It is all quid pro quo. This is racketeering. Trump needs to resign or face impeachment. The Kochs and Scott Walker and others belong in prison. This is also bribery by the Kochs. Accepting a bribe is a crime as well.

December 7, 2017
By Laris Karklis, Bonnie Berkowitz and Tim Meko

President Trump (click here) drastically reduced the size of two national monuments in Utah on Monday, potentially opening about 2 million acres of public land to mineral extraction and other activities in a state in which about 65 percent of all land is federally owned. The sites, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, contain rich troves of archaeological and paleontological finds in addition to large deposits of coal, uranium, oil and gas....

April 21, 2016
By Lorraine Chow

Do Charles and David Koch want to mine the Grand Canyon for uranium? (click here)

A "dark money" organization tied to the billionaire Koch brothers is allegedly aiding Arizona politicians' and special-interest groups' efforts to block a bill that would ban uranium mining around Arizona's iconic landmark, The Phoenix New Times reports.

Despite vast public support for permanent protection of the Grand Canyon area, "most of Arizona’s congressional delegation—including Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake, and Representatives Paul Gosar, David Schweikert, Trent Franks and Matt Salmon—want the gateway to the Grand Canyon open to uranium mining."

According to the Grand Canyon Trust, here's what Grand Canyon National Heritage Monument Act would do:

- Protects 1.7 million acres of tribal homeland around the Grand Canyon, including water sources and sacred sites

- Bans new uranium mining claims (making the current 20-year ban permanent)

- Still allows hunting, grazing, recreation and other uses to continue under existing law

The proposal, in so many words, deems the area around the Grand Canyon a national monument. The bill is supported by 80 percent of Arizonans as well as a number of environmental organizations and native tribes.

However, pro-mining Arizona Chamber of Commerce and the Koch-linked Prosper Foundation have co-authored a report calling the efforts a "monumental mistake" and that monument designation for the Grand Canyon "will only hurt—not help—Arizona."...

December 12, 2017

Republican Gov. Scott Walker (click here) signed a controversial bill into law on Monday that ends the state’s sulfide mining moratorium at the behest of powerful business and rightwing ideological interests that have spent more than $14 million to help elect him....

...In addition to dumping the mining moratorium, the new law:

• Loosens state groundwater and wetland protections;

• Relaxes procedures for mining companies to take ground site samples;

• Speeds up the Department of Natural Resources’ procedures for reviewing and approving mining applications and permits;

• Limits the ways the state can require mining operations to fulfill their financial responsibilities for reclaiming a mining site.

Environmentalists are chiefly concerned about mining precious minerals, like gold and copper, in sulfide deposits. That’s because sulfides create sulfuric acid when they are exposed to oxygen and water, and those acidic materials can drain into waterways....

...Special interest support for the new law was led by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC), the state’s largest business group, and Americans for Prosperity, a dark money electioneering group created by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch.

Both groups have been major players since 2010 on secret fundraising and spending to pay for their outside electioneering activities to support GOP and conservative candidates for legislative and statewide offices. WMC doled out an estimated $9.5 million to support Walker during his 2010 general, 2012 recall, and 2014 reelection campaigns. Americans for Prosperity spent an estimated $4.8 million to back Walker’s 2012 recall and 2014 reelections campaigns.

WMC and Americans for Prosperity praised Walker’s signing of the bill – here and here – claiming the new law will create jobs in northern Wisconsin.

In the Wisconsin election, the 4 legislators backed by the Koch's won. Iron is the base metal for steel.

March 21, 2014

By Steven Verburg

A well-funded Wisconsin conservative group (click here) is blasting seven County Board candidates in sparsely populated Iron County, calling them “radical anti-mining” environmentalists.

The campaign — launched this week by Americans for Prosperity, a group founded by billionaire conservative businessmen Charles and David Koch — isn’t the first time an advocacy group from the right or the left has waded into small-town politics.

But in a county where candidates seldom bother to campaign because there are almost never any challengers, people took note when they found, among the bills and junk mail, glossy, full-color flyers warning of “radicals” who were about to shut down businesses and put families on welfare....

