Category: Guest Authors

Biden Immigration Parole Circumvents The Law

Biden Immigration Parole Circumvents The Law

By Joe Guzzardi

Twenty years ago, journalist Michelle Malkin wrote a column titled, “The Deportation Abyss: It Ain’t over ‘til the Alien Wins.” Written post-9/11, the nation yearned as it still does for a strict deportation strategy and for vigorous immigration law enforcement.

At the beginning of her commentary, Malkin quoted the late Barbara Jordan, a Texas Democrat who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and chaired the U.S. Commission on Immigration reform from 1993 to 1996. Jordan said, “The credibility of immigration policy can be measured by a simple yardstick: people who should get in, get in; people who should not enter are kept out; and people who are judged deportable should be required to leave.”

Jordan’s sensible immigration guidelines were ignored. Too many loopholes in the immigration system, too many squishy congressional representatives, too many lax immigration judges and too many spineless Board of Immigration Appeals’judges undermined legitimate deportations of criminals, including convicted murderers, sex predators, drunken drivers and aggravated felons, subverting Jordan’s sound solutions. Information on how to dodge immigration enforcement was readily available. The soup-to-nuts legal directory that advises aliens who “got trouble” is still operating 20 years later, doubtlessly thriving, and dispensing advice on how to avoid deportation.

In her worst nightmare, Jordan could not have imagined that a U.S. president would not only be inviting millions of illegal aliens from all around the world to come to American, but then rewarding them with air transportation, housing, food, mobile phones and, eventually, one of the most coveted documents that migrants seek from the instant they depart their homeland, employment authorization cards.

Biden is determined to undermine American workers with his reckless abandonment of border security, and his messaging to foreign nationals from around the globe that, despite DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ protestations to the contrary, the border is open. The odds are extremely high that foreign nationals who get to the border will gain entrance. Parole may await them. At least, it’s the administration’s coveted goal to illegally grant parole to foreign nationals that don’t qualify for what should be a rarely approved immigration status.

Biden Immigration Parole Circumvents The Law

Since the mainstream media tosses the word parole around loosely, knowing exactly who merits the status is important to understanding the administration’s deport-no-one intentions. Writing for the Center for Immigration Studies where he’s a Senior Legal Fellow, former DHS Deputy General Counsel George Fishman, in an article “The Pernicious Perversion of Parole: the 70-year battle between Congress and the President,” explained parole’s proper place in immigration law. As Fishman’s title suggests, the decades-long battle has been mostly a lost cause for Congress and immigration restrictionists.

Parole’s history dates back to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 which contained a provision that allowed discretionary power to the Attorney General to parole into the U.S. temporarily under such conditions as the AG may prescribe for emergent reasons or for reasons deemed strictly in the public interest any alien applying for admission to the U. S. All parole grantees are issued on a case-by-case basis, and cannot be granted en masse. (Emphasis added.)

In 1956, Republican Dwight Eisenhower became the first president to violate parole regulations when he permitted Hungarian refugees to enter en masse. Prior to 1956, parole authority had been used only to benefit individual aliens. But as Professors Adam Cox of the University of Chicago Law School and Cristina Rodriguez of New York University correctly concluded, presidents have used powers expressly delegated to them by Congress to advance their own immigration agenda in a manner that accomplished personal objectives Congress almost certainly did not intend and expanding or repurposing Congress’s original design.(Emphasis added.)

Parole should be granted only under the five following conditions: 1) for a medical emergency, 2) for organ donation to a family member, 3) to visit a family member whose death is imminent, 4) for an alien who has assisted U.S. law enforcement and whose presence is needed by the government or whose life is threatened or 5) for criminal prosecution.

Biden’s flagrant use of parole to admit thousands of aliens into the U.S. proves that Malkin’s thesis – the alien always wins – is truer today than ever. Many thousands more aliens remain gathered at or on the way to the border, confident that parole will be their easy ticket into the U.S.

PFIR analyst Joe Guzzardi writes about immigration issues and impacts. Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc.org

Biden Immigration Parole Circumvents The Law

Gale And Zama Are 2%ers In Pennsylvania Governor’s Race

Gale And Zama Are 2%ers In Pennsylvania Governor’s Race

By Bob Small

So now we turn to the Pennsylvania governors’ race, and only the Republicans are actually running a race. The Democratic race is already “fixed”, since Josh Shapiro is the only name on their primary ballot, May 17.

There are two GOP levels: front-runner and everyone else.

The “everyone else” are the three candidates who each have less than 2 percent support as per this April 15 poll by The Trafalgar group, which hasn’t changed all that much.

