Hispanic affairs adviser to 3 presidents has high hopes for Trump

As Donald Trump’s campaign sought to court minority voters amid accusations from the left that his base lacked diversity, little did he know one of the earliest minority trailblazers in the White House was firmly in his corner.
Decades removed from West Wing meetings, private jets and consultations with Latin American politicians, Fernando De Baca, 78, plastered his hometown of Albuquerque with Trump signs and helped publicize rallies in the Democratic stronghold of New Mexico.
Once someone who walked the halls of the White House as a Hispanic Affairs adviser to presidents Nixon, Ford and Reagan, De Baca is excited these days just to snag tickets to Trump’s inauguration -- and view it from the outside.
“Trump reminds me of Ronald Reagan,” De Baca told FoxNews.com. “[My wife and I] supported Trump from the day he announced. … We believed in him, believed that he had the right message.”
De Baca, who led the newly created Office of Hispanic Affairs under Gerald Ford and served in multiple Republican administrations, offers a unique perspective. Looking forward, in an interview with FoxNews.com, he cut against the narrative that Trump’s election is a step backward for minorities and voiced optimism for the future – while lamenting the state of race relations under President Obama.
He suggested part of the problem has been identity politics.
“It’s a totally different world we live in today compared to when I was advocating,” De Baca said. “People were stable, hard-working and were Americans first and Hispanics second.”
A time capsule of sorts, De Baca is part of a dwindling group of Cold War White House advisers who worked directly with American presidents – in his case, at a time when the country was working to alleviate racial strife and launch some of the first government programs to help blacks and Hispanics in the workforce.
But De Baca said years of leftist policies promoting victimization and entitlement over positive messages of equality have caused America to regress.
Road to Washington
It was 1968 and De Baca had just returned from serving in the Vietnam War as a major in Army special intelligence. He was tapped to head New Mexico’s Department of Motor Vehicles. After two years on the job, he met Nixon advisers who recruited him for the president’s new “16 Point Program for Spanish Speaking Americans” – an effort to identify and recruit more Hispanics for federal jobs.
“I was introduced as the head of the program and I met President Nixon for the first time,” De Baca said. “He said, ‘Well, I’ve announced this program and you’ve been selected to head it up and I’m serious about bringing in more Hispanics to the federal government. They must be qualified.’”

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Hispanic leaders meet with President Ford; De Baca is seated next to Ford. (Courtesy of Fernando De Baca)

De Baca flew across the nation and to Puerto Rico, setting up satellite offices in big cities to aid in the hiring process. Soon, he had recruited thousands of Hispanics to fill civil service jobs. Nixon noticed and promoted De Baca to Western regional chairman of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
De Baca was later promoted again to special assistant to the president for Domestic Policy. The day he was to report: Aug. 9, 1974, which later became the day Nixon resigned and left office.
“I report in the morning only to be ushered over to the south lawn where Nixon was departing and I saw him board the Air Force One helicopter,” De Baca said. “I had been following the news and knew his departure was imminent. I felt really bad about it, just as a human being, because he got embroiled in Watergate and the cover-up.”
De Baca continued on under Ford, working with some of the most famous figures in political history.
“The minute I reported in, I had to meet with the chief of staff Alexander Haig – he was pretty domineering figure. He ran a real tight ship,” De Baca recalled. He also remembered sharing an office with Alan Greenspan, who was writing speeches and worked as an economic adviser, and meeting Secretary of State Henry Kissinger “who was very nice and a bit reserved.”
Soon, De Baca was handling any issue that arose with the Hispanic community. One of his biggest tasks was traveling to military bases around the world ensuring Hispanics were properly represented.
When the Ford presidency ended and Jimmy Carter entered the White House, De Baca returned to New Mexico. He had just married another New Mexico native who was in Washington D.C. working at Jobs for Progress, a Hispanic nonprofit advocacy group.
De Baca had long and strenuous hours, so his wife Cecilia did not regret leaving Washington.
“He would come home at 11 at night and was always up and out by 7:30,” she said. “He lived it. In that era, it was public service. You give your life. You believe in it. It’s a calling.”
But when Ronald Reagan entered the White House in 1981, De Baca once again was called upon as a senior adviser. The tone had switched from big government to pumping up the private sector and Reagan wanted De Baca to ensure the role of Hispanics in manufacturing.

