Homeland Security says chain migration let terrorism-related suspects into U.S.

The Department of Homeland Security said chain migration is the common element in two cases allegedly tied to terrorism activities, according to a statement released Saturday.

In the statement on Twitter, Acting Press Secretary Tyler Houlton said DHS “can confirm the suspect involved in a terror attack in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and another suspect arrested on terror-related money laundering charges were both beneficiaries of extended family chain migration.”

BREAKING: My statement on Immigration Backgrounds of Recent Terror-Related Suspects: pic.twitter.com/I3JfZOfuBh

— Tyler Q. Houlton (@SpoxDHS) December 24, 2017

Chain migration is when an immigrant gains legal entry into the U.S. via sponsorship by a family member who’s already a legal resident or citizen. The Trump administration launched a campaign against the immigration system, in favor of a more merit-based structure, favoring education and job potential as factors.
WHITE HOUSE TO PUSH MERIT-BASED IMMIGRATION IN NEW CAMPAIGN
The memo referred to Ahmed Aminamin El-Mofty, 51, who it said was a naturalized U.S. citizen admitted to the U.S. from Egypt on a family-based visa. El-Mofty went on a shooting spree Friday in Harrisburg and was reportedly targeting police officers.
The gunman, carrying two rifles and a shotgun, fired at officers in multiple locations.
"He fired several shots at a Capitol police officer and at a Pennsylvania state police trooper in marked vehicles," Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico said. The state trooper was injured but is “doing well,” he said.
El-Mofty pursued the trooper to a residential neighborhood and encountered law enforcement officers, who ultimately killed him after he fired “many shots” at them.
The statement also mentioned Zoobia Shahnaz, who DHS said was a naturalized U.S. citizen who entered from Pakistan, also on a family-based visa. Shahnaz was indicted on Dec. 14 after she allegedly laundered more than $85,000 through Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies overseas to the Islamic State.
END CHAIN MIGRATION, AS TRUMP WANTS, AND SWITCH TO MERIT-BASED IMMIGRATION
Acquiring the money through fraudulently obtained credit cards and a bank loan, Shahnaz laundered the funds to people in Pakistan, China and Turkey and “planned to travel to Syria and join ISIS,” federal officials said.
Shahnaz was charged in federal court with bank fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of money laundering, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
In the DHS statement Saturday, Houlton said, “These incidents highlight the Trump administration’s concerns with extended chain migration.”
“Both chain migration and the diversity visa lottery program have been exploited by terrorists to attack our country,” Houlton said. “Not only are the programs less effective at driving economic growth than merit-based immigration systems used by nearly all other countries, the programs make it more difficult to keep dangerous people out of the United States and to protect the safety of every American.”

With immigrant pardons, Gov. Brown butts heads again with White House

Idiot

Diablo

Diablo

Butting heads once again with the White House on immigration, California Gov. Jerry Brown used a Christmas holiday tradition to grant pardons Saturday to two men who were on the verge of being deported for committing crimes while in the U.S.

Brown characterized the pardons as acts of mercy, according to an article on Saturday in the Sacramento Bee.

The Democratic governor moved as federal officials in recent months have detained and deported immigrants with felony convictions that resulted in the loss of their legal residency status, including many with nonviolent offenses from years ago.
With the pardons, the reason for deportation may be eliminated, lawyer Kevin Lo of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus, which represented some of the men in a recent class-action lawsuit, said in the Bee. The pardoned immigrants will still need to ask immigration courts to reopen their cases, he said.
In all, Brown pardoned 132 people for mostly nonviolent and drug-related crimes, and commuted the sentences of 19 others, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Brown’s pardons involved two Northern California Cambodian men picked up in October in immigration sweeps, Mony Neth of Modesto and Rottanak Kong of Davis.
Kong was convicted on felony joyriding in 2003 in Stanislaus County at age 25 and sentenced to a year in jail. Neth was convicted on a felony weapons charge with a gang enhancement and a misdemeanor charge of receiving stolen property with a value of $400 or less in 1995 in Stanislaus County, The Bee said.
Both men came to the U.S. as children after their families fled the Khmer Rouge.
Brown last defied the White House in October by signing into law so-called “sanctuary state” legislation, placing limitations on state and local law enforcement’s ability to help federal officials enforce immigration violations.

North Korea calls UN sanctions 'an act of war,' 'rigged up by the US'

North Korea on Sunday condemned the latest U.N. sanctions as “an act of war and tantamount to a complete economic blockade” and threatened to “punish those who support the measure.”

The response follows a unanimous vote Friday by the U.N. Security Council for tougher measures against Kim Jong Un's regime for its November test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

With the resolution, the U.N. aims to limit North Korea’s access to refined petroleum products and crude oil. In addition, the U.S.-backed resolution threatens to impose further restrictions if North Korea conducts another nuclear test or launches another ICBM, Reuters reported.
North Korea responded with a statement published by the state-run Korean Central News Agency: “We define this ‘sanctions resolution’ rigged up by the U.S. and its followers as a grave infringement upon the sovereignty of our Republic, as an act of war violating peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and the region and categorically reject the ‘resolution.’”