And what exactly is the iron ore, made into steel going to be used for?

January 20, 2018

By Greg Jaffe and Damian Palette

...The $716 billion figure for 2019 (click here) would cover the Pentagon’s annual budget as well as spending on ongoing wars and the maintenance of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. It would increase Pentagon spending by more than 7 percent over the 2018 budget, which still has not passed through Congress....

The proposed budget would be a 13 percent increase over 2017, when the United States spent about $634 billion on defense. In the absence of a budget, spending continues at 2017 levels....

Donald Trump hates liberals. He is also very corrupt and doesn't care who gets hurt along the way. It would seem as though the tariff is penance for Canada as Alberta and Canada lead the world in protecting Earth's climate. I fully believe Trump is corrupt to the core and demands loyalty for these very reasons.

Corruption cannot live without loyalty. I think Canada has every reason to protect it's economy and examine how best to do that. The EU is already imposing tariffs on things like, Kentucky Bourbon. Canada does not have a  friend in Donald Trump or his family.

Canada must continue it's leadership on the climate and it must do what it must to protect it's economy as well.

March 3, 2018

Canadians reacted with a mixture (click here) of anger, confusion and resignation this week to President Trump's promise to hit U.S. imports of steel and aluminum with hefty tariffs, upending decades of economic cooperation and integration.

"We're pretty consistently flabbergasted that Canada is at the top of the hit parade of trade villains" in Trump's eyes, said Douglas Porter, chief economist at the Bank of Montreal.

Under the Trump policies announced Thursday, steel imported into the United States would be slapped with a 25% tariff and aluminum with a 10% tariff. The announcement sent shudders through world markets and prompted a global outcry, with European allies and others threatening retaliation.

Trump often has accused China of forcing U.S. steel and aluminum companies to fold by inundating the market with cheaper materials. But Canada is the largest exporter of steel and aluminum to the United States, supplying $7.2 billion of aluminum and $4.3 billion of steel to the United States last year....

Trump is stating it is necessary for the USA to have it's own aluminum and steel for national security reasons. Alcoa has its smelter in Iceland and Canada has been a strong ally for hundreds of years. The iron and aluminum supply is not a national security issue, it is a KOCH issue.

By the way, what are the sales of Coke and Pepsi going to look like now with more expensive aluminum for their cans? I suppose the recycling is going to be more valuable than ever.

January 26, 2018

By Nicholas Confessore

The political network overseen (click here) by the conservative billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch plans to spend close to $900 million on the 2016 campaign, an unparalleled effort by coordinated outside groups to shape a presidential election that is already on track to be the most expensive in history.

The spending goal, revealed Monday at the Kochs’ annual winter donor retreat near Palm Springs, Calif., would allow their political organization to operate at the same financial scale as the Democratic and Republican Parties. It would require a significant financial commitment from the Kochs and roughly 300 other donors they have recruited over the years, and covers both the presidential and congressional races. In the last presidential election, the Republican National Committee and the party’s two congressional campaign committees spent a total of $657 million....

"racketeering activity” (click here) means (A) any act or threat involving murder, kidnapping, gambling, arson, robbery, bribery, extortion, dealing in obscene matter, or dealing in a controlled substance or listed chemical (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act), which is chargeable under State law and punishable by imprisonment for more than one year;...

...sections 1831 and 1832 (relating to economic espionage and theft of trade secrets), section 1951 (relating to interference with commerce, robbery, or extortion...

By placing tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel, Trump is using intimidation and ridicule to obtain favors for the petroleum industry. Trump is attempting to unseat an elected government of free people and a dearly important ally. Donald Trump is an enemy to the national security of the USA. I demand Congress begin impeachment proceedings if he does not resign!

Most states define extortion (click here) as the gaining of property or money by almost any kind of force, or threat of 1) violence, 2) property damage, 3) harm to reputation, or 4) unfavorable government action. While usually viewed as a form of theft/larceny, extortion differs from robbery in that the threat in question does not pose an imminent physical danger to the victim.