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Fernando De Baca, center, is shown meeting with Ford's Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld and civil rights leaders. (Courtesy of Fernando De Baca)

The job would soon turn somber. De Baca attended a meeting with the president on March 30, hours before he was shot in an assassination attempt. De Baca was about 10 feet behind Reagan and witnessed the entire event.
He offers one critique of the late president, in hindsight -- over his decision to grant amnesty to 3 million illegal immigrants. What was meant as a one-time solution that would culminate with strong border control has instead become a license for millions more to enter the country illegally with little repercussion, De Baca said.
“He probably should never have done what he did,” De Baca said. “I think [Reagan] was dreaming. There was no enforcement. Then you have Obama coming in with protecting them instead of stopping them at the border. ... He has turned out to be a real sad state of affairs.”
‘Fortitude and Strength’
After his decades of working to advance fellow Hispanics in the workforce, De Baca looks upon current racial strife in America and says his former bosses would be disappointed. Years of leftist policies, he said, have fostered a type of anti-patriotism with millions of school children being taught an abbreviated version of history that leaves out core values.
He voiced concern that welfare policies are becoming the draw for immigrants to America, rather than a desire to “work” and “assimilate” here.
The De Bacas voiced optimism, though, for the Trump administration.
While critics have described the incoming president’s calls for deporting criminal illegal immigrants and building a border wall as intolerant, and his rhetoric as xenophobic, Mr. De Baca said Trump has the “fortitude and strength to face this [immigration] issue head on.”
“We are a country, we’ve got to have borders,” he said. “The law is the law. I fought for that flag in actual combat. … And it’s worth it because our flag is still standing for our country.”

TX Rep Drafting Bill to Defund UN: 'They Don't Need Our Money to Be Anti-Semitic'

Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert (R) told Kimberly Guilfoyle he is drafting a bill that will halt all US funds to the United Nations until they rescind a resolution condemning Israeli settlements.
Gohmert said his bill will also prevent American money from assisting any foreign government that recognizes Palestine as an independent state.
People have questioned Gohmert as to whether the UN would ever consider nullifying the resolution, he said.
"Fine. They don't need our help to be anti-Semitic," Gohmert said.
He added that a trend within the Obama administration is to support "bullies over victims", citing their reaction to the resolution and eagerness to make a deal with Iran.
Israel is "the only place Muslims have complete freedom in the Middle East," he remarked.

Huckabee: Defund UN; Use Money to Help US Veterans

Mike Huckabee suggested, in the aftermath of the United Nations resolution condemning Israeli settlements, that the United States pull its portion of the international body's funding.
He said the hundreds of millions to billions of dollars could be better allocated to serve American veterans.
Eric Bolling reported that United States funds account for 22 percent or about $600 million of the UN's operating budget, while we have spent as much as multiple billions of dollars on peacekeeping and other UN initiatives.
"We should eliminate it," Huckabee said of the UN's presence in the federal budget.
We get "zero benefits" and are often "embarrassed by its actions," he said.
Bolling remarked that the land the UN's complex sits along First Avenue in Manhattan's Murray Hill neighborhood would be prime real estate for the government to sell.

Liberal San Francisco Cartoons

UN resolution is one of dozens of rebukes against Israel in 2016

The latest United Nations Security Council vote, which is not just about Israeli settlements but also challenges Israel’s claim to parts of the Old City of Jerusalem among other sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, is just one of dozens of anti-Israel measures passed by the world body in 2016.
ISRAEL SUGGESTS WASHINGTON SHOULD CONSIDER CUTTING FUNDS TO UNITED NATIONS AFTER SECURITY COUNCIL VOTE
The U.N. General Assembly adopted 20 anti-Israel resolutions this year, while passing just four for the rest of the world – one for North Korea, one for Syria, one for Iran and one for Russia.
A variety of U.N. agencies singled out Israel for rebuke.
ISRAEL BRACES FOR TENSIONS AS KERRY PLANS MAJOR SPEECH
The World Health Organization condemned Israel as the world’s only violator of “mental, physical and environmental health.”
U.N. Women chastised Israel as the world’s only violator of women’s rights making no mention of misogynistic practices in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and other societies oppressing women.

The International Labor Organization condemned Israel as the only violator of labor rights.
UNESCO, which is charged with safeguarding World Heritage sites and history, adopted a resolution condemning Israel for engaging in aggressive actions in East Jerusalem, referring to the holiest site in Judaism, the Temple Mount and Western Wall, solely by Islamic names Haram al-Sharif, Al Aqsa Mosque, and Buraq Wall Plaza, negating thousands of years of Jewish and Christian heritage. The Buraq is the winged horse that, according to Islamic tradition, the Prophet Muhammed rode during the Night of Ascension to heaven.
Israel captured East Jerusalem, including the Old City of Jerusalem, from Jordan in the 1967 Israel-Arab Six-Day War. Israel also captured the West Bank from Jordan, which includes Bethlehem and other Biblical sites.
The United States broke with past practice last week and allowed the Security Council to condemn Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem as a "flagrant violation" of international law.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the resolution "absurd." A tweet from the prime minister's account Tuesday read: "The nations of the world respect strong countries that stand up for themselves and do not respect weak countries that bow their heads."
"The (resolution) proves that the world rejects the settlements, as they are illegal," President Mahmoud Abbas said early Tuesday in his first public remarks since the U.N. vote.