Each represents something, though. They are Joe Gale, Charlie Gerow, and Nche Zama.  We will discuss Gerow in our next post.

Gale And Zama Are 2%ers In Pennsylvania Governor's Race
Dr. Nche Zama

Dr. Nche Zama is a transplanted Cameroonian (as is the 76ers Joel Embid) and he would be the first Afro-American Pennsylvania governor. He is a heart surgeon, and was quoted in the Philadelphia Inquirer as saying, “I realized that Pennsylvania is dying and … it is very much in need of a cardiac surgeon for heart surgery.” 

Joe Gale is a 32-year-old Montgomery County commissioner who is an unapologetic Trumper strongly opposed to Act 77, which allows for 50 days of no-excuse mail-in voting in this state. He is running against Doug Mastriano specifically, which doesn’t seem to be working.

Gale And Zama Are 2%ers In Pennsylvania Governor's Race
Joe Gale

 His brother, Sean Gale, is running for US Senate, but  Galeforce Pa. Is only a mild breeze. Joe Gale served with Josh Shapiro in Montco and became the best of enemies.

For a long discussion, see: Capital-Star Q+A: RINO hunter Joe Gale wants to make sure …

Lastly, there is the issue of shakedowns of GOP gubernatorial candidates by some Republican committees.

Nche Zuma considers this practice “unethical”.  Joe Gale says “it’s corrupt and I believe the public knows it”. Others have also spoken against this “pay to play” practice, in which it’s alleged you can only speak to the committee if you have paid, and the number of minutes you can speak is determined by the amount you contribute.

Jeffrey Sheridan, a senior Democratic advisor, commented, “Charging candidates to speak at events is not a practice of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party.” 

Surely we can believe him, can’t we?

Gale And Zama Are 2%ers In Pennsylvania Governor’s Race

DiMaggios Credited Mom With Their Successes

DiMaggios Credited Mom With Their Successes

By Joe Guzzardi 

Rosalie Mercurio DiMaggio, a Sicilian immigrant, bore nine children, three of whom became Major League center fielders. Since the boys’ father, San Francisco fisherman Giuseppe, considered baseball a “a bum’s game,” Rosalie covered for the Vince, Dominic and Joe Jr. so they could practice with other local boys. Then and now, the Bay Area was a hotbed of baseball talent that included Barry Bonds, Billy Martin, Keith Hernandez, Gil McDougald, seven-time All-Star Joe Cronin, and four-time AL batting champion Harry Heilmann.

Around San Francisco, scouts determined that, of the three brothers, Joe had the best bat; Dom, the best arm; and Vince, who wanted to become an opera singer, the best voice. Joe’s baseball achievements are legendary – his 56-game hitting streak, three MVP awards and his nine World Series championship rings. During the streak, the nation was obsessed with whether “Joltin’ Joe” had gotten a hit that day. An Army Air Force veteran, Joe soon became the talk of Hollywood and the national gossip sheets when he married screen starlet Marilyn Monroe.

DiMaggios Credited Mom With Their Successes
Joe DiMaggio with parents Roaslie and Giuseppi

For years after his Yankee career ended, DiMaggio remained an icon. Paul Simon’s 1968 hit song, “Mrs. Robinson,” contained this lyric which suggested that the nation yearned for the simpler America that DiMaggio represented: “Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio; a nation turns its lonely eyes to you.” DiMaggio’s reaction to the song: “What the hell does it mean?”

Dom, too, is well-known in the baseball world. For a decade, he ably flanked Ted Williams in the Boston Red Sox outfield, and hit with the best of them. An effective lead-off hitter, the “Little Professor,” so called because he was 5’9”, 160 lbs. and wore rimless spectacles, batted .300 four times, led the AL in runs twice and in triples and stolen bases once each. Dom also led AL center fielders in assists three times and in putouts and double plays twice each; he tied a league record by recording 400 putouts four times, and his 1948 totals of 503 putouts and 526 total chances stood as AL records for nearly 30 years.

Post-baseball, Dom founded several small companies that eventually merged into the Delaware Valley Corporation, a family-owned business still operational today. But despite teammate Ted Williams’ vigorous lobbying, Dom’s career stats, .298 average and 1,680 hits, they haven’t gotten him elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame’s veterans’ wing.