William Koch sells carbon, another ingredient to steel.

Litigious brother of Charles and David Koch - he is David's twin - William Koch formed his own carbon company after selling his stake in Koch Industries for $470 million in 1983. More recent setback: In 2015, a judge in Texas ordered him to pay $1.8 million for breeding valuable Japanese Akaushi cattle into the herd at his Wild West-themed Colorado ranch (although that was considerably less than the $23 million jury verdict in the case). Elsewhere in the state, he's got his Castle Creek ranch in Aspen on the market for $80 million.

There is a new film out about Flint and it's police department.

The body of sixteen year old Shaun LaBelle was found lying in the snow outside of his house in South Flint on December 11, 2016.

According to some reviews, (click here) the film illustrates a police department stretched to it's limit with poor relationships with the people of Flint. I think I will trust others to speak to the film before I have a chance to see it.

To me, the water crisis is still yet another way Flint has learned it has no value to those that should be putting citizens first. Lesson after lesson has caused fractions between the community and authorities. Where has society gone wrong? Look at Flint, Michigan and realize the extent no one really cared.

The circumstances Flint has faced with deaths and poisoning was recognized by a really decent person, Rachel Maddow. She didn't recognize the crisis in Flint because it was going to be an award winning expose on Governor Snyder's emergency manger priorities; she did it out of human decency.

A Flint resident shows his scars from a recent shooting. The police found him asleep in his car, high on painkillers. July, 2016.


So, while the latest buzz is about a film on Flint's police and people; the crisis is still more important then ever. Will the people of Flint ever feel like they are part of the USA?

Rachel Maddow's efforts to bring attention to the Flint water crisis have earned her an Emmy. (click here)

February 27, 2018
By Kay LeFond

...Most of the data comes from the first half of 2016, (click here) just after the crisis became national news. Testing has slowed down significantly since then, but it’s still going: more than 350 samples have been tested this year so far.

When you remember that every data point represents somebody sending off a sample bottle of their water and waiting to hear back about whether or not it was safe, it really hammers home what the city went through.

When you look at the full range of measurements (top panel of the graphic), it's hard not to notice the sheer ridiculous amount of lead in some of the samples. Dozens have measured more than 1,000 parts per billion (ppb) - the highest was almost 23,000, from a sample taken in April of 2016. Those numbers are outliers: less than one percent of all the samples collected, but they're still shocking. While there’s no safe level of lead, the federal standard is just 15 parts per billion.

That said, most of the measurements (more than 90%) taken during this time period were less than 45 parts per billion, so the bottom panel of the graphic zooms in on that range to show more individual points and the overall progression of water quality.

From a regulatory standpoint, the water quality of a city is defined by its 90th percentile; that’s the lead level that 90% of samples test below for a given time period. The samples used to calculate this number, called "Tier 1" samples, come from the highest risk homes....   

The backlash on Trump tariffs could be eliminated if there is a timeline to implementation included.

If President Obama initiated tariffs with investments at home in green energy would have Solyndra left the USA?

Yesterday, President Trump levied tariffs on US steel and aluminum. (click here) Other countries will seek to regain the market in the USA by challenging all these tariffs within the WTO. It will take years if not more than a decade, but, the USA legitimately has economic dynamics that require tariffs to protect USA interests within it's sovereign markets.

The economy of the USA is driven by middle class wages. In that is the understanding as to the quality of the products available and the price paid for them. The USA has been quickly becoming a Third World economy in that it is dominated by far cheaper products than can be produced in the USA.

I have no doubt the BRIC countries will work hard to build their middle classes, but, until they do they are dependant on buyers outside their borders. It is not wrong to say the advances in Chinese weapon systems are paid for by American consumers. That will not be the case forever as China is appreciating a better quality of life for the Chinese people with increased numbers of paid work and being middle class.