Jackie Evancho's music sales boom after announcing inauguration performance

While some singers have pulled out of performing at President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, Jackie Evancho isn't backing down.
The 2010 "America's Got Talent" runner-up says that while she's been criticized for agreeing to sing the National Anthem at the inauguration, she is choosing to ignore the haters.
"My family is kind of a big target. I have a transgender sister and so a lot of hate goes towards us," Evancho told People. "But I also get a lot of love. So, we pay most attention to that. Sometimes we get really annoyed with the hate, everyone does, we have to admit it but we just ignore it."
While some have been critical of Evancho's upcoming performance, a lot of fans have shown their support by buying the singer's music.

According to TMZ, Evancho's album sales have quadrupled since she was announced to perform at the inauguration.
Her 2011 album "Dream With Me" and her 2010 "O Holy Night" are sitting at number two on the Billboard charts.
In addition to Evancho, the Radio City Rockettes and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir are set to perform.

'You cannot eat here': Hawaii café riles residents with ban on Trump voters

Honolulu’s Café 8 ½ gets rave reviews on Yelp for its “Radiatore Verde” and “Italian stir fry,” among other popular dishes at the eclectic mom-and-pop restaurant – but the response to its new 'policy' barring pro-Trump patrons has been decidedly more mixed.
A bright yellow, handmade sign posted on the restaurant's front glass door declares: “If you voted for Trump you cannot eat here! No Nazis.”
A photo of the sign was shared with FoxNews.com. One also is proudly posted on the café’s Facebook page, and was “liked” by some 40 people.
“…The next time you're in Honolulu, eat lunch here, not only are they on the right side of things, the food is delicious and reasonable,” one Facebook user wrote next to the photo.
Others aren’t so charmed.
Honolulu resident and Donald Trump voter Susan Roberts told FoxNews.com she found the sign in “extreme poor taste.”
“It's childish and very unprofessional,” she said in an email. “… The restaurant owner doesn't have to worry ... I will not be stepping foot in that establishment.”
Willes Lee, former chairman of the Hawaii Republican Party and now president of National Federation of Republican Assemblies, told FoxNews.com the sign is discriminatory, and harkens back to “racist and hate-filled” days before statehood.
“Remember when Filipinos couldn't go in certain places, or Japanese wouldn't be allowed [in] many homes? And, it didn't matter who they voted for,” said Lee, who is of Japanese descent.
“People should be able to get food without hearing a political message,” one apparent former customer wrote on Yelp. “I will never go back.”
According to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the café was founded by Robert Warner, a former hair stylist for Vidal Sassoon in San Francisco and former restaurateur in Seattle, along with his wife Jali.
Reached for comment Tuesday, Jali downplayed the sign's supposed ban. She told FoxNews.com the restaurant is not actually asking customers whether they voted for President-elect Trump, and said even if they see a customer with a Trump shirt, “we don’t put anything different [in] your food.”
“Robert just wants to express how much he doesn’t like Trump,” Jali said. “If people take it personally or it hurts them, we cannot help. That’s why we say they have [a] choice if they want to come or not come. We don’t force them.”
She said three people called to complain about the sign when it first went up, “that’s it.”
“We don’t want to create trouble,” Jali said. “There is enough trouble in the world.”
While Jali is soft-spoken, Warner, some customers note, is known to channel the “soup Nazi” persona of New York City and “Seinfeld” fame -- “throwing pots and pans,” “telling off customers,” and “hanging not-so-friendly reminders on butcher paper for his customers to read.”
But another Yelp reviewer took issue with the attitude and the sign, writing: “It was funny on Seinfeld, but this place can rot away. Stay away. Hawaii ain't like this. There's a lot of better places on the island than to have deal with extra crap like this.”
Hawaii overwhelmingly supported Hillary Clinton during the Nov. 8 election, and historically has supported Democrats in local and national races. In fact, just six Republicans are in the 51-member House, and the 25-member Senate is GOP-free.
Now that the election is over, however, Lee said most residents want to just get on with their lives.
“The [restaurant] owners might want to make a better sign,” he said, “since Trump will undoubtedly be in office for eight years.”

