How much acid does Saudi Arabia keep around at any point in time?

7 January 2019

Saudi authorities (click here) are refusing to confirm the whereabouts of Saud al-Qahtani, the former top aide to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), according to the Washington Post.

Qahtani was fired in October, just days after the gruesome murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi came to light.

In November, the Kingdom confirmed that he was under investigation and banned from leaving the country. Since then there has been no official statement in the case, the Washington Post reported....

Texans want nothing to do with the border wall as Trump is declaring eminent domain over a 19th century chapel.

January 10, 2019

OBLATE, School of Theology (click here)

Hidalgo — As President Donald Trump (click here) travels to the border in Texas to make the case for his $5.7 billion wall, landowner Eloisa Cavazos says she knows firsthand how the project will play out if the White House gets its way.

The federal government has started surveying land along the border in Texas and announced plans to start construction next month. Rather than surrender their land, some property owners are digging in, vowing to reject buyout offers and preparing to fight the administration in court.

“You could give me a trillion dollars and I wouldn’t take it,” said Cavazos, whose land sits along the Rio Grande, the river separating the U.S. and Mexico in Texas. “It’s not about money.”

Trump is scheduled to visit the border Thursday in McAllen, a city of 143,000 on the river.

Congress in March funded 33 miles (53 kilometers) of walls and fencing in Texas. The government has laid out plans that would cut across private land in the Rio Grande Valley. Those in the way include landowners who have lived in the valley for generations, environmental groups and a 19th century chapel....

What I found interesting about the Manafort leak that solidifies the Trump campaign in collusion with Russia was the fact it is so public.

There have been no new indictments from the Special Council investigation while Matt Whitaker has been acting AG. No one can dispute the fact there needs to be many more new indictments filed with this very public leak.

Then, after the facts surfaced about Manafort and the Trump campaign collusion with Russia, Munchkin comes out to plead with the US House for sanction relief for Russia. I'll be darn.

What I don't understand is why would a wealthy man like Munchkin carry on with Trump this way, including the tax law which he authored? What does Russia have on Munchkin? Why is Munchkin as corrupt or more so than Trump and his merry men and a woman?

In the light of these revelations by Munchkin, there needs to be a vigorous investigation of the US Treasury to find more traces of corruption not readily in view of the US Congress or the public. This stinks and it stinks bad.

Trump and his minions are becoming very bold in their corruption and it is because the US Senate sides with Trump in their fear of being primaried in 2020. The USA government is basically occupied by Russia through the very dense corruption of the Trump White House. McConnell better find his backbone and soon.

January 9, 2018

By Tucker Higgins

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (click here) will brief House lawmakers Thursday about his department's plan to terminate sanctions on three companies linked to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire with ties to Vladimir Putin.

The briefing, which is slated for exactly one week after Democrats officially took a majority of the House, is among the first instances of the party using its newfound power to conduct oversight of the Trump administration....

Is this stunt in any way affiliated with the NRA? A communication board or some inspiration of sorts?

Like most stupid populous teen challenge ideas, this is about intimidation. Now, it isn't even about protecting schools from hostile intent, it is about seeking to intimidate peers and classmates into advocating for arming students.

It is related to the theme and motto by the NRA, "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." I believe the origins of this idea needs to be investigated as well as the death(s) itself.

January 3, 2019
By David K. Li

A Houston teenager (click here) is accused of shooting dead a fellow teen as part of a weapons-drawing prank that has been spreading on social media, authorities said Thursday.

Mohamad Nour Alajil, 18, has been charged with manslaughter in connection to the Dec. 11 slaying of Christian Johnson, 19, officials said.

Police believe Johnson's death resulted from the "No Lackin'" challenge, which calls for one person to pull a weapon on another on video to record the reaction, KPRC reported. The challenge stems from the notion that no one should ever be caught without, or "lacking," a gun.

