Trump’s Immigration Enforcement Really Is Slashing Violent Crime

From The Federalist.com (July 9):

Is crime falling? Some conservatives, notably Steve Bannon, argue that Americans should ignore the FBI’s crime statistics showing record drops in violent crime. The murder rate last year fell to the lowest rate ever recorded, and the violent crime rate is clearly at the lowest in many decades. But Bannon recently declared that “nobody believes” FBI crime data or its director, Kash Patel, adding: “I don’t want to hear any more statistics about how crime’s coming down.”

That skepticism overlooks an important distinction.

The FBI has made mistakes in the past, particularly in its active shooter reports and hate crime data. Some police departments have also failed to report complete crime data to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports. But those problems do not explain the concerns with the measure of overall crime.

The real issue is understanding what different crime measures actually tell us. Past problems with the FBI’s measure of crimes reported to police do not mean anyone manipulated the data. Nor do they mean that last year’s reported decline in crime — or the declines so far this year — are inaccurate.

The United States has two primary measures of violent crime. The FBI tracks crimes reported to police. The Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) estimates both reported and unreported crime. Researchers have known for decades that most crimes never reach the police. Victims report only about 40 percent of violent crimes and roughly 30 percent of property crimes.

The media focuses almost exclusively on FBI crime data. Before 2020, FBI data and the NCVS generally moved in the same direction. During the Biden administration, however, they sharply diverged. While reported violent crime fell by about 8 percent, total felony violent crime measured by the NCVS surged 59 percent — the largest four-year percentage increase since the survey began more than five decades ago.

Several factors explain that gap. Whether victims report crimes depends heavily on whether they believe police will catch and punish offenders. As cities reduced police staffing through budget cuts, retirements, and, in some places, “defund the police” policies, arrest rates declined. Lower arrest rates gave victims less reason to report crimes.

Some police departments also made reporting more difficult. In some jurisdictions, 911 operators asked whether the offender was still at the scene. If the answer was no — as it almost always was — they instructed victims to visit a police station later to file a report. Simply calling 911 does not place a crime in the FBI’s statistics; an officer must complete an official report. When governments make reporting more burdensome, some victims understandably decide it isn’t worth the effort.

Fortunately, many of those policies have been reversed.

Although reported crime has declined, we will not know whether total crime also fell in 2025 until the Bureau of Justice Statistics releases the next NCVS this September.

Even so, there is good reason for optimism.

Reducing crime is not complicated. Governments must make crime riskier by increasing arrests and convictions, imposing longer prison sentences, and allowing law-abiding citizens to defend themselves. The news on each of those fronts has been encouraging.

FBI arrests surged in 2025, rising 184 percent over 2024 levels. Total FBI arrests — a broader category that includes many joint operations with state and local agencies — increased by 197 percent.

Voters also replaced several George Soros-backed prosecutors in jurisdictions such as Los Angeles and San Francisco with district attorneys who prosecute criminals more aggressively and seek tougher sentences. Across the country, President Trump’s U.S. attorneys have also pursued criminals far more aggressively than their predecessors. In Washington, D.C., for example, the Biden administration’s U.S. Attorney declined to prosecute 67 percent of those arrested. Under U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, that figure has fallen to just 4 percent.

Nor is it a coincidence that the record influx of illegal immigrants during the Biden administration coincided with a sharp increase in violent crime. It is equally unsurprising that crime has fallen as deportations have increased. Deportation records show that 70 percent of illegal immigrants deported during the Trump administration had either criminal convictions or pending criminal charges in the United States. Even those who avoid arrest understand that any contact with law enforcement could lead to deportation, giving them a strong incentive to stay off the police’s radar and avoid committing additional crimes.

Finally, the number of adults carrying concealed handguns has risen sharply, with the latest survey data showing a 5-percentage-point increase in concealed carry over the past year and a half.

Americans shouldn’t blindly accept crime statistics, but they need to understand what the different numbers actually measure. The FBI’s numbers show that reported crime has fallen dramatically, while the NCVS will tell us this September whether total violent crime has also declined. Stronger law enforcement, more aggressive prosecution, and greater accountability provide good reasons to expect that the encouraging trend in reported crime reflects a real improvement in public safety. [source]

Good to know!  Glad that illegal migrant crime is going down. It’s bad enough when America’s own citizens are committing crime—we don’t need to add to the crime stats.

JONATHAN TURLEY: Supreme Court hands Trump a border victory liberals can't spin

From Fox News.com (June 25):

"In ordinary speech, no one would say that a person ‘arrives in’ a place ... before the person enters that place."

Those words may seem ripped from the pages of Dr. Seuss, but they are taken from the 6-3 majority opinion of Justice Samuel Alito iin Mullin v. Al Otro Lado. They captured the lost-in-translation character of the Court's fight over whether undocumented persons must be physically present in the United States to make an asylum claim.

In one of a pair of major immigration wins for the Trump administration, the Court ruled that asylum seekers who are stopped on the other side of the Southern border are not present in the United States. If treated as inside the country despite being outside it, these individuals would be allowed to enter and remain while their asylum claims are pending.

The case highlights the lengths to which the Biden administration went to facilitate the entry of undocumented persons into the country. It rescinded a policy of "metering" that was put into place by the Obama administration (and later restored and expanded by the Trump administration).

In seeking to bar Trump from enforcing the same policy as the Obama administration, the three liberal justices sounded positively Clintonesque in debating what the meaning of "in" is. Justice Sonia Sotomayor denounced the majority's "illogical interpretation is driven almost entirely by a fixation on a single word: ‘in.’ Words, however, must be read in context and with attention to how they fit into the statute as a whole."

In their view, "contextual" reading means that you can be "in" the United States without actually being "in" the United States.

The sharp disagreement in the opinions spilled over to the release of the opinions. Justice Alito read a summary of his opinion, followed by a more lengthy reading by Justice Sotomayor of her dissent. The stinging dissent produced a rare rebuttal from the bench by Alito, who was surprised by the extended comments and said that, if he had not been blindsided, he would have said more, including how "the policy in question was adopted by two very different administrations." [read more]

Another win!

Supreme Court Upholds Birthright Citizenship, Rejecting Trump's Proposed Limits

From Newsmax.com (June 30):

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a broad conception of birthright citizenship, rejecting President Donald Trump's executive order declaring that children born to people who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens.

The justices relied on a long-settled understanding of the 14th Amendment, adopted after the Civil War, and more recent federal laws in ruling that anyone born in the country, with very limited exceptions, is a citizen.

The Republican president's restrictions had been blocked by several lower courts and had not taken effect anywhere in the U.S.

During arguments in April, both conservative and liberal justices questioned the order's legality in a momentous case that was magnified by Trump's unprecedented attendance in the courtroom.

The justices ruled on Trump's appeal of a lower-court ruling from New Hampshire that struck down the citizenship restrictions.

The birthright citizenship order, which Trump signed on the first day of his second term, is part of his administration's broad immigration crackdown.

Birthright citizenship was the first Trump immigration-related policy to reach the court for a final ruling. The justices previously struck down global tariffs Trump had imposed under an emergency powers law that had never been used that way.

Trump's order would have upended widely held views that the 14th Amendment confers citizenship on everyone born in the U.S., excluding only the children of foreign diplomats and those born to a foreign occupying force.

The amendment was intended to ensure that Black people, including former slaves, had citizenship, though the Citizenship Clause is written more broadly. "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside," it reads.

In a series of decisions, lower courts have struck down Trump's executive order as illegal. The decisions have invoked the high court's 1898 ruling in Wong Kim Ark, which held that the U.S.-born child of Chinese nationals was a citizen.

The Trump administration argued that the common view of citizenship is wrong, asserting that children of noncitizens are not "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States and therefore are not entitled to citizenship.

More than one-quarter of a million babies born in the U.S. each year would have been affected by the executive order, according to research by the Migration Policy Institute and Pennsylvania State University's Population Research Institute.