The tariffs serve several purposes. Ultimately, it will increase the jobs in the USA, but, it is uncertain as to when. US companies have to gear up for larger manufacturing facilities. I don't remember US grants to spur that transition, but, eventually, it will happen. Investors will come forward to regain market share and confidence and the growth will occur.

The tariffs will also increase the growth of the middle class in other countries that currently have no real incentives to conduct education, training or investment. 

So, are the Trump tariffs wrong? Not exactly. What is wrong is the way in which they are implemented. There is no lead time to implementation and businesses abroad and domestic have no way of compensating the depth of the change of a USA tariff. This is the same implementation that occurred with the US Tax Code and it is a mess without many confusing errors within the text.

Real people will lose their jobs, real people will lose on investments, but, in the long run these tariffs will be effective in the way they were meant to be effective. There are right and wrong ways of implementing a policy that effects lives both domestic and foreign.

President Obama may have considered tariffs on solar panels imported from abroad, but, living within the WTO strucutre he would have decided there was no reason to carry out tariffs that would ultimately be overrident by the international organization. It is anyone's guess how this all shakes out once the tariffs make their way into international tribunals and courts; but, I guarantee the WTO decisions will come just as the markets and manufacturers have fully compensated for their parts in the economics dictated by Trump tariffs.

Welcome to Trump World.

March 1, 2018
By Mythili Sampathkumar

US President Donald Trump's tarrif (click here) on imported solar panels has caused one American company to sack hundreds of its workers, according to its CEO.

Tom Werner of SunPower said the company has started the process to let go 150 to 250 people due to an expected loss of $50m this year alone due to the 30 per cent tariffs.

The publicly traded company will ultimately be able to save 10 per cent in operational costs through the cuts, Mr Werner told The Hill newspaper.

Mr Trump approved the tariff in January 2018 executive order, claiming: "You're going to have people getting jobs again and we're going to make our own product again. It's been a long time”.

The problem: only 14 per cent of the 260,000 people who spend “a majority of their time on solar projects” are in panel manufacturing - most are involved in the installation of panels and associated products and services, according to the New York Times.

The tariff is designed to help US manufacturers of solar panels to compete with lower-priced Chinese imports.

The tariff angered the $28b solar power industry in the US, which gets about 80 per cent of its products through imports.... 

Death by surgery.

The simple fact anesthesia can cause such a deep sleep there needs to be monitoring that a layperson cannot carry out places every patient at these centers at risk for death.

It happened to a friend.

She did everything right, except, have a trained professional at the house to oversee her first 24 hours after surgery. I don't know what it feels like to be her guardian for the night, but, I am sure it haunts him.

The anesthesia set her into a deep sleep at bedtime. It caused anoxia and only after a few hours did she completely stop breathing. By that time it was too late; her brain was dead and reviving her yielded a person without a mind. The average person does not understand anesthesia, it's potential deadly effects even after initially aroused or what full breaths are of a person considered asleep.

The medical professionals and surgery center still get paid regardless of the final outcome of their patients.

That is an absolutely true story about a dear friend from high school. The only people benefitting from that surgery are professionals; doctors, administrators and now lawyers.

March 2, 2018

By Christina Jewett 

...If Tam had been operated on at a hospital, (click here) a few simple steps could have saved her life.

But like hundreds of thousands of other patients each year, Tam went to one of the nation’s 5,600-plus surgery centers.

Such centers started nearly 50 years ago as low-cost alternatives for minor surgeries. They now outnumber hospitals as federal regulators have signed off on an ever-widening array of outpatient procedures in an effort to cut federal health care costs.

Thousands of times each year, these centers call 911 as patients experience complications ranging from minor to fatal. Yet no one knows how many people die as a result, because no national authority tracks the tragic outcomes. An investigation by Kaiser Health News and the USA TODAY Network has discovered that more than 260 patients have died since 2013 after in-and-out procedures at surgery centers across the country. Dozens — some as young as 2 — have perished after routine operations, such as colonoscopies and tonsillectomies.

 Reporters examined autopsy records, legal filings and more than 12,000 state and Medicare inspection records, and interviewed dozens of doctors, health policy experts and patients throughout the industry, in the most extensive examination of these records to date....                   