Johnson had an AR-15 rifle pointed at Alajil, while Alajil had a semi-automatic pistol aimed at the victim, a prosecutor said during a hearing Thursday....

DeVos is doing a fair amount of damage to USA education.

There is a movement whereby students don't attend traditional schools and earn report cards. The alternative to traditional learning is called, "proficiency based grading." It disseminates authority for grades to a computer program rather than a teacher. It is a set of qualifying MODULES that a student needs to reach 70 percent proficiency to move to the next module.

Maine was gung-ho with this stuff until parents started raising a fuss about understanding what their children were learning and how they received grades. The company involved in the Maine experiment is "JumpRope" (click here). The coordinator for the program is unable to explain the program because he doesn't exactly understand it either.

Perhaps the Education Secretary should have a degree in education.

January 9, 2019
By Kelley Bouchard

South Portland — The city’s public schools (click here) will change parts of a controversial proficiency-based grading system that has drawn strong criticism from parents, students and teachers here and across Maine.

Superintendent Ken Kunin announced the pending changes last weekend in an email to the high school community that followed increasing complaints and emotional testimony at a recent school board meeting.

The district will drop a 1-4 grading system at South Portland High School that replaced a traditional A-F grading system four years ago. The current grading system was part of the district’s incomplete move toward issuing proficiency-based diplomas, a state mandate passed in 2012 that the Legislature dropped last year.

School staff members have been reviewing the 1-4 grading system for the past several months, prompted by concerns about its accuracy, fairness, unexplainable calculations, complex reporting requirements and lack of nuance in reflecting individual students’ abilities, especially college-bound seniors....

...On its website, JumpRope says Power Law grading “is based on research on cognitive development” and “more closely represents true student learning progress. However, it is more difficult for students to understand or teachers to predict because the formula is very complex.”...

...School board Chairman Dick Matthews said he can’t explain the grading system and he’s tired of trying.

“It’s just not working for us,” Matthews said. “I welcome the change.”...

...The district pays $26,000 a year for JumpRope’s “learning management system,” Kunin said. Whether it will continue to use JumpRope remains to be seen. The district will be seeking a grading system that works for teachers, students and parents, he said....

The way the US Department of Education explains "proficiency based learning" is that it personalizes education. Another name for this mess is "competency based learning" whereby each student moves at their own pace.

...By enabling students to master skills at their own pace, (click here) competency-based learning systems help to save both time and money. Depending on the strategy pursued, competency-based systems also create multiple pathways to graduation, make better use of technology, support new staffing patterns that utilize teacher skills and interests differently, take advantage of learning opportunities outside of school hours and walls, and help identify opportunities to target interventions to meet the specific learning needs of students. Each of these presents an opportunity to achieve greater efficiency and increase productivity....

...Big Picture Learning School – This model seeks to provide a personalized learning experience that challenges and supports students, engages families in the learning process, and encourages students to take ownership over their own education. Each student works with an academic advisor and their parents to develop an individual learning plan that addresses their needs, skills, and interests....

The government shutdown serves McConnell's purpose.

McConnell watched Republicans leave the party in 2018 and continue to leave the party and join the Democrats in countering Trump's erratic behavior with foreign leaders and in deregulating the federal government which oversees issues with clean air and water. Let's say, McConnell, is willing to admit he is happy with Kavanaugh and would like to repeat it. McConnell doesn't want to lose the US Senate in 2020. He knows in order to win back the Republicans he lost in 2018, he needs a different presidential candidate. How exactly does he go about doing that? If Trump is willing to self-destruct as he is doing now, McConnell has his answer.

January 8, 2019
By Perry Bacon, Jr.

...The most obvious path (click here) that could lead to a strong Trump challenger would be paved by some new development. For example, Trump could take a policy step that deeply offends a core part of the GOP base. If he picked a pro-abortion-rights nominee for the Supreme Court, for instance, he could alienate evangelical Christian conservatives, a huge bloc within the Republican Party and one that currently strongly supports Trump.