While Trump has largely focused on illegal immigration in his rhetoric and actions, the birthright citizenship restrictions also would have applied to people who are legally in the United States, including students and applicants for green cards, or permanent resident status. [source]

Stupid. Most countries don't have this policy. I guess birth tourism will continue especially from China.

More on the ruling:

• Justice Thomas defines what it means to be an American in dissent against SCOTUS birthright ruling
• Justice Alito: Birthright Citizenship Is ‘Grotesque’
• Citizenship Has Become A Financial Product Ripe For Exploitation By Birth Tourists And Illegals
• Birthplace Citizenship Is Incompatible With Mass Immigration
• If Anyone Can Birth An ‘American,’ Citizenship Means Nothing
  
• Glenn Beck TEARS APART The Supreme Court's Birthright Citizenship Ruling [video]
  

Here Are The 8 Most Insane Things In The ‘DIGNIDAD’ Amnesty Bill

From Brianna Lyman on The Federalist.com (Apr. 9):

Despite President Donald Trump winning on the promise of “mass deportations,” a handful of spineless Republicans, alongside Democrats, are trying to push a mass amnesty act known as the DIGNIDAD Act — or, for English speakers, the DIGNITY Act.

The legislation is billed as not being amnesty, but would give millions of illegal aliens — both so-called DREAMers/DACA and non-DREAMers/DACA — a legal status. But co-sponsor Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., insists it’s not amnesty, so much so that she’s screaming at people on X to “READ. THE. BILL. BEFORE. YOU. OPEN. YOUR. MOUTH.”

So I read the bill.

And frankly, it might be worse than just amnesty.

Student Loan Forgiveness For Lawyers Who Provide Legal Services To Illegals

According to a “Section-by-Section Analysis” of the DIGNITY Act by Salazar and Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, the legislation creates a special loan forgiveness program for lawyers who provide legal services to illegal aliens at “Humanitarian Campuses.” “Humanitarian campuses” would be new facilities where illegal aliens get processed. Lawyers who complete four years of full-time service get 75% of their outstanding law school loans forgiven.

In other words, Americans will have to pay for lawyers to keep illegal aliens here.

Importation Of Illegal Aliens Who Had Already Been Deported

The legislation also opens the door for aliens who were previously deported to come back to the United States and seek relief if they would otherwise qualify under the legislation.

“With respect to aliens who were removed or departed the United States on or after January 20, 2017, and who were continuously physically present in the United States for at least 5 years prior to such removal or departure, the Secretary may, as a matter of discretion, waive the physical presence requirement under section 2102 (b)(1)(A) or section 2302(1)(A) for humanitarian purposes, for family unity, or because a waiver is otherwise in the public interest.”

The section also stipulates the secretary of state should create a procedure for aliens to apply for the “relief” even if they had been deported but would otherwise have been eligible.

Exemptions From FICA Taxes

Aliens would be exempt from Social Security/Medicare payroll taxes but have to pay a 1 percent levy on adjusted gross income, according to Salazar and Escobar’s analysis.

“Dignity participants will be exempt from paying FICA taxes. However, they will be charged a separate 1% levy on their adjusted gross income,” the legislation reads.

The exemption from standard payroll taxes shifts the tax burden away from aliens while they receive work authorization and protection from removal.

Halts Deportations

The DIGNIDAD Act also includes protections that prevent aliens from being removed while their applications are pending. Under the legislation, aliens applying under the Dream provision can be given an opportunity to file even if removal proceedings have started, and those denied a change of status can seek judicial review without being subject to removal. According to the analysis, “Aliens that receive a denial of application for adjustment may apply for judicial review. Aliens seeking judicial review are exempt from removal proceedings during the review.” The analysis also states that the Dignity Program provides, among other things, “protection from removal proceedings, if conditions are being met.”

Further, the legislation is not merely for so-called Dreamers or DACA recipients, that is, aliens allegedly brought here as children. Under the legislation, there is a separate track for illegal aliens who do not qualify as DREAMers or DACA recipients. Section 2302 states the secretary of homeland security can register illegal aliens for the program if the alien “has been continually physically present in the United States since December 31, 2020,” pays a $1,000 fine, passes a background check, provides biometric data, and isn’t disqualified by any other section.

Such a provision, combined with a prohibition on deportations with paperwork pending, would effectively end mass deportations. [read more]

Stupid bill.  Definitely amnesty. Instead of rewarding illegals, maybe lawmakers should stream line the process for law abiding, peaceful, pro-America immigrants who want to come here legally.

Another article on the bill: The Dignity Act Is the Same Bad Deal as Ever

FBI: Illegal Aliens Tried Nearly 48,000 Times to Purchase Firearms Over Past 25 Years

From USNN.news (Jan. 8, 2024):

PHOENIX, Ariz.—The FBI logged more than 47,000 attempts by illegal aliens to purchase firearms at gun shops over the past 25 years, according to a group that monitors border security policy.

On Jan. 2, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) reported the FBI currently has almost 14 million records of firearms applications that failed a national background check.

Of these “unique prohibiting events,” the FBI index included 47,930 denied purchases of firearms by illegal aliens in the National Instant Crime Background Check System (NICBS) between November 1998 and November 2023.

“While the 13.9 million unique prohibiting events cataloged in the FBI database represent events—not individual illegal aliens—the data point to large numbers of migrants in the market for firearms. Whatever the total may be, one is one too many,” FAIR wrote.

The organization added that “the dangers posed by largely unvetted illegal aliens possessing firearms has been vastly exacerbated over the past three years, as the Biden administration has presided over record numbers of new illegal aliens entering our country.

“At the same time, federal policies and the proliferation of sanctuary jurisdictions that prohibit the sharing of critical law enforcement information will inevitably result in more Americans falling prey to criminal aliens.”

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), there were 547,610 seizures of illegal weapons, including ammunition, gun parts, scopes, silencers, and body armor in 2023, which is consistent with the 595,154 total number of weapons seized in 2021.

In 2022, there were 1,147,497 weapons seizures, according to CBP data.

The Epoch Times has reached out for comment to the FBI, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) but has not received responses.

In light of these statistics, Arizona gun shop owner Charlie Bollenbaugh says there’s only so much law enforcement can do to stop criminals from obtaining firearms.

“We’ve got plenty of laws; criminals are criminals,” says Mr. Bollenbaugh, owner of Strapt Armory in Phoenix. “They’re going to find ways around them.”

Mr. Bollenbaugh added that there’s “no real way of telling” who is a U.S. citizen the moment they walk through the door to purchase a gun.

But there is a legal process to weed out the ineligible buyers, he said.

In Arizona, as in other states, the gun buyer must first show a valid state driver’s license or government-issued photo ID along with proof of age and residency and have no felony convictions.

Federal law requires that each buyer fill out and sign a Form 4473 national background check under penalty of perjury. The form is submitted by the gun store electronically through the NICBS, and the results are known within minutes.

“If they are legally allowed to purchase a firearm, and they’ve come here correctly, the government tells me to go ahead and proceed,” Mr. Bollenbaugh told The Epoch Times.

“They can’t buy a firearm without going through a valid background check and presenting a government-issued ID.”

Beyond having actual proof of citizenship, “there’s no way for the gun stores to know” if a buyer is in the country legally, he said.

In the meantime, an estimated 300,000 illegal border crossings continue to occur monthly under the Biden administration’s immigration policies. [read more]

The Left probably thinks this activity is OK. It’s just when law-abiding citizens try to buy guns then it is a sin.

Civilization Versus the New Nihilists

From AM Greatness.com (Dec. 14, 2023):

Nihilism is the religion of the Left. Anarchy is now at the core of the new Democratic Party.

If the Left wished radically to alter the demography of the U.S., it could have expanded legal immigration through legislation or the courts.

Instead, it simply erased the border and dynamited federal immigration law.

By fiat, nihilists ended the wall, and stopped detaining and deporting illegal aliens altogether.

