”
Hmmm, that is sort of like when Donald Trump’s there were good people on both sides comment was taken out of context and used against him, only in this case what Bernie Sanders said was not taken out of context and it is many, many times worse than what Donald Trump was portrayed as saying.
Here is what the Democratic National Committee had to say:
A spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) attempted to distance the party from Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ comments praising the late Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro’s “literacy program.”
“I’ll let Bernie Sanders speak for his comments,” DNC spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa told Fox News’ Bill Hemmer Tuesday. “We are very clear in the Democratic party that we speak out against brutal dictatorships like Castro.”
The Democratic National Committee is distancing itself from the comments however did not condemn the comments or ask for a retraction, and that is because deep down inside the Democrats all have communist leanings, they would just prefer to keep that to themselves.
Can you imagine what would happen if anyone came out and said that Hitler might have been an authoritarian but he did some good things because he solved Germany’s unemployment problem and gave us the Volkswagen Beetle? Yet what Bernie Sanders said is comparable and Donald Trump is the fascist?
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Joe Biden to gun makers: ‘I’m coming for you. Period’
I believe that Michael Bloomberg is the most radical anti-second amendment candidate in the 2020 Democratic field, however Joe Biden is apparently trying to give him a run for his money. Here is what Joe Biden had to say to gun owners and manufacturers on the campaign trail recently:
“A guy has 12 assault weapons with bump stocks, which means you can fire it faster. You can pull the trigger faster,” Biden said to a crowd during a CNN town hall. “Why in God’s name should anyone, anyone, anyone, anyone be able to own that? It’s just wrong, and we’ve got to — and I promise you, as president, I am going to get these guys.”
Apparently Joe Biden does not know that Donald Trump has already banned bump stocks, he is a little late to the party on this one. But back to good ole Uncle Joe:
“I want to let them know. I promise you. I’m the only guy that has beaten the gun manufacturers — I’m the only guy that has beaten the NRA nationally, and I did it twice, nationally. And gun manufacturers, I’m coming for you. Period.”
I hate to break it to you Joe but you are not coming after anybody. Period. You are lucky if you have two weeks remaining in your Presidential bid.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Sunday, February 23rd open thread: ‘Whiplash’
“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 Metallica performing “Whiplash” live back in 1983:
For many years Democrats and the mainstream media (but I repeat myself) have been calling Republicans racists. This really started ramping up with the election of Barack Obama, if you opposed him for legitimate differences in his politics you were called a racist in an attempt to delegitimize your position and to intimidate you into not voicing your criticism.
This dangerous rhetoric has only become worse since Donald Trump emerged on the national scene as a viable candidate for President. We remember Trump supporters being labeled irredeemable deplorables by Hillary Clinton and now if you support the President you are either a racist, Nazi, white supremacist, homophobe, misogynist, or worse.
The Democrats have become so used to using these ad hominum attacks that it has become the only debate tool they have left, they no longer have the ability to engage in a legitimate conversation with an opponent and it reared its ugly head on MSNBC yesterday when a contributor claimed that Bernie Sanders supporters were “racist, liberal whites.” Here is more:
MSNBC contributor and editor at “The Root,” Jason Johnson said 2020 presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was the favorite candidate of “racist, liberal whites.”
Johnson said, “I do find it fascinating that some racist, liberal whites seem to love them some Bernie Sanders consistently.”
He added, “The man cares nothing for intersectionality. I don’t care how many people from the island of misfit black girls you throw out there to defend you on a regular basis it doesn’t mean your campaign is serious.”
At some point we do have to get back to a more civil debate, we cannot continue to go down this path without it leading to devastating results which will make the Steve Scalise shooting by a Sanders supporter seem mild in comparison, but still I have to admit it brings a smile to my face when I see the left turn against themselves.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
United States to sign agreement with the Taliban to end the violence in Afghanistan
You can put this in the take it for what it is worth category but it is being reported here that the United States and the Taliban are going to sign an agreement next week which will eventually lead to the end of the war in Afghanistan. Here is more:
U.S. officials and the Taliban have reached an “understanding” that could result in a “reduction in violence” in Afghanistan, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Friday, paving the way for an agreement later this month that would bring to an end America’s longest war.