I don’t expect Trump to do this — he has largely stuck to conservative orthodoxy in his first two years in office. I do not consider removing troops from Syria or even Afghanistan (as the president is considering doing) to be moves that would cause an impasse between the GOP base and Trump. There is little evidence that GOP voters (as opposed to congressional Republicans) are bothered by those moves.

But although he has largely embraced mainstream Republican policies, Trump remains unpredictable, and for that reason I think it is possible, if very unlikely, that Trump could end up taking a step that annoys rank-and-file GOP voters....

Airlines need to think about taking on the pay to TSA workers in order to continue to fly if this goes on much longer.

The airlines need to assess their ability to carry out the role of TSA to ensure their passengers' safety. Trump is obviously not interested in funding the government. I can't believe TSA isn't considered vital personnel. 

Federal employees are soon to face their future and whether the stalemated Republicans will actually resolve this problem with Trump. If federal employees begin to leave their jobs, there won't be replacements without a paycheck attached to it.

The US House and US Senate need to go into reconciliation and then override the veto. There cannot be any more negotiations with the President, so the path forward has to be a resolution that includes a veto override.

January 9. 2019

...The some 51,000 TSA officers have been working (click here) without an idea of when their next paycheck would arrive since the shutdown began on Dec. 22.

Airport representatives and air traffic controllers are fretting about the prolonged closure.

"Federal staffing and other resource shortfalls brought on by this shutdown threaten existing and new air service to communities across the country, harming air travelers, businesses, and regional economies all over America," the Airport Council International trade group wrote in Jan. 8 letter to Trump, Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. "A true national crisis would develop if we cripple the U.S. aviation system in this manner."...

"My way or the highway" is not a presidential temperment.

Trump has no temperament to be president. He is unable to meet with allies, seeks dictators to keep company with and now he is unable to stay in a room with the WINNING opposing party. He is not a person the American people can count on to carry out the business of the government. He is scaring people, but, not in the way he believes he is.

Something has to be done about him and it will take both the US House and US Senate to bring function back to the country. There really is no choice. He is not doing his job.

January 9, 2019
By Nicholas Fandos and Michael Tackett

Washington — President Trump (click here) slammed his hand on a table and stormed out of a White House meeting with congressional leaders on Wednesday after Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said she would not fund a wall along the southern border, dramatically escalating the confrontation over the government shutdown.

Stunned Democrats emerged from the White House meeting declaring that Mr. Trump had thrown a “temper tantrum.” The president’s allies accused Democrats of refusing to negotiate. Then he tweeted that the meeting was “a total waste of time.”...

The Republicans moveD the goal posts again.

First, the GOP stated they would give Trump $5 billion, Trump demanded $5.6 and shut down the government. Now, the GOP wants $5.7 billion and add $100 million. 

The GOP forgets how this became an election issue. It wasn't about migrants, it was to stomp environmentalists that opposed a wall due to the harm of the land and species. Every inch of border wall was viewed by zealots as a victory for capitalism.

The zealots. like Trump, enjoy the power affiliated with a sovereign border, the cheering to complete a wall never ended. Excuse me, but, preventing a drink of water for bison is not worth $5.7 billion.

George W. Bush started this mess and Texas is a chronic obstruction to finishing any border fence for the next two decades. The legal challenges in Texas, yes Texas, will continue for 15 to 20 years.

This wall or fence or whatever is nothing more than political football that is disabling a sector of our government and is proving to hobble THE USA'S FREE TRADE ECONOMY.

There is no crisis at the southern border with the exception of species seeking habitat. Humans coming to the USA for asylum are received by many religious charities to assist their survival; there is yet a non-profit stationed at the border to assist species to survive. Who would bother? There are gun-toting vigilantes out there.

A US Senator that looks like a real person. At least she didn't wear a jacket that matches Pence's tie.

They come as a group and now they leave as a group.