Or was it worse than that when candidate Joe Biden in September 2019 urged would-be illegal aliens to “surge” the border?

As a result, through laxity and entitlement incentives, eight-million illegal entrants have swarmed the southern border under the Biden administration.

They are swamping border towns, bankrupting big-city budgets, and infuriating even Democratic constituencies.

The same nihilism applies to crime.

In the old days liberals gave light sentences to criminals or reduced bail. But today leftist prosecutors do not even seek bail. They hardly prosecute theft or random assaults.

Criminals are arrested and released the same day. Is the nihilist plan to destroy the entire body of American jurisprudence, and to ensure “equity” in being victimized?

Is the woke idea that all Americans—inclusive of diverse Beverly Hills elites, Hollywood celebrities, or members of Congress alike—must share victim equity, and thus experience first-hand street robbery, car-jacking, smash-and-grab, and home invasion?

The United States can produce annually more natural gas and oil than any nation on earth. It once pioneered nuclear power. It has vast coal reserves and sophisticated hydroelectric plants.

The old idea was to use these unmatched resources to transition gradually to other cleaner fuels such as hydrogen, fusion power, solar, and wind. That way consumers would still enjoy affordable energy. And the United States could remain independent of coercion by the oil-producing Middle East.

But that was not the nihilist way.

Instead, the left deliberately cut back on pipelines, new energy leases, and fracking. It bragged of an upcoming ban on fossil fuels. In drought-stricken, energy-short California, the state is blowing up, not building new dams.

Is the nihilist agenda to punish with bankruptcy the energy-using middle class?

Is the hope that Americans will have to beg the Saudis, Iranians, Venezuelans, and Russians to pump more of the hated goo for our benefit so we would not have to dirty ourselves helping ourselves?

When Joe Biden entered office in January 2021 the U.S. was naturally rebounding from more than a year of Covid-enforced lockdowns.

Overtaxed supply chains were still fragile. Pent-up demand was soaring. Consumers were flush with government cash. Trillions of dollars had been printed and infused into the economy to ward off a feared recession.

All economists advised not to increase the deficit, spike further consumer demand, and expand entitlements.

Instead the Left did just the opposite.

Four-trillion dollars were printed and distributed. In no time, Americans, recovering from Covid, next experienced the worst, but entirely preventable, inflation in 40 years.

Three years later prices on staples remain 30-40 percent higher than when Biden took office. Mortgage rates tripled.

Abroad the nihilism is even more inexplicable and terrifying.

All nations suffer military setbacks. But none in memory have shamefully hightailed out of a theater as we did from Afghanistan.

Few countries could even imagine discarding billions of dollars of weapons and hardware into the hands of the terrorist Taliban, or abandoning a $1 billion new embassy, and a huge, remodeled air base.

Why did the administration simply allow a huge Chinese spy balloon to float and photograph leisurely over the continental U.S.?

Naïve countries might endure two or three attacks on their overseas bases without serious retaliation. But how could the U.S. military permit 135 rocket barrages by Iranian-supplied terrorists on American soldiers without a major and sustained response?

Is the point to humiliate our own troops? To destroy what is left of U.S. deterrence?

Popular culture is especially captive to leftist nihilism.

It is not enough to object to a statue or artwork. Instead, without deliberation or public input, they must be defaced or destroyed, all the better stealthily and by night.

After the massacres of October 7—but well before Israel had even responded to the barbaric invasion—thousands of students swarmed their elite universities cheering on the violence.

And what so exhilarated them?

The nihilist, ghoulish beheading, torture, mutilation, mass rape, dismemberment, and necrophilia of unarmed, civilian Israeli elderly, women, children, and infants.

In sum, we are witnessing an epidemic of leftist nihilism similar to the 16^th-century European mad wave of iconoclastic destruction of religious art.

Or is the better parallel the suicidal insanity that Mao Zedong unleashed during his cultural revolution of the 1960s?

The old politics of right versus left, and Republican opposed to Democrat have now given way to a new existential struggle: Americans must choose between civilization—or its destroyers. [source]

VDH at his best. He has captured and exposed the real Left.

Big ideas from Trump's State of the Union speech, from federal 401k payments to Dalilah's law

From Just the News.com (Feb. 24):

After a whirlwind year of action abroad and home, President Donald Trump on Tuesday night used the first State of the Union address of his second administration to propose sweeping new ideas – ranging from trucker safety to an historic change to the energy grid in a signal he has no plans to relent on his agenda in the face of the midterm congressional elections.

Here are some of the big ideas the 47th president put on the table during a joint session of Congress:

A federal matching payment for Americans' 401k retirement accounts

Trump announced he will be creating a new program giving Americans up to $1,000 to match their retirement savings in 401k accounts, promising more details in the near future.

"Your 401ks are way up, yet half of all of working Americans still do not have access to a retirement plan with matching contributions from an employer," Trump declared. "To remedy this gross disparity, I'm announcing that next year my administration will give these often forgotten American workers, great people, the people that built our country, access to the same type of retirement plan offered to every federal worker.

"We will match your contribution with up to $1,000 each year, as we ensure that all Americans can profit from a rising stock market."

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A plan to protect electricity rate payers from the costs of Artificial Intelligence grid expansion

Trump announced a “rate-payer protection pledge” being executed with major tech companies requiring them to provide for their own power needs by building their own power plants and grids. It's a major revolution in power policy, allowing private companies to do what major governments have handled for decades.

U.S. electricity rates have soared an average of 6.3% in the past year as the AI revolution rages forward with massive data center construction.

<

Delilah's Law: A Major Reform for Commercial Truck Driver Licenses

Trump called on Congress to pass a "Delilah's Law," barring states from issuing commercial driving licenses to illegal immigrants. In announcing the proposed law, he turned to the audience and Dalilah Coleman, a first-grader who was severely injured in a car accident caused by an illegal alien driving a semi-truck.

"Many, if not most, illegal aliens do not speak English and cannot read even the most basic road signs," Trump said. "That's why tonight I'm calling on Congress to pass what we will call the Delilah law, barring any state from granting commercial driver's licenses to illegal aliens."

<

Tariffs to income tax freedom?

Trump said he will make new legal justifications for his tariffs to preserve them after a recent loss at the Supreme Court and predicted they would one day put the country on a path to reducing federal income taxes.

"I believe the tariffs, paid for by foreign countries will, like in the past, substantially replace the modern day system of income tax, taking a great financial burden off the people that I love," Trump said.

<

A new commander for the war on fraud and a goal for a balanced budget

Trump turned to tech entrepreneur Elon Musk at the beginning of his second term to run the DOGE review to identify waste, fraud and abuse in taxpayer programs. Musk finished his temporary assignment identifying tens of billions of dollars in potential savings before returning to his suite of companies.

On Tuesday night, Trump said the next phase of the “war on fraud” would be led by Vice President JD Vance. He also suggested there were enough savings to be achieved that could put America on a path toward a balanced budget after years of annual budget deficits of $2 trillion or more.

<

Redirecting federal health subsidies from big insurers under Obamacare to American families instead

Trump proposed anew redirecting the billions of dollars in subsidies given to health insurers under Obamacare to individual health savings accounts, allowing people to choose health care services directly.

"I want to stop all payments to big insurance companies and instead give that money directly to the people so they can buy their own health care, which will be better health care at a much lower cost," Trump said. [source]

A pretty good speech. I don’t think taxpayers should pay for others’ babies though. Private donations (like from the Dell family) are okay. Otherwise, it is just a form of welfare.