“After decades of conflict, we have come to an understanding with the Taliban on a significant reduction in violence across #Afghanistan,” Pompeo wrote on Twitter, describing the latest development as “an important step on a long road to peace,” and calling on Afghans “to seize this opportunity.”
In a more substantial statement released by the State Department, Pompeo offered further details regarding the “extensive talks” between the two parties, which he said are intended to “facilitate a political settlement to end the war in Afghanistan, reduce United States and Allied Forces presence, and ensure that no terrorist group ever uses Afghan soil to threaten the United States or our allies.”
Pompeo said that U.S. negotiators in Doha, Qatar, arrived at the understanding with the Taliban in recent weeks in consultation with the Afghan government. Upon the “successful implementation” of the understanding, “signing of the U.S.-Taliban agreement is expected to move forward” at the end of February, Pompeo said.
I wrote that we needed to take this for what it is worth not because I believe it is fake news but because I trust the Taliban as much as I would trust, oh I don’t know let’s say Iran, to adhere to the terms of a nuclear deal. But still this seems to be a step in the right direction in an attempt to end the Afghanistan war (I thought Barack Obama was going to end this war?) and Donald Trump deserves credit for making the attempt, although the left will claim he is cowardly giving in to terrorists and being played by the Taliban.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Michael Bloomberg plots brokered convention strategy
As we have been discussing on America’s Watchtower, the Democratic establishment is very worried that their voters are going to choose a Democratic Socialist to be their nominee. But the problem is that the people who are running against Bernie Sanders in the primary are a conglomeration of people who all have their own issues which makes them unelectable, so the party insiders appear to be rallying around the newcomer in the race.
Of course I am referring to Michael Bloomberg and the fact that the Democratic National Committee changed the rules so that the New York billionaire would qualify for the debate and last night he made his debut.
Yesterday I had a story about how worried the Bloomberg campaign was about Bernie Sanders getting the nomination, they talked about how dire the situation was (and I believe this is a reflection of how the Democratic party in general feels) and now we are learning the Bloomberg camp is plotting to take the nomination away from Bernie Sanders at the convention. Here is more:
Mike Bloomberg is privately lobbying Democratic Party officials and donors allied with his moderate opponents to flip their allegiance to him —and block Bernie Sanders— in the event of a brokered national convention.
The effort, largely executed by Bloomberg’s senior state-level advisers in recent weeks, attempts to prime Bloomberg for a second-ballot contest at the Democratic National Convention in July by poachingsupporters of Joe Biden and other moderate Democrats, according to two Democratic strategists familiar with the talks and unaffiliated with Bloomberg.
The outreach has involved meetings and telephone calls with supporters of Biden and Pete Buttigieg — as well as uncommitted DNC members — in Virginia, Texas, Florida, Oklahoma and North Carolina, according to one of the strategists who participated in meetings and calls.
With Sanders’ emergence as the frontrunner in the presidential primary, Democrats in those states have recently raised the prospect that the democratic socialist could be a top-of-the-ticket liability.
“There’s a whole operation going on, which is genius,” said one of the strategists, who is unaffiliated with any campaign. “And it’s going to help them win on the second ballot … They’re telling them that’s their strategy.”
I mentioned above that I believe Michael Bloomberg’s concern about the possibility of a Sander’s nomination is shared by the Democratic party and I think they are already behind this brokered convention plan.
And the reason I believe this is because the Democratic National Committee is in the process of changing the superdelegate rules in the event of a brokered convention in order to stop Bernie Sanders once again. I believe the Democratic National Committee and Michael Bloomberg are in cahoots and how angry will the Democratic voters be if they steal the nomination from the socialist and hand it to the billionaire?
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
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