Put more Border Patrols and Courts to work and the problem will fix itself. The issue with border crossers is about PROCESSING which begins with apprehension. The only way to apprehend the border crossers is to put more people on the USA southern border.

This issue with drugs, which Trump conflates with border crossers, is about corruption. Those are two different worlds.

 April 18, 2014

By Julian Robinson

Immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally (click here) sit in a group after US Border Patrol agents detained at least 80 people who had been living in a makeshift encampment in suburban McAllen, Texas. A patrol officer stands guard while those arrested are asked to sit on the ground

This is the moment a makeshift encampment, set up by immigrants desperate for a new life in the US, is dramatically raided by border police.

Sleeping on pieces of cardboard, more than 80 immigrants were hiding in camouflaged tents and huts in a suburban part of Texas near its border with Mexico.

Surviving on little food and water for at least a week, the men had found an undeveloped patch of scrub near an abandoned tennis club at McAllen.

But their bid to enter the country came to an end when Border Patrol officers swooped. A short time later, Border Patrol arrested 132 immigrants found in two buildings on a property in Alton, about eight miles west of McAllen.

Guides are believed to lead the immigrants across the Rio Grande in smaller groups and then mass them in so-called stash houses on the Texas side of the border until their transportation can be arranged for the next leg of their journey.

One of those arrested, Alfredo Espinoza Rivera, said he had left El Salvador about six weeks earlier, paying $7,000 to a smuggler. The 37-year-old said he was trying to reach his father, a U.S. citizen, in Los Angeles....

June 3, 2018

By Fernanado Ramirez

A recently leaked image (click here) shows dozens of immigrants in orange jumpsuits, their hands and feet shackled, undergoing a "mass trial" in Pecos, Texas, a small town roughly 70 miles southwest of Odessa.

Rapid fire trials like the one seen in the image are not an anomaly, but few Americans know what the controversial practice looks like since photographing federal court proceedings is forbidden....

Whatever happened to "Border Wizard?"

The Federal Highway (click here) Administration's Office of Freight Management and Operations, in cooperation with the Border Station Partnership Council (BSPC), has developed an analytical tool to assist in the coordination of improvements to border ports of entry. The Border Crossing Simulation Model (Border Wizard) is now in use. Border Wizard can simulate all federal inspection activities at any land border station to determine infrastructure, facility, and operational needs to ensure safe and secure operations. This article describes Border Wizard and its uses.

Back in 2001, that fateful year of LEGAL IMMIGRANTS that took flying lessons, the USA developed an analytical tool to determine how to best distribute border security assets. What does "Border Wizard" have to say about the southern border and it's function?

...In 2001, (click here) FHWA's Office of Freight Management and Operations, supported by Battelle and the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI), undertook an on-site review of seven ports-of-entry that handle over 60 percent of U.S. truck trade among the three NAFTA nations. Linked with research now under way to simulate border-crossing activity using a model called "Border Wizard," these site reviews will enable FHWA to make informed recommendations about crossing improvements. The results also will help the agency to engage with other federal, state, and local jurisdictions in constructive dialogue about how, together, all can improve the performance, security, and mobility of commerce at these important international locations....

Just as a point of interest, the truck traffic coming north through the Ports of Entry has dropped significantly since 2017 because the number of trucks going south has dropped off significantly. There is no way for the products south of the USA border to come north if there aren't enough trucks going south to transport.

Who is bringing drug cratel members into the USA and are those trucks receiving programming by "Board Wizard" to allow easier passage of drug cartel members and products?

...Unfortunately, average travel time does not tell the whole story, as at several crossings, many trucks took significantly longer to transit the seven ports-of-entry. Hence, a 95th percentile time measurement also was calculated, providing information about the time that it took 95 percent of the surveyed trucks to travel the study distance. A comparison of average travel time with the 95th percentile time finds that a number of truck trips could in fact take far longer than the average. For example, while average travel time for all seven inbound crossings was 26.8 minutes, the 95th percentile time for these was over 70 minutes.