Shut down the US Olympic Committee and begin to build speciality committees for each sport answerable to the IOC.

Each sport the USA participates in needs to begin today to build their own committee to pay expenses for the athletes. These committees are to be autonomous and answer only to the IOC. They can be lead by family and professionals elected by the athletes. The committees will set their own policies, raise their own monies, participate in qualifying events and will maintain their own training facilities.

Every town in the USA has sports teams in junior and high school athletes. There is no reason the national teams cannot be organized in the same way. This is an outrage and completely ridiculous to even think the US Olympic Committee is a hierarchy that cannot be dismantled. 

March 2, 2018
By Joe Deutsch

..."My highest priority (click here) has been to push for change, so future generations of athletes will be safer," Raisman said in a statement released to multiple media outlets. "It has become painfully clear that these organizations have no intention of properly addressing this problem.

"After all this time, they remain unwilling to conduct a full investigation, and without a solid understanding of how this happened, it is delusional to think sufficient changes can be implemented. Meanwhile, thousands of young athletes continue to train and compete every day in this same broken system.

"I refuse to wait any longer for these organizations to do the right thing. It is my hope that the legal process will hold them accountable and enable the change that is so desperately needed."

The lawsuit alleges that the USOC, "at the highest levels of its organization," was aware of Nassar's abuse and harassment of female gymnasts in his role as team doctor, according to ESPN....

Life is complicated and simpleton solutions will make things worse.

December 18, 2015

Washington, D.C.—Karen Harbert, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber’s (click here) Institute for 21st Century Energy, today applauded the U.S. House of Representatives for voting to include an amendment offered by Representative Joe Barton that will lift the ban on oil exports as part of H.R. 8, the North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act of 2016. "Once again, the House of Representatives has recognized that a policy framework in which Iran can export oil but America can't makes no sense and must change.  Bringing U.S. oil to global markets will act as a stabilizing force and provide our allies with alternatives to importing oil from less-friendly nations for the energy they need.” "The Senate must now take action to strengthen our security and create American jobs by taking up and passing legislation to end the ban on crude oil exports this year."...

Currently, the USA has exported 1,515,000 barrels (click here) of oil. That is the highest ever and it occurred in 2017.

February 6, 2018

Venezuela’s crude sales to the United States, (click here) an ideological foe that remains one of its most important oil customers, were up 21 percent in January compared to December but sharply below year-earlier levels, according to Thomson Reuters Trade Flows data.

The South American OPEC nation’s production decline has contributed to a severe economic recession and political turmoil. The United States remains a critical market because most U.S. buyers pay cash for the oil amid financial sanctions imposed in August on Venezuela by President Donald Trump’s administration.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson this week raised the prospect of broader sanctions, including halting U.S. imports of Venezuelan crude and barring the sale of U.S. refined products to the nation. However, Tillerson said he was concerned about the impact such measures would have on citizens already suffering from severe shortages of food and medicine....

There was a time when Venezuela donated millions of gallons of hearing oil to the USA. That was while Chavez was still alive and President of Venezuela.

By donating millions of gallons of heating oil, (click here) CITGO and its shareholder, Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), have helped more than 1.8 million people keep warm since 2005.

Program Has Helped More Than 1.7 Million People Since Its Inception (click here)

Those donations continued until the winter of 2017, when struggles within Venezuela caused an end to the shipments of free oil to low income and poor Americans.

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (click here) lies along South America’s Caribbean Coast. It is bordered by Brazil, Colombia and Guyana. The country covers an area of around 916 thousand square kilometres, excluding the Esequibo area, and has a population of around 31 million. Around four million people live in the capital, Caracas, and Spanish is the country’s official language.

Venezuela’s oil revenues account for about 95 per cent of export earnings. The oil and gas sector is around 25 per cent of gross domestic product. Apart from petroleum, the country’s natural resources include natural gas, iron ore, gold, bauxite, diamonds and other minerals. The national currency is the bolivar.