Vince, the oldest brother, had less plate success, but was more adept with his glove. He led the National League in strikeouts six times, and set what was then a single season record, 134 Ks for the Boston Bees in 1938. Vince compiled modest 10-year NL career stats with the Pirates, Reds, Phillies Bees and Giants: .249, 125 HRs and 584 RBIs. But Vince had a cannon arm, and said, immodestly, “Joe was a better batter, but I could play rings around him as far as knowledge of the game and plays in the outfield. I could smoke those throws. If you put a dime on second base, I could hit it from the outfield.”

In 1946, after splitting the season with the Phillies and Giants, Vince hung up his spikes, and meandered from one unassuming job to another – Fuller Brush salesman, milk truck delivery driver, and waiter at the family restaurant, DiMaggio’s Grotto on Fisherman’s Wharf. At the restaurant, customers urged Vince to sing. Without hesitation, Vince broke out in his tenor voice to sing operatic arias or popular love ballads. During those happy moments when Vince crooned to his customers, he rued his decision to play baseball instead of pursuing opera.

Vince, Joe and Dom were distant brothers, and often spent years-long periods when they rarely spoke. In a late-life interview, Vince said, “When the folks were alive, we were a lot closer.”

Rosalie was the DiMaggio family’s unifying force, always looking out for her children’s best interests. In their youth, Rosalie read Bible stories and set a high standard for moral behavior. At Rosalie’s insistence, the family moved from Martinez, Calif., to San Francisco. A school teacher in Sicily, Rosalie knew that the city had better schools; she wanted her children to have good educations, a benefit she knew would pay dividends throughout their lives. As Joe’s career was peaking, Rosalie traveled by train to New York to watch the Yankees. Once, she caught reporters off guard when she complained that the city was “boring,” and offered little to do. The truth was that Rosalie missed hearth and home.

In 1986, Dom convinced estranged brothers Vince and Joe to join him at a Fenway Park Old-Timers’ Game. A few months later Vince, whose final years were spent as a born-again Christian, died from colon cancer.

Joe was never out of the limelight. He appeared on television as a pitchman for New York’s Bowery Savings Bank and Mr. Coffee. Thereafter, the Yankee Clipper made occasional appearances at celebrity golf outings, card shows and Old-Timers’ games, where the public address announcer introduced him as “Baseball’s greatest living player.” After Marilyn’s death, Joe organized her funeral to ensure that it wouldn’t be besieged by autograph hounds, or craven Hollywood types. He ordered roses placed at her crypt twice a week. Always a chain smoker, in 1999, Joe died at home of lung cancer.

Dom, in addition to his business successes, cofounded the Boston Patriots AFL football franchise, and the BoSox Club, a fan organization that brings closer contact between the Red Sox’ players and the community. Dom died at age 92 after a bout with pneumonia.

Joe Guzzardi is a Society for American Baseball Research and Internet Baseball Writers Association member. Contact him at guzzjoe@yahoo.com.

DiMaggios Credited Mom With Their Successes DiMaggios Credited Mom With Their Successes

White House Deaf To Immigration Alarm Bells

White House Deaf To Immigration Alarm Bells

By Joe Guzzardi

Showing complete indifference to his party’s fate, President Joe Biden is doing all he can to damage Democrats’ chances for election in the upcoming mid-terms and his re-election in 2024. Biden’s resolute determination to harm the Democrats may be explained several ways. At age 79, Biden has achieved his lifelong goal of becoming president. After at least two failed efforts in 1988 and 2008, and possibly a third failure, depending on how the facts are interpreted from 1984, Biden is finally in the White House.

Another possible explanation is that Biden knows Democratic leadership considers him, at best, inconsequential, and that Barack Obama is still embraced as the party’s hero. Biden has no reason to care about his fellow Democrats’ fate if they’re indifferent to him. At a White House event to celebrate Obamacare’s 12th anniversary, Biden wandered alone and aimlessly as his apathetic Democratic colleagues flocked giddily around Obama. But perhaps the most obvious reason explains everything. At age 79, Biden is too old to care about his 2024 political future. He’s climbed the White House Mountain; no taller summit remains to conquer.

White House Deaf To Immigration Alarm Bells

Perhaps the best indicator of Biden’s reelection disinterest is his refusal to heed his personal, confidential polling firm’s advice on the key issues that concern the nation, specifically immigration and inflation. A New York Timesarticle, “Biden Received Early Warnings that Inflation and Immigration Could Erode his Support,” shows the president has recklessly and lawlessly pressed ahead on open borders and illegal immigration.