KCNA: "Those countries that raised their hands in favor of this 'sanctions resolution' shall be held completely responsible for all the consequences to be caused by the 'resolution' and we will make sure for ever and ever that they pay heavy price for what they have done."

— Jonathan Cheng (@JChengWSJ) December 24, 2017

After the country’s latest ICBM test Nov. 29, Kim declared the country's nuclear force to be complete, and boasted of having all of the U.S. mainland within range.
But North Korea’s foreign ministry insisted that the weapons were for self-defense and were not in violation of international law. However, North Korea has been pursuing its nuclear and missile programs for years in defiance of U.N. sanctions.
Meanwhile, the U.S. has been critical of China – North Korea’s biggest trading partner – for not playing a bigger role in easing tensions. China has preferred to address North Korea with more measured solutions.
China said that the latest U.N. resolution highlights the need for a diplomatic solution to reduce tensions. A state-run tabloid in China suggested that the U.S. had pushed for even harsher sanctions, and that there was no way the U.N. would allow the U.S. to pursue military action on the Korean Peninsula.
“The difference between the new resolution and the original U.S. proposal," the tabloid said in an editorial, "reflects the will of China and Russia to prevent war and chaos on the Korean Peninsula. If the U.S. proposals were accepted, only war is foreseeable.”

New World Order Cartoons

Trump's national security strategy shows he is willing to champion American values around the world

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump presented a revised version of U.S. foreign policy that was a departure from the “New World Order” espoused by President George W. Bush and modified by President Obama.

With the release of his National Security Strategy report this week, it is obvious that President Trump has a handle on “realism” and a belief – justified in my view – that the world is an increasingly dangerous place.

In naming China and Russia as disruptive forces on the world stage, the president’s strategy notes that the two nations are rivals that must be challenged – but not necessarily enemies that must be defeated. That’s a distinction important for future tactics.
The report identifies Iran and North Korea as rogue states clearly interested in regional destabilization. It also identifies transnational threats such as jihadists and cyber warriors.
While these designations yield to the obvious, they also depart from the Obama narrative that the arc of history is moving inexorably toward stabilization.
Some critics of President Trump agree that there isn’t an arc of history that assures U.S. dominance. That’s correct, but it is wrong to argue that the Obama team didn’t employ this argument through its continuing assertions such as “the tide of war is receding.”
Since the Obama foreign policy mission was disengagement, President Obama underestimated the role unpleasant actors might play in the vacuum he left behind.
President Trump’s newly stated national security strategy is a clear corrective to that misguided vision. He puts the threats we face in perspective, indicating his desire to marshal “our will and capabilities” to compete and prevent unfavorable shifts in various regions of the world.
In the past, it was conventional wisdom to contend that China and Russia were invited into the global forums so that they would be tied down by a rules-based order. But this did not happen and was a further extension of Obama naiveté.
President Trump recognizes the return of “great power competition” that belies ideological commitments. He embraces the view of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger regarding a world of balance of power that relies on clearly viewed national interest.
President Trump’s assessment of Russia demonstrates this point: “Russia aims to weaken U.S. influence in the world and divide us from our allies and partners.” So much for friendly rhetoric.
From my point of view, the most newsworthy portion of the report is the willingness of the Trump administration to “champion American values” around the globe, including fair treatment for religious minorities and “the dignity of individuals.”
Rather than hide behind the gilded belief that America is widely detested, the president is sending out the message the U.S. is an unequivocal defender of Western Civilization and has the inner strength to defeat the dark impulses of totalitarianism.
President Trump is unquestionably a realist; yet there is a decidedly romantic dimension to his vision as well. His leap away from “perfection” to stability is one thing. On the other hand, the president wants to win because he believes in American principles.
As a result, President Trump envisions our military prowess and economic muscle as offering distinct advantages. These conditions must be nurtured and cared for, but when competition emerges our side should prevail.
America rose to the occasion when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, believing at that time that our “edge” was lost. But we rose to new heights in our schools and factories. We accepted the challenge and in a decade we had reacquired our national confidence. That is the romantic side of the strategic story in this 68-page document that sets the stage for the Trump doctrine.

Trump's travel ban exceeds presidential authority, court rules

Doesn't Work here anyway.

President Donald Trump signs an executive order at the White House, June 15, 2017.  (Reuters)

A federal appeals court panel in San Francisco ruled late Friday that President Donald Trump exceeded his presidential powers with the third version of his controversial travel ban.  

The panel ruled unanimously in a 77-page decision that read, “We conclude that the President’s issuance of the Proclamation once against exceeds the scope of his delegated authority.”