Other mentions of the speech:

• Read the complete transcript of Trump’s 2026 State of the Union
• Trump declares 'war on fraud' during State of the Union
• Cheap Gas, Less Crime, Lives Saved, And 4 Other Victories Dems Refused To Cheer At SOTU
• The Right’s Brand Is 'America First.' The Left's Brand Is Getting Mad About That
• Miracle in the Capitol: Trump Compels Dems To Stand During SOTU
• The Silence of the Dems
• 7 Ways Republicans Can Capitalize On SOTU Momentum If They Want A Shot At Midterm Victory
• Trump’s Pro-America Vision Will Only Succeed If He Pushes Republicans To Implement It
• Trump Hails 'Turnaround for the Ages' in SOTU Address
• In SOTU, Trump Slams Court Ruling, Says Tariffs Will Stand
• Trump's speech is longest State of the Union address in recent history
• President Trump Gets the Job Done
• The most INCREDIBLE moment of Trump's 2026 State of the Union [video]

Even If The Polls Are Accurate, I Don’t Care. I Want My Country Back

From Brianna Lyman on The Federalist.com (Apr. 29, 2025):

The country has been suffering for decades economically, culturally and politically — and the propaganda press wants you to care about approval ratings. As President Donald Trump marks his first 100 days in office, headlines scream about “record-low” poll numbers. But here’s the thing: polls don’t fix nations — leaders do.

The same media that tried to convince us seven months ago that then-Vice President Kamala Harris had a legitimate chance to take Iowa could very well be running yet another psyop — bad polling — to malign Trump and stain his legacy. But let’s just pretend, for argument’s sake, that the propaganda press’ polling is accurate.

To borrow a line from Vice President JD Vance: “I don’t care, Margaret” — because I want my country back.

Even if what Trump is doing is “unpopular,” it’s necessary. Only a real leader can decipher the difference between what’s easy and what’s essential –and choose the hard path, even when it costs him politically.

A joint ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted by the left-leaning pollster Ipsos says Trump’s approval rating has fallen to 39 percent.

“The previous low in approval for a president at or near 100 days in office, in polls dating to 1945, was Trump’s 42 [percent] in 2017,” ABC’s Gary Langer reported. As my colleague Beth Brelje pointed out, “it is hard to trust ABC’s Trump coverage after its biased moderation against Trump in the 2024 presidential debates, or after the $15 million defamation settlement ABC agreed to pay Trump.”

Still, Langer reports that Americans “disapprove of Trump’s performance on six of seven issues tested…” including “stock market volatility, tariffs, foreign relations and the economy overall.”

Langer adds that 53% of Americans polled “said they disapprove of [Trump’s] handling of immigration.” [read more]

Amen! . Things are looking up poll-wise for President Trump. Since this article was written he has risen in the polls. 50% agree that the country is on the right track.

Trump Admin Cracks Down On Texas Over In-State Tuition For Illegals

From Daily Caller.com (June 4, 2025):

The Department of Justice (DOJ) moved Wednesday to block the enforcement of Texas law granting in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants.

The DOJ filed suit against the state of Texas to stop the enforcement of state law requiring colleges and universities to provide in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants, as the Trump administration intensifies its scrutiny of jurisdictions violating federal immigration laws. The “Dream Act” passed in 2001, allows those who are not lawfully present in the country to qualify for reduced tuition at public state colleges, which the DOJ argues is discriminatory to U.S. citizens from other states who are required to pay higher tuition rates to attend certain schools in Texas.

“That is squarely prohibited and preempted by federal law, which expressly provides that ‘an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a State … for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit … without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident,” the complaint reads.

Texas is home to the second-largest population of illegal immigrants, and approximately 57,000 of them were enrolled in its state universities as of 2022, according to the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration.

“Under federal law, schools cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi. “The Justice Department will relentlessly fight to vindicate federal law and ensure that U.S. citizens are not treated like second-class citizens anywhere in the country.”

The lawsuit follows two executive orders signed by President Donald Trump designed to crack down on illegal immigration.

One order, titled “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders,” directs all agencies to “ensure, to the maximum extent permitted by law, that no taxpayer-funded benefits go to unqualified aliens.” The other, “Protecting American Communities From Criminal Aliens,” instructs officials to take steps against state and local laws or policies that favor illegal immigrants over American citizens.

The Trump administration is cracking down on so-called “sanctuary cities” or jurisdictions that allegedly obstruct federal immigration law. In February, the DOJ sued Chicago, Cook County and the state of Illinois for its policies restricting cooperation between local police and federal immigration enforcement.

Neither the DOJ nor the Texas attorney general’s office responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment. [source]

Good.  Glad he's doing that. Illegals should not be getting in-state tuition.

What Patriotic Americans Can Do to Resist the Destruction of Our Constitutional Republic

From The Gateway Pundit.com (June 22, 2022):

First, recognize that the United States is not a functioning constitutional republic, but a government being deliberately transformed into a one-party totalitarian state.

The federal government, as an institution, is hopelessly corrupt and, although we have elections, we do not have a representative government. It cannot be reformed. It can only be ripped out and replaced.

Do not expect any top-down solutions for America’s problems to miraculously emerge from Washington D.C. The U.S. government has seceded from the people. Most members of Congress act more like foreign occupiers than executors of the views and needs of their constituents.

Angelo Codevilla noted that the United States already has a bona fide ruling class, which transcends government, a political aristocracy that sees itself as distinct from the rest of society and as the only element that may act on its behalf. The ruling class considers those who resist it as having no moral or intellectual right, and, now, any civil right as well.

Republican Party leaders neither contest that view nor vilify their Democrat counterparts because they do not want to challenge the ruling class, they want to be part of it.

The Republican leadership has solidified its choice to no longer represent what had been its constituency, but to adopt the identity of junior partners in the ruling class. By repeatedly passing bills that contradict the views of its voters, the Republican Party has made political orphans of tens of millions of Americans.

The only remaining course of action for patriotic American, who want to restore our constitutional republic, is a bottom-up political insurgency based on the Constitution and the Founding documents.

Foremost among them are the Second and Tenth Amendments.

The Second Amendment, “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms,” is now the only obstacle standing between freedom and the absolute tyranny the federal government now wishes to impose.

Buy firearms and lots of ammunition. [read more]

Sound advice.

19 Black Americans Explain Why They’re Conservative

From The Daily Signal.com (June 22, 2020):

These are difficult times, and Americans are looking for guidance on how to make sense of the most divisive issues we face. When it comes to race in America, Heritage President Kay C. James says that conservatives should be leading the civil rights movement.

That’s why The Daily Signal reached out to African American conservatives to ask why they are conservative. Here are their responses.

1. W.B. Allen: Good Sense Needs No Explanation

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My political conservatism is an effect or consequence, not a cause.

I am an American patriot, informed by a deep appreciation of the human significance of the advance in human affairs occasioned by the founding of the United States. For the first time in human history, the idea that mankind in general was capable of self-government had been realized.

Moreover, the fulfillment of the promises attending that realization have been made manifest in the consistent progress of civilization in the United States, in which the power of the individual and the value of self-agency, informed by the security of religious conviction, have steadily reinforced real material progress and the opportunity for moral progress.

For those reasons, it is a matter of prudent judgment that one’s political exertions should ever be careful to reinforce and not to undermine the foundations of the hopes invested in the political constitution of this nation.

The United States was formed as a lamp unto the world, and whatever undermines the power of the United States to perform that role constitutes an impediment to human happiness.

If it is conservative to wish to preserve the “last best hope of man” on earth, then such conservatism is the effect of devotion to liberty. No one could do otherwise, if guided by good sense and a due appreciation of the values of faith, freedom, and responsibility.

W. B. Allen, Ph.D., is the chief operating officer of UrbanCURE.

2. Brian Bledsoe: Most Fair for All

As a conservative who happens to be Black, I’m typically asked why I am a conservative. So here’s why.

I’m a conservative because the most innocent among us should be given the chance to live.

I’m a conservative because you shouldn’t be punished for being successful.

I’m a conservative because securing our borders against those who seek to come here illegally should be as commonsensical as securing our residences.

I’m a conservative because we need to defend the Second Amendment more than ever from the constant and vicious attack on our right to bear arms.

I’m a conservative because speech should be free whether I agree with it or not.