Early on in his presidency, according to the article, Biden enjoyed strong national support, but his favorability quickly eroded as the border crisis intensified. The John Anzalone-headed research team found that because voters feel that Biden and his deputies are clueless when it comes to designing a plan to combat the festering border crisis, immigration represents an intensifying vulnerability for the president. Biden’s failure to slow migration is, the pollsters concluded, “starting to take a toll.” As early as last spring, when trafficked unaccompanied minors strained Health and Human Services capacities, pollsters warned that “immigration is the only issue where the president’s ratings are worse with our targets than with voters overall.” And on July 9, “President Biden continues to hold weaker, negative ratings on two hot-button issues [immigration and crime] that have been recently bubbling up.”

Despite his pollster’s immigration red flags, and the unanimous national consensus that Vice President Kamala Harris’ discover-the-root-causes solution to migration is a bad joke played on U.S. citizens, on May 23, Biden intends to lift Title 42, which has been an important tool in turning away illegal border crossers for health reasons. A Louisiana federal judge’s temporary restraining order that the administration has agreed to honor may delay Title 42’s removal. But if Title 42 is shelved, DHS officials anticipate 18,000 illegal immigrants a day will flood the border.

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced what he optimistically labeled as a plan to cope with the historic surge. The costly concept includes spending more taxpayer money on medical support, and more funding for air and ground transportation to release the migrants into the interior from the border. As a footnote to its plan, DHS added that it will use Expedited Removal more frequently. Border agents scoff at the mere suggestion that ER will be a useful tool. Once aliens claim fear of persecution if returned home, an ER converts to a notice to appear which migrants rarely honor. Migrants are spreading the word among each other that the keys to getting U.S. residency are the words, “Fear of Persecution.”

The Times story misses the point, perhaps purposely, about Biden and his cronies. The administration didn’t need to pay taxpayer funds to a professional pollster to advise it that Americans are unhappy. Biden et al don’t care. The arrival of mostly poor, unskilled, limited English-speaking aliens from 150 nations through mass immigration is a fundamental elitist goal. While the 2022 mid-terms and congressional control may be at risk in the short-term, the long-term picture that will erase the middle-class and end American sovereignty looks rosy to the Biden administration.


PFIR analyst Joe Guzzardi writes about immigration issues and impacts. Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc.org.

White House Deaf To Immigration Alarm Bells

Berggruen Development Sacrifices Last Great LA Open Space And The NYT Likes It

Berggruen Development Sacrifices Last Great LA Open Space And The NYT Likes It

By Maria Fotopoulos

The New York Times has a history of journalistic infractions. Too-cozy relations with government operatives, inaccurate reporting and outright plagiarism and fake stories. More recently, there’s been the unhinged writing of columnist Paul Krugman, the embrace of “Wokesters” and the meltdown of the commentary section, with resultant resignation of the publication’s opinion page editor.

With such a rich history of compromised content, it’s unsurprising that “the newspaper of record” would run a pure puff piece on real estate and investment mogul Nicolas Berggruen (net worth: $2.9 billion). The story’s fawning author, Michael Steinberger, who also manages to make himself part of the story, skirts the real story: A billionaire’s push for a vanity project that would sacrifice the last great open space in Los Angeles.

In opposition to the local community, Berggruen plans to plop a George Jetson-looking complex atop a Southern California mountain on a 447-acre holding that is home to rich flora and fauna, and offers respite to Los Angelenos via hard-won open space and public hiking trails. In the more than 3,500-word Times article, Steinberger gave only one line to the controversy: Berggruen “has yet to break ground on the project, which has drawn resistance from nearby residents.”



Architect’s rendering of Berggruen’s proposed SoCal project

Now based in Los Angeles, the Paris-born Berggruen is establishing himself as a philosopher, thinker and benefactor – the gushing Steinberger writes that Nic has been called a “latter-day Medici.” The physical manifestation of the “Philosopher King” and formerly “Homeless Billionaire,” as the Times headed the Steinberger article, is the Berggruen Institute. Created in 2010 with $100 million “to develop foundational ideas about how to reshape political and social institutions,” the Institute currently offices in Downtown Los Angeles in the iconic Bradbury Building.

In 2014, Berggruen purchased property in Los Angeles west of the 405 freeway and north of the Getty Center for $45 million (the NYT piece stated $15 million) to build his mountaintop retreat, which Town & Country described as “devoted to sheltering the world’s elite thinkers in a peaceful yet intellectually fervid sanctuary for reflection and dialogue.” There also are plans for Berggruen’s private quarters. Prior land owner and developer Castle & Cooke had been in a long, litigious battle over the 447 acres with various stakeholders, including area residents, the Canyon Back Alliance, Mountaingate Open Space Maintenance Association (MOSMA) and others. The end result in 2006 was zoning that allowed for 28 individual homes and unrestricted trail access – in other words, not a development such as what Berggruen desires.