Not surprisingly, the number of inspection and processing booths open at each port-of-entry at any given time had a significant influence on the variability of travel time and delay. There was a definite relationship between the number of booths open, the travel demand, and the travel time through the crossing. Decisions on how many to open at any given time are apparently not made purely with mobility or crossing times in mind and are not always made by the transportation agencies.

Before September 11, 2001, U.S.-Canadian ports-of-entry generally processed inbound trucks with less delay, and with less variability, than did U.S.-Mexican ports-of-entry. Southern crossings generally handle more traffic, but with generally more variability across the day in the travel times required for crossing. (The exception to this pattern was the Blue Water Bridge port-of-entry at Port Huron, Michigan). As noted, concerns about drug traffic and illegal immigration apparently contribute to extended inspection times at the southern border. However, other influences on travel time and delay are less self- evident and may need further consideration. Procedures or policies that reduce time at the northern ports-of-entry might be exportable to the southern border....

Marijuana is more easily found crossing the USA southern border because it is shipped in large quantities, however, other drugs such as heroin are smuggled in with smaller qualities and are not necessarily found during inspections of trucks. Why hasn't the methodology changed to stop the heroine as well as marijuana? 

Also, ending the shipments of marijuana into the USA is more important with the new development of legalized marijuana. Ulitmately, the cartels could impact the new burgeoning legalized businesses if illegal marijuana is within that market.

Trump is lying about the USA southern border.

January 8, 2019

Tucson — As President Donald Trump (click here) pushes Congress to set aside more money to build additional barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, he frequently, and falsely, claims that his promised wall would help stem the flow of illegal narcotics into the country.

But data from his own administration repeatedly show that a rising number of smuggled drugs, especially more potent ones like heroin and cocaine, are increasingly seized at legal ports of entry, which are not impacted by a wall.

During a press conference Friday in the White House Rose Garden, Trump went so far as to claim that "drugs are pouring into this country," but that "they don’t go through the ports of entry."

"When they do, they sometimes get caught.” 

Trump's comment conflicts with the numbers compiled by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency responsible for enforcing the nation's laws along the U.S.-Mexico border....

How is it that people without power or money are successfully detained to a judicial hearing while Sinaloa Cartel members are free to conduct business as usual in the USA?

This study is dated, but, IT PROVES that illegal border crossers do not get a free pass if they have a criminal history. Asylum seekers receive preferential treatment, but, those coming to the USA with criminal backgrounds are and have been detained.

The Border Patrol is doing it's job, what is the issue?

By Joe Hagan and Albert Palloni

...The most detailed recent study (click here) of criminal justice processing decisions involving immigrants was undertaken in El Paso and San Diego by Pennell et al. (1989). This study found in both cities that illegal aliens made up the largest proportion of immigrants prosecuted, and that these illegal aliens were much less likely than others to be released from jail prior to trial. For example, in El Paso only 14 percent of illegal immigrants compared with over 50 percent of all others were able to "bailout" prior to trial. This difference may be associated with the fact that the Immigration and Naturalization Service can place "holds" on illegal immigrants, that illegal aliens are financially less able to post bail, and that illegal immigrants are less likely to have the community ties that often are required for early release. When accused persons are unable to obtain release they may have greater difficulty generating resources to defend themselves in court, leaving them more vulnerable to conviction, and ultimately to imprisonment....

Trump's government shutdown over a stupid border wall is hurting the USA economy and not just government workers.

Craft Breweries have become an economic dynamo with it's popularity reflected under President Obama. It has gone from an obscure back street hangout to one of the country's most expansive economic boom.

The Craft Breweries of the USA now have farmers growing Hops as a crop; that was unheard of just a few years ago. To think this industry is starting to worry because the government is shut down over a stupid border wall is significant. Gee, do you think government workers actually perform important tasks to keep the economy moving?