I’m a conservative because I stand against the deceptive allure of an all-controlling government by way of socialism, which threatens everything that made this country great.

I’m a conservative because we should remain forever vigilant in advocating limited government.

Leftists will argue that being conservative goes against what they perceive is in my self-interest. I’m a conservative because the principles of conservatism are the most effective, realistic, and fair for all—regardless of individual outcome.

Brian Bledsoe is a Heritage Action Sentinel from Texas.

3. The Rev. Arnold M. Culbreath: Not Sellouts, but Solutions

We are living in turbulent times. Racial tensions run high, and intensified feelings, conversations, shouts, and pressure reverberate across the land. And in the midst of all this, a wide variety of perspectives abound.

Being Black in America is not easy. However, I remain hopeful and work to make America better every day. As a pastor, Army veteran, business owner, and national ministry leader, I strive to model what being a Christian, socially conscientious, Black man in America looks like, while frequently facing racism and exclusion in the process.

In spite of the odds, I have labored long and participated in initiatives that help hopeless and hurting people, and programming that moves past rhetoric to get real resources to people in need. Things like after-school feeding programs, grocery giveaways, the First Step Act, opportunity zones, free help to women in crisis pregnancies, and more.

These principles need not be defined or confined by polarizing labels such as left or right, conservative or liberal. The question is: Does an initiative strengthen and lift impoverished and disenfranchised people and communities that need it most?

If so, collaboration is desperately needed to serve those ravished by a pandemic, shaken by injustices such as the brutal killing of George Floyd and many others at the hands of police, racial upheaval, and socio-economic disparities, and we need it now.

In order for this to occur, name-calling and marginalizing of viewpoints must stop. It’s much more helpful to stop viewing me and others like me as “Uncle Toms,” but as fellow team members. Not as sellouts, but as solutions to the problems.

This is our country, and our world, so let’s work to make it the absolute best that we can together.       

The Rev. Arnold M. Culbreath is the director of ministry engagement at the Douglass Leadership Institute.

4. Michael E. Kerridge: Reasonable Human Imperative

If anyone is willing to step away from the noise and cacophonic discourse that now compromise political discussion, we can begin to see that conservatism is not just an opposing or competing ideology. It is a human imperative wrought in the will and psyche of every reasonable person.

I am a conservative because personal initiative favors personal economic freedom. I oppose excessive government control of business and the subversion of the traditional family structure. I fully endorse and favor a free-market economy and the rule of law.

The values inherent in the individualism of my grandmother that spawned four generations of conservative thought and action embodied the sentiment that “all are created equal,” and that government does not bestow anything on anyone.

The entrepreneurship, individual effort, and hard work that made all of my grandmother’s efforts and her life rich and full have influenced and spawned generational success. This makes me a “reasonable man,” a reasonable person.

The family is a microcosm of what works best for all of mankind. We realize that God created us male and female, that we are to train up our children and equip them with self-confidence, discipline, and respect for all that is good and right.

This fortifies our society with reasonable people who think critically about their impact and legacy for their families, their fellow citizens, and their society.

Only this actually works for all concerned.

Michael E. Kerridge is a Heritage Action Sentinel from Florida. [read more]

365 WINS IN 365 DAYS: President Trump’s Return Marks New Era of Success, Prosperity

From White House.gov (Jan. 20):

One year ago today, President Donald J. Trump returned to office with a resounding mandate to restore prosperity, secure the border, rebuild American strength, and put the American people first. In just 365 days, President Trump has delivered truly transformative results with the most accomplished first year of any presidential term in modern history.

From negative net migration for the first time in 50 years to the largest homicide drop on record, trillions in reshored investments, peace deals ending multiple wars, record energy production, and massive bureaucracy cuts, President Trump has put America First with urgency — and he’s just getting started.

SECURING AMERICA’S BORDERS AND PUTTING AMERICANS FIRST

1. Achieved negative net migration in 2025, reversing a 50-year trend and restoring U.S. control over immigration flows for the first time in a generation.
2. Removed more than 2.6 million illegal aliens from the United States through deportations and voluntary self-departures.
3. Carried out over 650,000 arrests, detentions, and deportations of illegal aliens — including the worst of the worst criminal illegal alien killers, rapists, gang members, and repeat offenders.
4. Deported more than 400,000 illegal aliens charged with or convicted of crimes.
5. Induced two million self-deportations by ending Biden-era release incentives and restoring credible consequences.
6. Reduced illegal border crossings to their lowest level since the 1970s, completely eradicating the Biden-era invasion.
7. Cut fentanyl trafficking at the southern border by 56%.
8. Permanently ended dangerous “catch-and-release” policies nationwide by detaining illegal aliens rather than releasing them into the interior — resulting in a 99.9% decrease in illegals being released into the country during the Biden era.
9. Maintained zero illegal alien releases into the country’s homeland for eight consecutive months, restoring deterrence at the border.

…….

REBUILDING AN ECONOMY FOR WORKING AMERICANS

1. Drove gas prices to their lowest level in nearly five years, with prices below $3 per gallon in 43 states and below $2 per gallon in 19 states.
2. Created 654,000 private-sector jobs following deregulation, tax relief, and restored investment confidence.
3. Ensured 100% of net job growth went to native-born Americans by enforcing immigration laws.
4. Achieved massive economic growth, with real GDP rising 4.3% in the third quarter of 2025 — smashing economists’ expectations and setting the stage for future growth, with GDP projected to be even higher in the fourth quarter as President Trump’s policies continue to take effect.
5. Oversaw the largest increase in blue-collar wage growth in nearly 60 years.
6. Increased private-sector real earnings by $1,100 annually — earning back some of the $2,900 in purchasing power workers lost under Biden.
7. Tamed inflation, running at just 2.4% since President Trump took office — down 70% from its Biden-era peak.
8. Brought inflation under control by enforcing fiscal restraint, reversing runaway spending growth, and restoring policy credibility, driving core inflation to multi-year lows.
9. Achieved the lowest mortgage rates in three years by stabilizing mortgage-backed securities markets and expanding liquidity — driving monthly housing payments to their most affordable levels in over two years.
10. Oversaw existing home sales rising to the strongest pace in three years as income growth finally outpaces home price gains.
11. Delivered a historic stock-market rebound, with the major stock indices all hitting repeated new record highs.
12. Signed the Working Families Tax Cut, delivering the largest middle-class tax relief package in modern U.S. history and saving 5.9 million jobs.
13. Delivered on his No Tax on Tips campaign promise.
14. Delivered on his No Tax on Overtime campaign promise.
15. Delivered on his No Tax on Social Security campaign promise for our great seniors.
16. Delivered unprecedented tax relief for small businesses and other key industries, building on the successful Tax Cuts and Jobs Act from his first term and opening the door for new levels of prosperity to come.
17. Secured congressional passage of a $9 billion rescissions package, permanently canceling wasteful spending — like the wasteful taxpayer funding of NPR and PBS.
18. Terminated wasteful foreign aid programs inconsistent with America First priorities through a $5 billion pocket rescission.
19. Reduced wholesale egg prices by 89% following the Trump Administration’s intervention, supply stabilization, and regulatory relief.

[read more]

Wins that the fake news probably won't report.

3 Questions Angry Democrats Need To Answer About Illegal Alien Deportations

From The Federalist.com (May 2, 2025):

Democrats and their supporters in the corporate media are still attempting to controversialize the Trump administration’s efforts to remove illegal aliens from the country, as required by federal law. But there are three questions they should all be forced to answer before anyone has to hear more of their whining. Here they are, in no particular order.

1. Can You Identify a Single Alien You Would Deport?

This is the most important question because the answer is no, they can’t, because they don’t want to deport anyone. We know that because they’re on record opposing the most innocuous efforts during President Trump’s first term to remove violent Latin American gang affiliates.

In 2018, Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, pushed to “abolish ICE.” That same year, Senate Democrats blocked a vote on a bill that would have withheld federal funds from “sanctuary cities” that refused to comply with federal immigration law enforcement. They shouldn’t get to pretend they’re not opposed to deporting illegal aliens if they can’t answer this simple question.