Berggruen’s project “is blatantly illegal and cannot be built under existing law,” wrote the Sierra Club’s Santa Monica Taskforce in a seven-page January 2021 letter to the planning department for Los Angeles and to City Councilman Mike Bonin, who represents the disputed area.

Of the 447 acres, the Sierra Club letter outlines that 424 acres of open space and two historic trails are protected from development through conservation easements held by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, a local public agency exercising joint powers of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the Conejo Recreation and Park District, and the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District.

In addition to the Sierra Club letter, MOSMA, Brentwood Residents Coalition, Bel Air Skycrest Property Owners’ Association, Center for Biological Diversity and numerous other groups have all either expressed problems with the development as proposed or outright opposition to Berggruen’s vanity project at the proposed site. Community activists are prepared to fight.

In January 2018, more than 500 community members attended a meeting at the Skirball Cultural Center, located within the immediate area of the Berggruen development proposal. The audience, largely opposed to the project, listened to a presentation from Berggruen’s people, and opposition arguments. Nic Berggruen did not attend the meeting, nor has he since reached out to community organizations to discuss any compromises, according to an activist close to the issue.

Among concerns about the proposed development are fire. California has become a tinderbox in recent years. In December 2017, the Skirball Fire burned 475 acres, destroyed or damaged 18 structures and forced 46,000 residents to evacuate. The October 2019 Getty Fire burned 745 acres – blackening some of the Berggruen property – destroyed or damaged 25 residences and forced thousands to flee. On its face, building in a high fire zone seems foolhardy.

The Berggruen site is on top of a former landfill now monitored by the City of Los Angeles for methane. A massive Southern California methane gas leak in a neighboring community in October 2015 should be taken as a cautionary tale for this proposed project.

As the last great open space in Los Angeles, the Berggruen property features wild woodland with ferns, oak trees and sycamores. The natural habitat is home to cougars, coyotes, deer, falcons, great horned owls, raccoons, redtailed hawks and quail, among other animals, who navigate the Santa Monica Mountains. In addition to loss of wildlife habitat, the Berggruen project would bring more light pollution, which impacts the biology and ecology of wild animals. Additionally, the development would eliminate an important animal corridor, including for cougars, under severe pressure in the area. If Berggruen were to gift his land holding to remain as open space, it would continue to benefit area wildlife and help connectthe patchwork of land to support the movement of animals.

Cottontail rabbit in the Santa Monica Mountains

Berggruen Development Sacrifices Last Great LA Open Space And The NYT Likes It
Cougar in the Santa Monica Mountains

Why Berggruen would continue to want to develop in an area when the community is not receptive seems odd, given he could build his think tank anywhere. For a contemplative, meditative retreat, there is plenty of desert in California! Should he continue with his commitment to build on the 447 acres in L.A., “It’s going to become a hotly controversial issue,” said Eric Edmunds, Chair of the Sierra Club Santa Monica Mountains Task Force and President of the Brentwood Hills Homeowners Association.

Edmunds says he would like to see Berggruen “recognize the enormous public value of this land and cooperate with an agency such as the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy to donate the land to remain as wilderness and trails.”

Adds Edmunds, “I have no objection to him developing his project – just not here.”

The group Protect Our Woodlands recommends that Berggruen “consider locating his new institute in a part of Los Angeles that is already developed.”

In a state that’s horribly overpopulated and overdeveloped, preserving this intact area of precious wildland, wild animal habitat and trails forever would turn Berggruen – who is shaping up to be the local villain – into a local hero.


Maria Fotopoulos writes about the connection between overpopulation and biodiversity loss, and from time to time other topics that confound her.

Billionaire Development Sacrifices Last Great LA Open Space And The NYT Likes It

Simply Have No Border Left Say Sheriffs

Simply Have No Border Left Say Sheriffs

By Joe Guzzardi

During March, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported 221,303 migrant encounters, a 33 percent increase over March 2021. The 221,303 figure represents the highest monthly total in 22 years, and pushes the aggregate fiscal year number to 1.2 million, and 2.5 million since President Biden’s inauguration day.

The border surgers included single adults, family units and unaccompanied children who spiked to 14,167 March encounters compared with February’s 11,984. More alarming is that the world has gotten the message: show up at the border, and the Biden administration will welcome you. While once mostly limited to Mexico and the Northern Triangle, migrants now come from 150 countries, including Cuba, Haiti, Brazil, Venezuela, Albania, Romania and Ecuador.