If Donald Trump continues to abuse power and disaffect the USA he has to at least be censured to remove power from him that disrupts issues of economic viability.


January 9, 2019
By Joe Lawlor

Owners of craft breweries in Maine (click here) are worried that sales could go flat during the federal government shutdown because the agency that processes licenses and approves labels for out-of-state beer sales has been closed since the shutdown began 2½ weeks ago.

In York, an expansion of SoMe Brewing Co. – to add York Beach Beer Co. – has been halted because of the shutdown. New breweries and expansions need licensing approval by the federal Tax and Trade Bureau, which is closed, and SoMe’s expansion license was under consideration when the agency went on hiatus Dec. 22.

“We are losing a considerable amount of money,” said David Rowland, co-owner of SoMe Brewing. Rowland said he applied for the license shortly after Thanksgiving and expected to be open by now. Even when the government reopens, he has no idea how long it will take before his application is processed....

Demonized!

The most trusted and trustworthy member of the Department of Justice has to put himself first at some point in his career.

Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein should have been made Attorney General after Sessions resigned, but, Rosenstein is too dedicated to the truth and rule of law. Trump doesn't want an honest man in the AG spot, he wants a loyalist and someone Trump can control.

Assistant AG has to lose it's luster regardless of its prestige when it is obvious this is as far as he goes. There is nothing saying at some point in the future the American people will see him in the AG spot, but, I think Rosenstein has been insulted enough. And he is getting all the tough assignments. The closer to the truth any attorney gets to Trump and his family the more flack he or she will receive to inhibit a full and successful investigation.

Right now the USA has the most wanted crime boss on trial, namely El Chapo and his minions are still running around the country with impunity. The chronic turmoil under Trump of the Department of Justice can't even bring the Sinaloa Cartel under control. I can only imagine the frustration within the DOJ under this president and Rosenstein is the one taking all the political heat.

If Rod Rosenstein leaves, who will Trump have to kick around and demonize then? I can see his point. If Trump's favorite political target is no longer at the DOJ and he continues to demonize the department, sooner or later someone has to do something about Trump.

Rosenstein is a good man. He will be profoundly missed. 

January 4, 2018
By Morgan Gstalter

A government watchdog (click here) group filed a complaint with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Friday, calling on the Justice Department to investigate White House senior adviser Ivanka Trump’s alleged conflicts of interest.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) argues that the president’s elder daughter has violated federal conflict-of-interest laws by participating in a tax program despite her husband’s financial ties....

Other than Trump's personal crisis of the heart and soul, there is no crisis at the southern border.

January 8, 2019
By Felicia Sonmez, John Wagner, Josh Dawsey and Mike DeBonis

Migrants (click here) wait to be assisted by volunteers in a Humanitarian Respite Center in the border town of McAllen, Texas on June 14, 2018.

“This is a humanitarian crisis (click here) — a crisis of the heart and a crisis of the soul,” Trump said. He added that the federal government “remains shut down for one reason and one reason only: because Democrats will not fund border security.”

For as long as there have been border crossings there have been religious organizations involved that secure the lives of desperate people. I take issue with Trump's words. He is trying to say Americans need to turn their backs on their moral character in order to deal effectively with the southern USA border. That is not the case. If anything, the paranoia Trump exudes is far more dangerous. The Trump Administration is not capable of securing the USA border and the violence by the Sinaloa Cartel within the USA is proof.

The churches involved are doing all the heavy lifting. There is no reason for detention facilities. There never has been a need for detention facilities.

20 June 2018
By Jaden Urbi

The Trump administration's zero tolerance policy (click here) for illegal immigration is shining a spotlight on U.S. detention efforts....

...As of this month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement runs 113 detention facilities across the country and works with state and local jails along with private prisons to operate hundreds more.