HE Nicolás Maduro Moros is the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the country is a Founder Member of OPEC....

Columbia is just west of Venezuela. It has taken decades to end violence in Colombia. DECADES. Now, without weighing all the consequences President Trump wants to end the imports of oil from Venezuela.

Venezuelans (click here) are pouring in to flee the humanitarian disaster in their home country.

Colombia was already dealing with corruption scandals, record cocaine production, proposed cuts in American aid, oil headaches and a costly peace agreement to end a 50-year civil war....

Columbia is staggering under the weight of Venezuela's refugees. The economy of Columbia has taken a turn for the worse and has lost ground economically and with it's credit standing.

...Another blow came in December, when Standard & Poor's cut Colombia's credit rating to one level above junk status. And a presidential election is coming in May.

The Colombian economy grew just 1.8% last year, the slowest pace since the global financial crisis a decade ago. In 2011, it was booming at 6%.

"It's certainly not the star that it was four or five years ago," says Richard Francis, director of Latin America sovereign debt at Fitch Ratings....

Any changes to Venezuela's economy has to include the OPEC members and their interest in the country. Basically, the USA should not be making unilateral decisions, so much as bringing countries to the table and the United Nations is the best place to do that. I am certain humanitarian aid can be assessed and the best path forward to stabilize the country and bring people together to solve their problems.

March 1, 2018
By Angelina Rascouet and Wael Mahdi

...Venezuela’s (click here) output dropped by 30,000 barrels a day to 1.68 million barrels. The Latin American nation is a big part of the reason for OPEC’s stellar implementation of promises to curb production. Its industry is suffering from a lack of investment and looming U.S. sanctions, sending output last year to the lowest since the 1980s....


When one thinks about changing economic status of a country, the entire region has to be weighed to the impact that will have and the OUTCOMES of all involved. 

BEFORE TRUMP lowers the hammer on Venezuela he needs to consider the instability that already exists, the potential return of radical groups to Columbia as the people begin to suffer more and the entire instability of the region north of Columbia that already sends children to the USA southern border because of the violence of drug cartels and the routes that pass through them.

The USA has not invested in the stability of South America, including tourism and the protections of vital rainforests. Of course, rainforests is a dirty word in Washington, DC these days, but, they bring in income to these countries. Consider also that Brazil is a BRIC country that is supposed to be stabilizing and entering into global relationships to increase it's credit rating and status.

To remove 25 percent of Venezuela's GDP because Trump thinks it is a good idea, is actually a lousy idea that will cause greater hardship among the people in northern South America, including a greater instability in Columbia.

ENOUGH. 

Venezuela needs humanitarian relief and Columbia needs help with the refugees. FIRST stabilize the movement of people into Columbia and not by killing them at the border, but, by providing food and the ability to have clean water when treated with chlorine. 

While that is occurring, the Venezuela government needs to meet with regional leaders to begin a plan that will stabilize the country, return people from being refugees and begin a road back to a quality of life Venezuelan's have lived before. All the political leaders have to be considered in a movement to stabilize the government, country and it's place in the region.

Cutting off Venezuelan oil exports for the sake of DOING SOMETHING is ridiculous. There cannot be more and more problems in Venezuela, there needs to be less and the USA needs to work with Columbia to find a way to end the suffering of so many.

It is the right thing to do. It has to effect the trend that is occurring now.

Removing the ammunition from the reach of those that want to kill for the sake of killing will result in less violence. We will have to see how much of an effect it will have, but, it should be immediately.

February 28, 2018
By Matthew Haag

Walmart, (click here) the largest retailer in the United States, said Wednesday evening that it would stop selling guns and ammunition to anyone under 21 years of age and remove from its stores all toys and airsoft rifles that resemble assault-style weapons.

“Our heritage as a company has always been in serving sportsmen and hunters, and we will continue to do so in a responsible way,” the company said in a statement....

Billions of US government taxpayer monies are wasted on GOP politics. The Supreme Court ruling is a human rights violation.