Simply Have No Border Left Say Sheriffs

Among this year’s 221,303 March encounters, 109,549, or about half, were processed for removal under Title 42 which allows the U.S. to remove foreign nationals who are considered a public health risk. Through the third week in March, CBP expelled 1.7 million illegal immigrants under Title 42. Imagine, then, the unimaginable – what conditions, first at the border, and then in interior, will be like if Biden, defying logic as he’s determined to do – ends Title 42 on May 23.

The post-Title 42 estimates on illegal immigrant border crossings are frightening. Apprehensions could rise to 18,000 a day, more than half a million a month, and 6 million annually. Fortunately, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana Judge Robert Summerhays issued a temporary restraining order to block Biden’s decision to end Title 42 expulsions until arguments for a more formal injunction can be heard. On May 9, Summerhays’ order will expire.

Biden & Co. are pressing on with their open border agenda, but without a thought about what happens next to the migrants and to the U.S. citizens who subsidize the foreign nationals’ relocation. Eagle Pass, Texas, the entry point for hundreds of border crossers, is indicative of what lays ahead for some cities. Airports and bus stations can’t keep up with the demand. Migrants have nowhere to go, day or night. They hang out in large clusters, and sleep on the street. Biden couldn’t care less that the 29,000 Eagle Pass legal residents’ lives have been disrupted, and their personal safety is at risk amidst the chaos. Mayor Rolando Salinas said: “This border issue – it’s a mess.”

Census Bureau data shows that Eagle Pass is 97 percent Hispanic, has a 58 percent labor participation rate, a $46,000 median household income, and a $19,000 annual per capita income. Biden should be concerned about the adverse effect mass immigration will have not only on Eagle Pass, but the nation’s 37 million residents who live below the poverty line. Open borders facilitate importing poverty, a condition the U.S. already has an abundance of.

Compare Eagle Pass residents to the lifestyles of the open borders architects. Biden owns two Delaware homes and has a $9 million net worth. Vice President Kamala Harris, the border czar, is married to Hollywood entertainment lawyer Douglas Emhoff. The couple share houses in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. and enjoy a $6 million net worth.

Although Mayorkas was born in Cuba, he’s been in the U.S. since age one, and lived a privileged life. He grew up in Beverly Hills, went to Beverly Hills High School, attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a B.A. degree with distinction in 1981. Then, in 1985, Mayorkas received his J.D. from Loyola Law School. The DHS secretary lives comfortably in D.C. and has an estimated net worth of about $3 million. Unliked Eagle Pass citizens, the welcome-to-the-world trio is wealthy, and set for life.

Elites like Biden, Harris and Mayorkas are responsible for sound governance, and not jeopardizing Americans’ jobs, public school educations, security and access to prompt emergency medical care. Mass immigration will flood the jobs market with cheap labor, create overcrowd public schools, strain law enforcement, and add to hospital staffing workloads. But over-immigration’s consequences will never personally affect Biden, Harris or Mayorkas.

The National Sheriffs’ Association sent a letter to Senate leaders to share its front-line views. In the letter, Jonathan Thompson, the organization’s Executive Director and CEO, wrote: “We simply have no border left in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, or Southern California.” Erasing the border has been Biden’s goal since his first day as president, the sheriffs concluded. After 15 months in office, and to the dismay of Americans, Biden has achieved his goal.
 

PFIR analyst Joe Guzzardi writes about immigration issues and impacts. Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc.org. 

Simply Have No Border Left Say Sheriffs

Swarthmore Planners Reject Condo Monstrosity

Swarthmore Planners Reject Condo Monstrosity

By Bob Small

I wrote about citizen activists winning in Lancaster County, now I can say they’ve won in Swarthmore.

At least round one.

On April 26, the Swarthmore Borough Planning Commission met to consider the demolition of the historic Celia Building at 102-104 Park Ave along with buildings at 110 and 112 Park Ave. so that developers, William Cumby, Jr. and Don Delson, could proceed with construction of a five-story condominium.

The way these hearings proceed, public comment is followed by discussion among the nine-member panel followed by the vote, usually one of approval.

The various commissions rarely meet a proposal they don’t like.

However as the 35 or so members of the public spoke in the three-plus hour meeting, only two supported the proposal.  The night ended with the planners recommending that Borough Council deny the application.

Save Our Swarthmore has video of the meeting on their website.