2. How Many Appeals Should an Illegal Alien Get for It to Be Considered ‘Due Process’?

Most irksome about the never-ending Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia saga is Democrats’ repeated and false claim that the Salvadoran national was denied “due process” when feds placed him on a flight in March to be sent back to his home country. This is a lie. Abrego Garcia had been residing in the U.S. for more than a decade.

In 2019, he was arrested, he admitted in court to being in the country illegally, and he was determined by a court to be a violent Latin American gang affiliate. A second judge upheld that opinion. He had multiple immigration court proceedings, one of which resulted in a judge issuing an absurd ruling that he could be deported, but not back to where he came from.

How many appeals and hearings should an illegal alien be entitled to, sucking up court hours in hopes of eventually landing on some trick that allows him to stay? If Democrats can’t state a clear number, it’s simply another way of admitting they don’t want to see anyone deported.

3. What Would the Ideal Deportation Look Like?

There is no end to the list of complaints Democrats have about any given deportation: The plane was inappropriate, the home country is terrible, the illegal alien is just a “gay makeup artist,” and on and on.

They don’t actually care about the planes or return destinations or the character profiles of any given deportee. These are just more excuses for why Democrats oppose deportations. If they’re going to trifle with the logistics, they should have to offer alternative, acceptable conditions for deporting aliens.

But they wouldn’t be able to do that, because that’s not the point. The point is stopping deportations altogether. [source]

The first answer to the first question the Left would answer: No.

The 2nd answer: Never ending appeals.

The 3rd answer: Deportations should not exist.

Yea, that's, pretty much, their answers since illegals could be potential Democrat voters or make redistricting more in their favor.

Along the same lines...

ICE Rescued Kids From Likely ‘Exploitation’ At Marijuana Farm And Democrats Are Furious

Disgraced New Mexico Judge, Wife Arrested After Allegedly Harboring Tren de Aragua Gang Members

From Breitbart.com (Apr. 24):

ICE law enforcement officials arrested recently resigned Magistrate Judge Joel Cano and his wife, Nancy, at their home in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on Thursday. ICE officials executed a search warrant and probable cause warrant and took them into custody, Fox 14 El Paso reported. Joel Cano is currently charged with tampering with evidence and his wife is charged with conspiracy to tamper, the report states.

The Cano couple were booked into the Dona Ana County Detention Center between 6:30 and 7 p..m. on Thursday, the Albuquerque Journal reported. They are currently being held without bond. Before being elected to the magistrate judge position in 2010, Joel Cano served for nearly 23 years in the Las Cruces Police Department.

Joel Cano resigned from his position as a magistrate judge in Dona Ana County, New Mexico, after ICE agents raided his home and took 23-year-old Cristhian Ortega-Lopez, a Venezuelan migrant who illegally entered the U.S. in December 2023 and is suspected of being a member of the Tren de Aragua gang, into custody on firearms-related charges, Breitbart Texas reported.

Federal prosecutors in the District of New Mexico allege that Ortega-Lopez was illegally in possession of a firearm and has ties to the hyperviolent Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump and the U.S. State Department declared the gang to be a foreign terrorist organization.

Police arrested Orgega-Lopez while executing a search warrant on February 28 at the home of Dona Ana County, New Mexico, Magistrate Judge Joel Cano and his wife, Nancy, the Albuquerque Journal reported this week. The report follows a detention hearing where prosecutors claim the illegal alien is a flight risk and an alleged Tren de Aragua gang member.

Court records obtained by revealed that Ortega-Lopez, a Venezuelan national, entered the United States illegally in Eagle Pass, Texas, during the peak of the Biden Border Crisis in December 2023. Due to overcrowding in the Eagle Pass detention facility, he was released three days later.

Social media posts obtained by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico showed Ortega-Lopez and other illegal aliens at a shooting range. They appeared to be in possession of multiple firearms and a large quantity of handgun and rifle ammunition. In one image, the man is holding an AR-15-style rifle in one hand and a semi-automatic pistol in the other. A video showed the Venezuelan migrant in possession of another AR-15 equipped with a suppressor. He fired the rifle until it was empty and then reloaded it with a new magazine, which he continued to fire, prosecutors stated.

The photos and videos showed Ortega-Lopez displaying Tren de Aragua gang tattoos. The United States government recently declared this violent gang to be a Transnational Criminal Organization.

Investigators found additional firearms in a neighboring home owned by Nancy Cano’s daughter. Ortega-Lopez was seen in possession of several of these firearms.

On Tuesday, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that Cano may never again hold a judicial office in New Mexico, Fox 14 revealed. The local Fox News/CBS affiliate was on the scene as the couple were arrested and placed in handcuffs.

Ortega-Lopez remains in custody at the jail ahead of a detention hearing. He is scheduled to appear in the New Mexico District Court on April 30.

It is not clear if Judge Cano or his wife, Nancy, will be charged with harboring an illegal alien or providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. [source]

Stupid, crazy and potentially dangerous.  I wonder if this couple had fantasies of being wannabe gang-bangers. Who knows. Definitely interfering with ICE's efforts of getting dangerous illegal criminals off the streets.

More articles on the couple:

• WATCH: Attorney General Pam Bondi Drops Extremely Damning New Details on New Mexico Judge Arrested for Harboring Tren de Aragua Gangster in His Home
• JUST IN: Bondi Reveals Shocking Lengths Rogue Judge Went To Defend Violent Illegals: ‘Beat It With A Hammer’
• Dem judge resigns after ICE arrests suspected Tren de Aragua gangster at his home

The Sting

From Bill O’Reilly.com (Sept. 10, 2023):

Picture this: You serve four years as president of the United States. During your term, inflation stays under two percent. Real wages and consumer spending power rises about 9 percent for American workers; unemployment is less than 4 percent after the pandemic.

Fairly good showing, correct?

In addition, migrant crossings at the southern border drop about 80 percent by the time you leave office. No wars erupt. The jihadist group ISIS is decimated by American power. Putin and Xi are relatively contained.

That seems to be a fairly good resume, but there is scant national reporting of it. Instead, salacious charges of corruption involving Russia dominated headlines for two years before and during your term. A Special Counsel is appointed to investigate. His report says there is no corruption. The national media does not celebrate.

You can despise Donald Trump all you want, but the facts are in stone. He ran this nation far better than Joe Biden. Comparing the two is similar to stacking FDR's achievements against Herbert Hoover's.

But millions of Americans do not agree with my analysis and continue to "hate" Trump. They have only one valid reason for that emotion: the colossal Trump-driven fiasco after the 2020 election.

None of that, including January 6, should have happened, and it has obliterated Donald Trump's Oval Office record as a successful manager.

Some history. The "get Trump" movement began in early 2016 when it became obvious he might secure the Republican nomination. It accelerated as Hillary Clinton's campaign failed to persuade many independent voters. Almost in lockstep, the liberal media pounded Trump on a daily basis while extolling the virtues of Hillary.

In print, the blitzkrieg was led by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The LA Times, and USA Today. On television, CNN and NBC News actually competed to see who could damage Trump the most. It was a tie, but, ironically, CNN's over-the-top partisanship destroyed its credibility as a news-gathering operation. To this day, it has not recovered.

But no lessons have been learned. The aforementioned news agencies are openly currently supporting President Biden by hiding his deficiencies and alleged corruption. The leftist media is also cheerleading the legal cases against Trump without a shred of balance or skepticism.

If Hunter Biden were named Donald Trump Jr., do you think the "grifting" coverage might be a bit different?

Rhetorical question.

So that's the "sting." Honest, balanced reporting and news analysis are on the endangered species list. The scorpions who control most media companies are more driven than ever to impose progressive policies and get pliable people like Biden and Kamala elected.

The result is a lot of power and money is being used to prop up incompetence and corruption.