San Francisco grapples with growing crime, blight after years of liberal policies

San Francisco doubles down on sanctuary status

San Francisco is earning a growing reputation for more than just its unmatched tech sector – for critics, the city stands as a profound example of the damage ultra-liberal policies can do.
After 20 years of envelope-pushing changes to grow government and ease law enforcement, the once-shining City by the Bay has turned into a place where:

• Property crime runs amok
• An online map is needed to track human feces on city streets
• Discarded syringes are common sightings
• Public urination is so widespread it has damaged subway elevators and escalators, building walls and power poles

“There’s a very tolerant attitude, you can very much do anything on the streets you want,” said Marc Joffe, director of research at the California Policy Center think tank. “As members of a civilized society, there are things you should ​not accept. But we have ignored that … and there is nobody on the other side setting limits.”
San Francisco’s lax attitude is nothing new and has served as a beacon for the American counter-culture dating back to the Beat Generation. But the city’s embrace decades ago of free love and drugs has morphed into something else.
Depending which list you read, San Francisco has the dubious honor of being at or near the top of numerous national surveys tracking homelessness, the cost of housing and other issues. One distinction is not disputed: it has the most property crime in the nation, according to the FBI. The city also has crafted defiant sanctuary city policies and is preparing to battle the incoming Trump administration on the issue.
And in the media, San Francisco’s brand has taken hits, with headlines such as “Why San Francisco is the Worst Place Ever,” “34 percent of Bay Area Residents are Ready to Leave,” and “Complaints of Syringes and Feces Rise Dramatically in SF.”
Local officials defend their ‘sanctuary’ policies as critical for the thousands of undocumented people who live there. And they contend the city as a whole, with its iconic landmarks and top-notch dining and steep surreal streetscapes shrouded in fog, has not lost its luster.
“San Francisco is a world-class city with tremendous natural beauty and diverse progressive residents,” said Democratic state Rep. David Chiu, of San Francisco. “We value inclusiveness and innovation, which is why so many social justice movements and tech companies have started here. We must be doing something right when 25 million visitors came last year and our economy is thriving.”
Chiu admitted the city faces challenges, which are being addressed with a $300 million bond measure for affordable housing and hundreds of millions more spent to combat homelessness.
Housing indeed represents one of the biggest challenges.
In an election year where Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump both highlighted the gulf between haves and have nots, San Francisco ironically captures that divide better than perhaps any city.
It is among the wealthiest places in America, where median home value and yearly income are $1.1 million and $84,160, respectively. In other words, few can afford to live there.
This bubble dates back years.
California as a whole has long put a premium on clean air, open space and modern buildings. But in 1996, San Francisco took a hard left turn with the mayoral election of former state speaker Willie Brown. His ensuing policies increased government, taxation and building regulations while shying away from creating more affordable housing. Brown worked with developer lobbyists he knew from his legislator days to demolish single-room occupancy hotels and other low-income homes, making room for well-heeled dot com workers.
“If you don't make $50,000 a year in San Francisco, then you shouldn't live here,” he reportedly said on television. When he was challenged on this by Ariana Huffington, Brown remarked that the statement was untrue “since San Francisco will always need waiters and waitresses.”
Within three years, Brown had increased the city budget by $1 billion, or 33 percent. This included new programs, 4,000 new employees, and pay raises to make the existing city workers the highest paid in the state.
He then did away with ordinances against sleeping in public and blocking sidewalks, while counterpart Rudy Giuliani was doing the opposite in a drive that ultimately reversed New York City’s growing crime and blight.
​​San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan -- who had taught Marxist seminars and helped run the Communist club at UC Berkeley, an investigation by City Journal Magazine showed – also refused to prosecute “victimless” crimes involving drugs and prostitution, saying his focus was on violent crime. The DA’s resistance to taking a hard line against drugs prompted dealers to flood into the city from across the nation, City Journal reported.
Years later, the mindset remains. Smash-and-grab thefts from locked cars are so common that car repair shops have waiting lists. The city does not want to install surveillance cameras, and its aversion to tougher law enforcement had until recently left its police force at 1980s staffing levels.
And there's this: “With a crime rate of 70 per one thousand residents, San Francisco has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes,” says the data collection site Neighborhood Scout. “One's chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in 14. Within California, more than 98% of the communities have a lower crime rate than San Francisco.”
On the hazardous waste side, the city is reporting an increase of syringes and feces sightings at 41 and 39 percent, respectively, over 2015 levels​. That's just an average. The hardest-hit area reported a 77 percent rise in discarded syringes and a 140 percent rise in feces. The city spends about $2 million a year on urine and feces cleanup.
Despite $9 billion in tourism revenue and $4 billion in tax revenue last year, San Francisco faces a perennial budget deficit in the billions factoring in generous pension costs, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The city, meanwhile, is proposing to spend $5 million on lawyers to defend illegal immigrants against Trump's push to deport criminals. This doesn't take into account the tax dollars Trump is threatening to withhold if the city doesn't comply.
“No one here wants to see the Trump administration rip apart our families and deport our neighbors,” Chiu said.
He says every San Francisco lawmaker is dedicated to solving its problems.
“It's unfair to just say this is a San Francisco thing,” Chiu said. “These are the same issues across the state and the nation.”