But the ruling by the 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will have no immediate effect because the Supreme Court decided earlier this month that Trump's ban could be fully implemented while the administration appeals a pair of injunctions against the policy, Politico reported.
Presidential Proclamation 9645, signed in September, is the third iteration of the Trump administration’s controversial travel ban this year, after previous versions in March and January.
The latest version restricts nationals from Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen from traveling to the U.S. Unlike the previous versions, the latest installment of the travel ban has no definitive expiration date.
According to the Trump administration, the countries were chosen because they don’t do a good job of verifying or sharing information about their citizens and thus the U.S. government lacks sufficient information to assess the risks they might pose to the U.S.
Judges have previously ruled that the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 gives Trump broad powers to regulate immigration. But in order for the travel ban to be upheld, the Trump administration would have to legally prove that a person’s entry from the list of banned countries would be harmful to the interests of the United States.

Trump era brings changes to presidential coin

A U.S. Army officer holds a zippered pouch with "Challenge Coins" for Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to hand out to U.S. military personnel stationed at Yokota Air Base in Japan, Sept. 17, 2012.  (Reuters)

Now that Donald Trump is president, the traditional presidential challenge coin has undergone major changes, including the addition of his "Make America Great Again" slogan.

In addition, the presidential seal has been replaced with an eagle bearing Trump's signature, the Washington Post reported.

The 13 arrows representing the original states are also gone. The national motto, "E pluribus unum" -- a Latin phrase that means "Out of many, one" -- also has been removed.
Some ethics experts questioned the unprecedented decision to include a campaign slogan on the coins, which are often given to members of the military, the newspaper reported.
“For the commander in chief to give a political token with a campaign slogan on it to military officers would violate the important principle of separating the military from politics, as well as diminishing the tradition of the coin,” Trevor Potter, a Republican and former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, told the Post.
In addition to his signature, Trump’s name appears three times on the coin, which is nearly twice as thick as its predecessors, while the traditional subdued silver and copper coloring is replaced with gold, the report said.
Challenge coins originated from military baubles bearing division insignia and presented by officers to troops for exemplary service, the Post reported.
Not everyone in the Trump administration has created their own challenge coin; among them is Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general.
“It’s not about him. It’s about the person whose hand he is shaking,” Mattis' spokeswoman told the Post.
White House officials declined to say how much the coins cost or who designed them, according to the report.

Democrats 'manufacturing a crisis' over prospect of Mueller firing, sources say

Democrats are “manufacturing a crisis” with their drumbeat of warnings about the possible firing of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, sources familiar with the relationship between Mueller’s office and President Trump’s legal team say.

The sources insisted to Fox News that Mueller is not going to be fired, and the discussion is nothing more than speculation and rumor. Further, they said the legal team has an “excellent” and “very professional” relationship with Mueller and his team.

“The fact is [Democrats] have been caught red handed manufacturing a crisis and all the phony allegations,” one source said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is among Democrats warning about a Mueller firing -- despite Trump denials.  (AP)

Over the past couple weeks, Democratic lawmakers and liberal activists have ramped up warnings about a potential Mueller firing and called for protests to defend the “Republic” if Trump takes that step.
KURTZ: TRUMP SAYS HE WON'T FIRE MUELLER, BUT MEDIA WON'T LISTEN
GOP frustration over Mueller’s probe has indeed intensified in recent weeks amid allegations of bias on his investigative team. Complaints have focused lately on the disclosure of anti-Trump text messages between two former Mueller investigators. Trump’s team also alleged last weekend that Mueller and his investigators improperly accessed emails from the transition team before the start of the administration.
But Trump recently denied any plans to fire Mueller, as did legal counsel Ty Cobb.
The only sign of a looming firing any lawmaker cited was an unconfirmed rumor. Democratic California Rep. Jackie Speier claimed a week ago that “the rumor on the Hill” was Trump would fire Mueller at the end of this week, after lawmakers leave D.C. for the recess – which has not happened as of Friday afternoon.
“It would be a Saturday massacre – worse than that,” Speier said on KQED Newsroom last week. “Without a doubt there will be an impeachment effort.”
Despite denials from the Trump team, more and more Democratic lawmakers amplified their warnings in the run-up to the recess.
“If the president were to fire special counsel Mueller, our country would face a constitutional crisis,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Thursday.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., delivered a letter advising the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee to be prepared to call the panel back to Washington – and consider impeachment – if Trump ousts Mueller.
“Every Democrat on the Judiciary Committee should be ready to launch an immediate investigation into obstruction of justice if the President takes this action over the holidays and be prepared to fight to impeach him,” he wrote.
Fox News’ Judson Berger and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
John Roberts currently serves as the chief White House correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined the network as a senior national correspondent in January 2011, based in the Atlanta bureau.