And that sting hurts every one of us. [source]

A sting, indeed. Then again the Leftists tend to be conmen.

Mexico vs. Trump

From Bill O’Reilly.com (May 5):

There is something rotten in Mexico City. According to reports in The Wall Street Journal, Presidente Claudia Sheinbaum is refusing to cooperate with the Trump administration in joint military action against the drug cartels.

As you may know, President Trump signed an Executive Order designating the cartels as "terrorist organizations." That means that the USA can hunt down and kill or incarcerate these savages anywhere in the world. The cartels are responsible for hundreds of thousands of drug overdose deaths in America, so the EO is absolutely essential to protecting our country.

But, somehow, Ms. Sheinbaum doesn't see it that way.  The mystery is why not? She should want the cartels destroyed, and obviously, Mexico can't do it. According to a variety of human rights groups, the vicious drug gangs are responsible for more than 500,000 murders in Mexico since 2006.  A half million dead.  And Sheinbaum is resisting American help?

It is a fact that many Mexican government and military officials have been bribed by the cartels.  Everyone knows that. Therefore, it is imperative that President Sheinbaum explain her idiotic position. Listen, lady, you have a chance to restore dignity and a measure of safety to your country.  Are you opposed to that?

How about wising up? [source]

The Presidente should cooperate with President Trump. Getting rid of the cartels would not only make America safe again, but make Mexico safe too. I am sure the Mexican citizens (sans the cartels of course) would appreciate that. I guess the bribes to her gov't officials takes priority over her countries safety. Yea, she needs to explain her inaction.

Other articles on Mexico’s issues:

• Dangerous Leaders
• With ‘Friends’ Like Mexico’s Obrador, Who Needs Enemies Like Putin, Xi, Kim Jong Un and the Ayatollahs?
• Mexicans Are Now Protesting Immigration

Trump Signs Big, Beautiful Bill at WH July Fourth Picnic

From Newsmax.com (July 4):

President Donald Trump signed his package of tax breaks and spending cuts into law Friday after his cajoling produced almost unanimous Republican support in Congress for the domestic priority that could cement his second-term legacy.

Flanked by Republican legislators and members of his Cabinet, Trump signed the multitrillion-dollar legislation outside the White House and then banged down the gavel that House Speaker Mike Johnson gifted him that was used during the bill's final passage Thursday.

Against odds that at times seemed improbable, Trump achieved his goal of celebrating a historic — and divisive — legislative victory in time for the nation's birthday. Fighter jets and a stealth bomber streaked through the sky over the annual White House Fourth of July picnic as Trump and first lady Melania Trump stepped out onto the White House balcony.

"America's winning, winning, winning like never before," Trump said, noting last month's bombing campaign against Iran's nuclear program, which he said the flyover was meant to honor. "Promises made, promises kept, and we've kept them."

The White House was hung with red, white, and blue bunting for the regular Fourth of July festivities. The United States Marine Band played patriotic marches — and, in a typical Trumpian touch, tunes by 1980s pop icons Chaka Khan and Huey Lewis. The two separate flyovers bookended Trump's appearance and the band playing the national anthem.

Democrats assailed the package as a giveaway to the rich that will rob millions more lower-income people of their health insurance, food assistance, and financial stability.

"I never thought that I'd be on the House floor saying that this is a crime scene," Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said during a record-breaking speech that delayed the bill's passage by eight-plus hours. "It's a crime scene, going after the health, and the safety, and the well-being of the American people."

The legislation extends Trump's 2017 multitrillion-dollar tax cuts and cuts Medicaid and food stamps by $1.2 trillion. It provides for a massive increase in immigration enforcement. Congress' nonpartisan scorekeeper projects that nearly 12 million more people will lose health insurance under the law.

The legislation passed the House on a largely party-line vote Thursday, culminating a months long push by the GOP to cram most of its legislative priorities into a single budget bill that could be enacted without Senate Democrats being able to block it indefinitely by filibustering.

It passed by a single vote in the Senate, where North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis announced he would not run for reelection after incurring Trump's wrath in opposing it. Vice President JD Vance had to cast the tie-breaking vote.

In the House, where two Republicans voted against it, conservative maverick Tom Massie of Kentucky has also become a target of Trump's well-funded political operation.

The legislation amounts to a repudiation of the agendas of the past two Democrat presidents, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, in rolling back Obama's Medicaid expansion under his signature health law and Biden's tax credits for renewable energy.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the package will add $3.3 trillion to the deficit over the decade and 11.8 million more people will go without health coverage.

Trump exulted in his political victory Thursday night in Iowa, where he attended a kickoff of events celebrating the country's 250th birthday next year.

"I want to thank Republican congressmen and -women, because what they did is incredible," he said. The president complained that Democrats voted against the bill because "they hate Trump — but I hate them, too."

The package is certain to be a flashpoint in next year's midterm elections, and Democrats are making ambitious plans for rallies, voter registration drives, attack ads, bus tours, and even a multiday vigil, all intended to highlight the most controversial elements.

Upon his return to Washington early Friday, Trump described the package as "very popular," though polling suggests that public opinion is mixed at best.

For example, a Washington Post/Ipsos poll found that majorities of U.S. adults support increasing the annual child tax credit and eliminating taxes on earnings from tips, and about half support work requirements for some adults who receive Medicaid.

But the poll found majorities oppose reducing federal funding for food assistance to low-income families and spending about $45 billion to build and maintain migrant detention centers. About 60% said it was "unacceptable" that the bill is expected to increase the $36 trillion U.S. debt by more than $3 trillion over the next decade. [source]

Pretty good bill. Here are some provisions from the bill:

• (Sec. 110001) This section makes permanent the individual tax rates of 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37%.
• Sec. 70202. No tax on overtime.
• Sec. 70203. No tax on car loan interest.
• (Sec. 60001) This section provides funding to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for construction, installation, or improvement to barriers; access roads; detection technology; invasive plant species eradication; and expenses for facilities and checkpoints along U.S. borders.

It's too bad the no-tax on tips and tax deduction for overtime expires in 2028 unless Congress renews it. Probably, has to something with the CBO or maybe the Senate parliamentarian. I don't know. Doesn't make sense to me. I hope the Republicans aren't playing political games with the bill. I haven't heard any Republican politician (including POTUS) mention that the tips and tax deductions will expire.

More links on the bill:

• H.R.1 - One Big Beautiful Bill Act
• The One, Big, Beautiful Bill [pdf]
• President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Is Now the Law
• The White House's page on the bill (includes Tax-Free Tips & Overtime Calculator and Savings By State map)
• The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
• What Works: The Most Popular Provisions in the Budget Bill
• Every Newborn in America to Receive $1,000 Investment Account After President Trump Signs ‘Big Beautiful Bill’
• Ten tax policies that made it into final version of 'One Big Beautiful Bill' Trump signed into law
• How Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill Will Help Kids Escape Failing Government Schools
• Votes Against the One Big Beautiful Bill Were Votes Against the American People
• All 45 Senate Dems Just Voted For A $4 Trillion Tax Increase
• Millions Reported Dead As 'Big Beautiful Bill' Passes

Trump Directs Spy Satellites to Surveil US-Mexico Border

From Newsmax.com (Mar. 27):

The Trump administration has directed two intelligence agencies to train their satellite surveillance capabilities on the U.S.-Mexico border region as part of a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration and drug cartels.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which are part of the Department of Defense, oversee spy satellites and analyze imagery for the Pentagon and other intelligence organizations.

Their engagement, coupled with troop deployments, shows increasing militarization of the southern border, where President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency.

Reuters could not determine whether the effort, which has not been previously reported, would gather imagery of U.S. territory.

Asked by Reuters about their roles in border surveillance, the NGA said it had created a task force to coordinate its "support to the U.S. border mission," while the NRO said it was partnering with the intelligence community and Pentagon "to secure U.S. borders."