The developers have vowed to fight on as they maintain that this will set “a precedent that will  preclude any revitalization of the Town Center”, irregardless of numerous developments like the Swarthmore Inn, the Roundabout, and three establishments in formally “dry” Swarthmore that now sell liquor, all of which were intimated to be part of the “revitalization” effort.

If this doesn’t work, maybe we could try “the Quaker Casino”.

At the Borough Council meeting on Monday, May 2, the developers had gathered 22 supporters against an opposition of 13.  Interestingly enough, Planning Commission Chair Chris DeBruyn who was absent at the April 26 meeting said that he had been there he would have backed demolition.

Walking out after three hours, before the end of the Borough Council Meeting but after all the public comment, none of us felt that a good enough case had been made for how the Condos would actually benefit Swarthmore.

Swarthmore Borough Council will meet May 19 to consider the recommendation from the planning commission.

Swarthmore Planners Reject Condo Monstrosity
Swarthmore Planners Reject Condo Monstrosity

John Brown Seeks GOP Lt. Gov Nod

John Brown Seeks GOP Lt. Gov Nod

By Bob Small

We wrap up our coverage of the lieutenant governor primary race, with John A.  Brown, one of the nine Republicans running for lieutenant governor.  He’s the former mayor of Bangor, Pa. and a former Northhampton County executive.  He’s the only candidate without an obvious electronic presence.

John Brown Seeks GOP Lt. Gov Nod
John A. Brown

Some trivia: Pennsylvania is the only state that provides an official residence for it’s lieutenant governor, State House at Fort Indiantown Gap, This became the lieutenant governors residence, when the new governor’s residence was built in 1968

The office of lieutenant governor was created by the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1873. Prior to that, from 1777 to 1790, there was a series of vice presidents of Pennsylvania.  From 1790 to 1873, there was only a governor.

Pennsylvania is one of 17 states in which the lieutenant governor is elected separately from the governor.

In 26 states, they share a ballot. 

Oscar James Dunn became the first black lieutenant governor of a State in 1868. He was a Republican and the state was Louisiana.  Over a 150 years later, Pennsylvania has still never had a black lieutenant governor.

There is the possibility of the Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Selection Amendment coming up for a vote this November.  This would create a situation where both governor and lieutenant governor would be on the same ballot and, presumably, the same party.

Reviewing  the lieutenant governor candidates let to the thought that many of them should have opportunities to serve their state in some other capacity, as only two of them can be candidates for lieutenant governor, and, like the World Series, only one can win.

John Brown Seeks GOP Lt. Gov Nod

Panama Betrayal, Mayorkas, Blinken Scheme for More Illegal Migration

Panama Betrayal, Mayorkas, Blinken Scheme for More Illegal Migration

By Joe Guzzardi

In anticipation of regaining a congressional majority after the 2022 mid-term elections, GOP leaders are drafting the game plan to help them achieve their goal. Not surprisingly, the Biden administration and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ immigration actions since Inauguration Day sit atop the checklist of items that Republicans consider ripest for criticism. A 60-page Guidance Memo drafted by Ohio U.S. Representative Jim Jordan and posted on his Twitter page emphasizes Democrats’ immigration vulnerabilities, especially the sieve-like open border that’s certain to worsen when Title 42 is removed.
 
Mayorkas admits that “significant challenges” will arise once Title 42 is lifted. But the DHS Secretary insists that his department is ready to meet the inevitable illegal immigration spike which he created. Speaking in Panama City at a ministerial conference on migration and protection and accompanied by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Mayorkas’ comments are best summarized as happy talk with destructive undertones that will irreversibly harm the United States.
 
At no time did Mayorkas speak with credibility about ending the illegal immigration surge through stronger border and interior security, or stepped-up deportation. Instead, Mayorkas identified his solution to the immigration challenges he correctly foresees as inevitable to include building “legal, orderly, and humane pathways so individuals do not need to place their lives, their well-beings, the well-beings of their loved ones in the hands of smugglers and traffickers who only seek to exploit them for profit.”

Panama Betrayal

Blinken doubled down on Mayorkas’ so-called solution with nation-busting ideas of his own on how to manage, not end, migration. Said Blinken: “Here in Panama, we [the 22 nations represented] talked about some of the most urgent aspects of this issue, including helping stabilize and strengthen communities that are hosting migrants and refugees; creating more legal pathways to reinforce safe, orderly, and humane migration.” He added, speaking for himself and his craven administration, but not for U.S. voters, that finding a solution to illegal immigration is a U.S. “priority.” Translation: More immigration that U.S. taxpayers oppose but will fund as they watch, helpless and voiceless, in the nation’s destruction.
 