March 4, 2013

There (click here) was much controversy last week about federal officials releasing hundreds of immigrants from detention centers ahead of the looming budget cuts. But the real issue should be that U.S. taxpayers foot the steep bill to detain more than 30,000 people every day — not that a group of immigrants who pose little threat to public safety were transferred out of federal facilities last week.

Whatever the circumstances surrounding the move out of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention, the result is smarter enforcement that could save the federal government tens of thousands of dollars per day, if not hundreds of thousands, based on data from the president’s most recent budget request.

We are all for detaining criminals. But those now on supervised release are the kind of people who should never have been in detention in the first place. Miguel Hernandez, for example, had been detained after being pulled over for not using his car’s turn signal. Not exactly a criminal offense....

The Trump Administration, it's Republican Congress have done a 180 degree turn when it comes to detained immigrants. Oh, yeah, these are the most dangerous people in the country.

May 6, 2010

Human Rights Watch (click here) calls upon the US Congress and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) to appropriately limit the US government’s broad and relatively unchecked power to detain immigrants. Each year ICE detains hundreds of thousands of immigrants. In 2009 ICE held between 380,000 and 442,000 people in some 300 US detention facilities, at an annual cost of $1.7 billion. These people are not imprisoned as punishment for criminal offenses. Instead, they are detained for civil immigration violations, held administratively as they wait for a court hearing or pending their deportation.

Many will be deprived of their liberty for months, some for years. And many are being held unnecessarily, at great cost to themselves, their families, and US taxpayers.

At least since 1996 ICE has enjoyed relatively unchecked powers to sweep non-citizens into detention. These powers include detaining non-citizens who have committed crimes, but already served their sentences. Of particular concern are policies that mandate ongoing detention, without so much as a hearing, of certain nonviolent offenders, lawful permanent residents, and individuals who committed offenses decades ago.

ICE also detains many people even after court rulings in their favor, people granted refugee status who fail to do proper paperwork, and people for whom detention conditions can be particularly harsh, such as individuals with disabilities and unaccompanied minors.

Not only are detention powers broad, they are sometimes without temporal limit. Immigrants may be placed in custody for months or years with no fixed or clear end to their detention....

March 7, 2017
by Eric Levitz

President Trump has argued that protecting the American people from terrorism is so important, our nation must be willing to sacrifice its commitments to human rights and refugees; cripple its own tourism industry; strand immigrants in airports; sour our diplomatic relations with the Muslim world; and kill dozens of civilians while gathering intelligence, just to diminish the probability of an attack on our soil.

But the president also believes that building a border wall is so important, we must be willing to radically reduce funding to the Coast Guard, TSA, and FEMA’s terrorism-response program to finance one — or so new budget documents seem to suggest....

… Overall, DHS would get a 6 percent boost to its budget, to $43.8 billion. But to help pay for that, the administration would slice the budget of the Coast Guard and cut 11 percent in spending from the TSA — reductions that critics say would weaken safeguards against threats arriving by sea or air....

… FEMA sees a $370 million cut, which includes a 25 percent reduction, or $280 million, in the agency’s program for countering violent extremism and preparations for a wide-scale terrorist attack, as well as a 40 percent cut of $80 million for FEMA’s port transit security grant program. At TSA, the $500 million reduction includes cutting $65 million for behavioral detection officers and $55 million for local law enforcement grants to to airports.

Here’s what the Trump administration hopes to buy with those savings:

New detention beds and transportation costs for deporting the undocumented: $1.9 billion.

Border-wall funds: $1.4 billion.

New border-surveillance technology: $920 million.

“High-priority replacement fence projects”: $560 million.

1,000 new ICE agents: $185 million.

500 new CBP agents: $100 million.

Striking fear into the hearts of America’s most vulnerable workers and all who love them: Priceless (apparently)....

Evidently, the Supreme Court doesn't care about human rights either.

February 28, 2018

...The 5-to-3 ruling (click here) overturned the rulings of two lower courts that found immigrants facing prolonged detention must be given a custody hearing....