Their participation is in response to sweeping executive actions by Trump aimed at stopping unauthorized border trafficking and crossings, as well as deporting those in the United States illegally – estimated to be up to 14 million people.

The White House and Defense Department did not respond to a request for comment. Trump made immigration enforcement a central part of his campaign that catapulted him to the presidency Jan. 20.

While the government has deployed artificial intelligence and drone surveillance at the border for years, the latest initiative seeks to expand the use of military capabilities generally built for conflict overseas.

The government could use AI to identify objects or persons of interest by sifting through satellite images and other data feeds, much like the Defense Department can do on the battlefield, said two sources familiar with the initiative.

Though Reuters could not determine the exact scope of this effort, the new focus on the border could force the administration to grapple with safeguards against collecting intelligence on Americans, three experts said.

While laws generally restrict U.S. spy agencies from surveilling citizens and other legal residents, they allow immigration authorities to conduct physical searches "within a reasonable distance from any external boundary of the United States." Regulations have defined this as 100 air miles from the border – an area including cities such as San Diego and El Paso.

"If they follow the law, these agencies should only collect on the other side of the border in foreign territory," said Paul Rosenzweig, a lawyer who specializes in national security and privacy law. "But how they implement that, and if they do, are legitimate oversight questions."

A spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the government's lead unit for integrating spy efforts, told Reuters that all intelligence activities are "legal and authorized" and conducted "in a manner that protects the civil liberties and privacy of U.S. persons."

The NGA and NRO declined to detail what they are collecting and whether such surveillance could include U.S. territory, citing the need to protect operational details. The NGA works on a wide array of efforts including mapping features of the Earth and informing commanders of the exact location of U.S. forces and adversaries.

Reuters could not ascertain whether any other U.S. intelligence agencies would be involved in the effort. The Central Intelligence Agency has no role in domestic immigration enforcement. "Once foreign criminals are inside the United States, they are not within the purview of the CIA," a third source said. [read more]

Interesting. Hope it helps with monitoring the border Better than spying on Americans.

Miranda Devine: Foreign flags fly in LA anti-ICE riots — vindicating Donald Trump and leaving Dems with no moral standing

From NY Post.com (June 8):

The minute the foreign flags came out in the violent anti-ICE protests in LA over the weekend, that’s when President Trump won the moral high ground.

An iconic image showing a masked man on a motorcycle circling a burning car while holding aloft a giant Mexican flag against a backdrop of black, acrid smoke and a row of police cars captured the mood. It was the “Summer of Love” all over again — and America has had a gutful.

The president could not have asked for a better advertisement for his tough border policies. He always said that the millions of illegal aliens who swarmed over the border under President Joe Biden was an invasion, and here were the invaders making his point for him.

As a result, the Democrats have no moral standing. They are moored in no man’s land, owning Biden’s invasion and the violent masked agitators waving any flag but America’s. They own the arson and looting and attacks on police and federal agents. They own the funding mechanisms for the rent-a-riots that are traced back to their donors and their corrupt donations platform, ACT Blue.

Now that Elon Musk has gone, their street muscle has moved from torching Tesla dealerships to trying to block deportations.

Dems pick losing battle

Their poster boy is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the illegal alien gangbanger they tried to repackage as a harmless “Maryland Man” and transform into their latest George Floyd martyr. Too bad.

Their lawfare might have gotten him un-deported from El Salvador and back on US soil. But now we see more clearly who he is, and the Trump administration’s decision to deport him looks even more justified. The Department of Justice has charged him with human trafficking of thousands of illegal aliens, including children and MS-13 gang members. Federal prosecutors allege he is an MS-13 member, too, and “participated in violent crime, including murder,” trafficked children, firearms, and narcotics and “abused” women under his control.

Attorney General Pam Bondi outlined disturbing additional allegations last week, which are being investigated, that he “solicited nude photographs and videos of a minor [and] played a role in the murder of a rival gang member’s mother. [He] is a danger to our community.”

This is the ditch Democrats have chosen to die in.

As federal agents were being attacked by violent mobs throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails, slashing tires and setting vehicles alight, LA Mayor Karen Bass sided with the criminals: “As mayor of a proud city of immigrants … I am deeply angered” by ICE officers’ actions, she said in a statement. “We will not stand for this.”

Presumably under her orders, the LAPD waited two hours before assisting beleaguered ICE agents Friday, sending the now-familiar Democratic signal to the rioters to do their worst. We saw the same in 2020, from Kenosha to Seattle.

So Trump mobilized the National Guard the next day.

“These Radical Left protests, by instigators and often paid troublemakers, will NOT BE TOLERATED,” he said on Truth Social.

“If Governor Gavin Newscum [Newsom], of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can’t do their jobs, which everyone knows they can’t, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!”

Trump has learned the lesson of 2020 and no longer has to deal with turncoats in his own administration. This time, despite the complicity of California authorities, the rioters are facing overwhelming resistance. Trump is not about to let the city that is due to host the FIFA World Cup next year and the 2028 Olympics descend into chaos.

He has “zero tolerance” border czar Tom Homan and unflinching Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem backing him. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is prepared to bring in Marines from nearby Camp Pendleton. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pounded Newsom on Sunday, accusing him of “threatening to commit criminal tax evasion” and warning of dire consequences.

The Trump cabinet is united and energized.

Don presses forward

“You’re going to see some very strong law and order,” the president told reporters Sunday en route to Camp David to meet with generals and admirals about “a very major subject.”

The riots were top of mind: “If we see danger to our country and to our citizens, we’ll be very, very strong in terms of law and order.”

He was particularly disgusted by the tactic of protesters spitting in the faces of federal officers. “I have a little statement: ‘They spit, we hit.’ … Nobody’s going to spit on our police officers. Nobody’s going to spit on our military, which they do as a common thing. They get up and they start spitting in their face. That happens, they get hit very hard … We’re going to have troops everywhere. We’re not going to let our country get torn apart.” [source]

So, your are an illegal from Mexico waving their flag and you don't want to go back to Mexico.  Yea, that makes sense.  Not to mention all those insurrectionists (terrorists? ie anti-ICE agitators) hurling rocks at ICE officers and burning cars. Good for the President deploying the national guard. 

More about the LA riots:

• Anti-ICE Riots
• Mass looting in LA as dozens arrested for theft, arson
• Here Are The Craziest Moments From Monday’s Anti-ICE Protest In DC
• 'I have a kid!' Anti-ICE protester mocks mother for trying to go to work amid protests
• Illegal Aliens Violently Rioting in L.A. Is The Natural Consequence Of Democrat Rule
• Foreign-Born Reps Defending Anti-ICE Rioters Prove Founders Were Right To Be Wary Of Foreign Influence In Government
• Bondi says FBI has identified man accused of assaulting officer, damaging federal property in LA
• Mexican Illegal Alien Charged With Attempted Murder For Allegedly Throwing Molotov Cocktail During LA Riots
• FBI Identifies Man Caught On Camera Hurling Rocks At Feds During Anti-ICE Riot
• Advocacy group at heart of anti-ICE protests in LA has long raised money through ActBlue
• Lefty nonprofits are openly fueling LA riots by handing out ‘F–k ICE’ protective gear
• Anti-ICE protests fueled in part by CCP-linked Communist revolutionary org and a tech millionaire
• There’s nothing ‘spontaneous’ about radical ICE protests — here are the groups behind them
• What happens in L.A. doesn't necessarily stay in L.A.
• Hegseth orders battalion of US Marines to quell anti-ICE rioting in Los Angeles
• What Marines deploying to LA amid protests legally can, and cannot, do
• Donald Trump Proven Right Again—Overwhelming Force Shows Who's Boss at LA Riots
• How The L.A. Riots Demonstrate Democrat-Media Complex’s Loss Of Narrative Control
• Trump: Guard, Marines Supporting LA Police
• LA riots make many Americans glad Dems are not in White House | Opinion
• Gov. Newsom: Calif. Will Sue Over Guard Deployment