ICE facilities cost $133.99 a day per adult

According to ICE's FY 2018 budget, on average it costs $133.99 a day to maintain one adult detention bed. But immigration groups have pegged the number closer to $200 a day.

The cost to maintain a family bed, which keeps mothers and children together in a family residential center, costs around $319 a day, according to DHS.

But as of April, children have been separated from their parents with much higher frequency, which has led to the creation of "tent cities" to hold thousands of separated children. Those beds cost $775 per person per night, HHS told NBC News....

The 2014 Crisis brought about change in immigration policy that worked.

June 24, 2018
By Jane C. Timm

...The Family Case Management Program, (click here) launched as a pilot in early 2016, aimed to keep asylum seeking kin together, out of detention, and complying with immigration laws. It was praised by immigration advocates for both its high rate of compliance and its ability to help migrants thrive in a new country — right up until the Trump administration shuttered it almost exactly a year ago....

...“It was really, really cost efficient compared to family detention or family separation,” Katharina Obser, a senior policy adviser for the Women's Refugee Commission's Migrant Rights and Justice program, said.

According to The Associated Press, cost the government $36 per day per family. By the end, it served 954 people in total, according to a 2017 Department of Homeland Security Inspector General report.

Trump has slammed policies or programs that let undocumented immigrants live in the country while awaiting immigration proceedings, using the term "catch and release" to decry the protections afforded to children and families seeking asylum in the U.S. and inaccurately claiming that the laws force ICE to release dangerous criminals....

There were no facts in Trump's speech.

Trump is dumping his responsibility in ending violence within USA borders at the Undocumented. He is scapegoating them while our children still have no reassurances they are safe in their schools.

Trump's violent rhetoric escalates violence, especially racist violence. He never takes responsibility for it or changes his speech. He continues to spew hate to drive a base of White Supremacists.

The beheading Trump referred to was not qualified as to whom was involved in the deaths of a 13-year-old girl and her grandmother. The two men involved were members of the "Sinaloa Cartel." Who exactly is the Sinaloa Cartel? El Chappo.

Dec. 08, 2018 - 1:38 - El Chapo’s Sinaloa cartel (click here) is responsible for brutal violence including beheadings by chainsaw and leaving body parts strewn in the streets.

I have to question the effectiveness and truthfulness of the witnesses at the El Chappo trial if this is what is occurring in the USA. USA law enforcement is supposed to be closing the loop on this and now it is obvious there are no actions to end the reign of lawlessness by the Sinaloa Cartel? Someone is lying and law enforcement is not providing insight to state and local law enforcement to the cartel's activity in the USA as well as it's structure so this ends.

Who in the USA is on "the take" to look the other way?

July 25, 2018
By Crystal Bonvillian

...The grisly details of Mariah Lopez’s slaying came out during the preliminary hearing of Yoni Martinez Aguilar, AL.com reported. Aguilar, 26, and Israel Gonzalez Palomino, 34, are each charged with two counts of capital murder in the deaths of Lopez and her 49-year-old grandmother and legal guardian, Oralia Mendoza.

Palomino is also charged with possession of methamphetamine. 

Members of the middle schooler’s family wept (click here) as Investigator Stacy Rutherford testified about the details Aguilar, who was Mendoza’s live-in boyfriend, gave in a statement following his June 14 arrest....

The immigrants from the Northern Triad are not remotely responsible for these brutal murders. What are these men doing in the USA? They MUST be here to attempt to free El Chappo. Is Trump saying they came across the southern USA border? Really? How did that happen?

This revelation by Trump really surprises me. There are significant people in USA custody testifying about the cartel and there are thugs from that cartel freewheeling around the USA? How is this happening? It makes no sense to think there are details about the cartel, it's organization and members coming out of the El Chappo trial only to find there are cartel thugs in the USA.

I am sorry these deaths occurred, but, when Americans become involved with cartels, these are the consequences.