...Writing in the majority opinion, Justice Samuel Alito Jr. said, quote, “Detention during those proceedings gives immigration officials time to determine an alien’s status without running the risk of the alien’s either absconding or engaging in criminal activity.”

Justice Stephen Breyer read his dissent from the bench. He said, quote, “I would find it alarming, to believe that Congress wrote these statutory words in order to put thousands of individuals at risk of lengthy confinement all within the United States but all without hope of bail.” Justice Breyer was joined in his dissent by Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor. Elena Kagan recused herself.

The case, Jennings v. Rodriguez, was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a dental assistant named Alejandro Rodriguez, who was born in Mexico but was brought to the United States when he was 1 year old. He ended up spending three years in immigration detention without a bond hearing. The Supreme Court first heard the case in 2016, then again last year, after Justice Gorsuch joined the court. Both the Obama and Trump administrations backed the policy of indefinite detention....

July 13, 2012
By Lorie Hearn

Civilian deaths at the hands of U.S. Border Patrol agents (click here) are increasing even though illegal immigration and assaults against agents are down. This was the conclusion of a months-long investigation by nonprofit media organizations into incidents in three border states. Reporters identified at least 14 men and boys who have died since Oct. 1, 2009 after confrontations with Border Patrol agents.

This special report illuminates serious questions about follow up and accountability. It follows a documentary in April by the PBS news magazine, Need to Know, which aired a cellphone video of a Mexican man surrounded by border patrol agents, beating and tasing him. Anastasio Hernandez Rojas died later in a hospital. After U.S. lawmakers demanded justice for Hernandez, a grand jury was convened in San Diego this week.

The reporters’ findings come at a time when immigration, always a highly charged topic, has been in the white-hot spotlight this summer.

In June, President Obama stopped deportations of certain high-achieving young people who were brought to the country illegally as children. A few weeks later, the Supreme Court struck down parts of SB 1070, the controversial Arizona law that empowered local law enforcement to uphold federal immigration policy....

The USA is always at war. The USA is claiming the southern border with Mexico is allowing terrorists a place to cross. The southern border with Mexico is a war zone by the simple fact there are stated crossings that bring with it terrorism. Terrorism is very high on the list of the USA's reason to war.

There is absolutely no reason for a change in policy or an escalation of armed assaults against those crossing the border. Making the argument it is illegal and therefore a crime is defined from the USA border. The people coming from Mexico (not necessarily Mexicans) did not study the law or the language of the USA before attempting to find a more humane life, which is especially true of children.

We know for a fact there are drug cartels that freely engage in killings to secure their routes out of South America to the USA. The USA has been unable to contain the drug traffic where it starts. The result is immigration from South American through Mexico that seek to be safe from the cartels guns, drugs and sex slavery.

When human beings cross the USA southern border it is to save their lives and their children's lives. They know little else, except, the USA will treat them humanly. The Supreme Court ruling today is outrageously inhumane AND UNNECESSARY!

...In 1986, (click here) each Border Patrol agent apprehended nearly 530 people—44 people per month. By the end of 2017, that number had dropped to just 16, barely more than one arrest for each per month....

Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949. (click here)

Part I. General Provisions

Article 1. The High Contracting Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances.

Art. 2. In addition to the provisions which shall be implemented in peace-time, the present Convention shall apply to all cases of declared war or of any other armed conflict which may arise between two or more of the High Contracting Parties, even if the state of war is not recognized by one of them.

Art. 3. In the case of armed conflict not of an international character occurring in the territory of one of the High Contracting Parties, each Party to the conflict shall be bound to apply, as a minimum, the following
provisions:

(1) Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria....

“Are we at a point as a country where the enforcement of our laws by necessity comes with that sort of treatment of people? Because if it is, I think that that is really a question for us. how have we arrived at this point where we can justify the mistreatment of people on such a huge scale, and go to bed at night as a country saying that’s the best we can do and that’s consistent with our shared values?”

Deadly Patrols: Behind the Story — Part 1 from Brad Racino on Vimeo.