=

January 8, 2019
By Carmin Chappell

...Although President Donald Trump (click here) has frequently called the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border a "crisis," government data shows that arrests are down compared with the Obama administration as most illegal immigration occurs through overstaying temporary visas.

As the government shutdown enters day 18 with no resolution in sight, Trump has repeatedly overstated the severity of illegal immigration at the border in order to convince Congress to approve more than $5 billion in funding for a border wall.

"The crisis of illegal activity at our Southern Border is real and will not stop until we build a great Steel Barrier or Wall," he tweeted Dec. 22, the day the shutdown began....           

There is no crisis at the USA's southern border.

January 4, 2019
By Manny Fernandez, Caitlin Dickerson and Paulina Villegas

A migrant child from Honduras at Annunciation House in El Paso. The shelter takes in roughly 200 migrants a day.

El Paso — At a migrant shelter near the Mexican border, (click here) three girls from Guatemala — sisters aged 10, 9 and 6 — coughed and sniffled. One of them clung to both a teddy bear and a large bottle of Pedialyte, to soothe her dehydration and flu.

The girls’ mother, Nelcy, 28, said her daughters got sick not during their long journey to the border in the back of a pickup truck, but during the 12 days they spent at two crowded government detention facilities before arriving at the privately run shelter in Texas. “It was very cold, especially for the children,” said Nelcy, who would only be identified by her first name. “My children got sick. They gave us aluminum blankets, but it wasn’t enough.”...

October 17, 2018
By Sarah Ferguson

...Mexicans (click here) and Central Americans line up at the U.S.-Mexican border to make asylum requests. Shelters run by charities in border cities like Reynosa, Tijuana and Nogales all have reported an uptick in migrant asylum seekers. Above, Sister Maria Nidelvia Basulto visits with some of her guests at the Casa del Migrante in Reynosa, which houses both migrants hoping to reach the U.S. and deportees preparing to return home....

November 1, 2018
By Mary Rezac

...Cavendish told CNA (click here) that when Catholic Community Services (CCS) receives refugees who have been released by ICE, the first thing they do is “reaffirm their human dignity, we make sure they understand that they’re safe and welcome and give them a hot meal and something to drink.”

These refugees then spend about 24 hours in a CCS-established shelter while they are provided with food, clothing and shelter while arrangements are made to get them to their families in the U.S.

“Everyone who comes to us has sponsors here in the United States, and so we help them to reach out to their families and we help make their travel arrangements,” she said....

September 12, 2018

The Bipartisan Policy Center (click here) says results of a survey to be released Friday support the view that Texas and its historic, pragmatic views on immigration are key to pushing for future reform.

As the national debate over immigration rages on, conservative-leaning Texas is seen as an important bellwether state given its growing diversity, 1,000-mile border with Mexico and closeness to hot button topics ranging from sanctuary cities, the border wall, DACA to the separation of families entering the U.S. And those issues are complicated by a growing economy dependent on its immigrant labor force.

The Washington-based Bipartisan Policy Center think tank said results from the nationwide survey, conducted in conjunction with Southern Methodist University, show that, overall, Texans share an underlying belief – 68.8 percent – that “immigrants are an essential part of American society,” particularly when newcomers are willing to demonstrate a commitment to learning English, and being law-abiding citizens.

“Texans are welcoming to immigrants and they want them to be law abiding, hardworking and assimilating, integrating into society,” said Theresa Cardenal Brown, director of immigration and cross border initiatives at the center. “Texans believe it can be done and they believe it can happen.”

When asked what concerns Americans more when it comes to immigration, 47 percent of national respondents said the “lack of control over the people we are allowing in.” For Texas, that number rose to 54 percent....

"Gallup" (click here)

Pandering Pence is as guilty as Trump .

Abuse of power, in the form of "malfeasance in office" or "official misconduct," is the commission of an unlawful act, done in an official capacity, which affects the performance of official duties. Malfeasance in office is often grounds for a for cause removal of an elected official by statute or recall election.