The total disregard for immigration law that Biden, Mayorkas, Blinken, Vice President Kamala Harris and others too numerous to mention have demonstrated over the last 15 months raises the point that, given open borders, DHS is pointless and should be dismantled. The department’s $52.2 billion budget is a waste, and too many of its 240,000 employees, starting at the top, have as their mission America’s subversion.
 
Enacted after 9/11 to protect the nation, DHS and the programs that it spawned – the Transportation Security Administration, the Visa Security Program, the terrorist screening database and the no fly list – are meaningless when unidentified foreign nationals can walk at will across the Southwest border, surrender to immigration agents and then be transported across the country secure in the knowledge that they’ll never be removed.
 
Based on camera traffic, drone traffic and sensor traffic that border patrol records but that the Biden administration prohibits responding to, in March, 67,000 gotaways entered the U.S. which brings the administration’s post-inauguration total to about 700,000. DHS doesn’t know and could care less where the gotaways are or what their intentions may be.
 
Capitol Hill scuttlebutt is gaining steam that should the Republicans prevail in November, a Mayorkas impeachment might be the party’s first matter of business. Given Mayorkas’ disregard for immigration law and public safety, an impeachment case against him is mandatory if sovereign American is to be saved.

PFIR analyst Joe Guzzardi writes about immigration issues and impacts.
Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc.org. Subscribe to joeguzzardi.substack.com.

Panama Betrayal, Mayorkas, Blinken Scheme for More Illegal Migration

Panama Betrayal
 

Bert Shepard Was A One-Legged WWII Hero who Pitched for Washington Senators

Bert Shepard Was A One-Legged WWII Hero who Pitched for Washington Senators

By Joe Guzzardi

Between August 1 and August 5, 1945, the Washington Senators played five consecutive double headers. In a normal season, a scheduling burden of that magnitude wouldn’t have mattered much to the lowly Senators. But in 1945, the “first in love, first in war, and last in the American League” Senators were in a neck-and-neck pennant race with the Detroit Tigers.

The Senators won nine of the 10 double header games, losing the August 4 night cap 15-4 to the Boston Red Sox. Motivated by the lopsided score, and unwilling to stretch his exhausted pitching staff further, Senators’ manager Ossie Bluege summoned his lefty Lt. Bert Shepard to the mound. In his Baseball in Wartime account of Shepard’s heroism, Gary Bedingfield wrote that on his 34th European Theater mission and while his P-38J Lightening was bombing an airfield near Ludwigslust, east of Hamburg, Shepard’s plane was hit by enemy flak. The shells blew Shepard’s foot off and tore through his right leg. Shepard: “I could feel my foot coming loose at the boot.” The 55th Fighter Group’s pilot’s plane hit the ground at an estimated 380 mph.

Angry German farmers rushed out of their homes, wielding pitchforks, determined to kill Shepard, the American enemy. Luckily for Shepard, First Lieutenant Ladislaus Loidl, a physician in the German Luftwaffe, saw the wreckage’s smoke, and hurried to the site in time to hold off the incensed farmers. Loidl drove the critically injured Shepard to a hospital, but the “terror flyer” wasn’t allowed admittance. Eventually another hospital accepted patient Shepard, and his leg was amputated 11-inches below his knee. After recuperating, Shepard spent the next eight months in POW camps where a Canadian medic and fellow prisoner made Shepard a crude artificial leg from scrap iron, wood and rivets.

Slowly, Shepard, who as a youth moved from Indiana to California to play semi-pro baseball, began tossing the bulb around to get back a baseball’s feel. In California, Shepard’s skills were good enough to land contracts first with the Chicago White Sox and then the St. Louis Cardinals. His goal before and after his life-threatening WWII injuries was to pitch major league baseball.

A prisoner exchange returned Shepard to the U.S., and he was helped along the way to achieving his lifelong dream. At Walter Reed Hospital, Shepard met with Under Secretary of War Robert Patterson who asked about his future plans. Without hesitation, Shepard replied “to play baseball.” A skeptical but impressed Patterson contacted his friend and Senators’ owner Clark Griffith who agreed to give Shepard, now fitted with a new prothesis, a look.

As Shepard recalled, “Mr. Griffith did it out of sympathy more than anything.” But pitching in exhibition games, Shepard impressed – “got ‘em out each time,” he said. On the strength of his outstanding spring training, the Senators offered Shepard a contract with the promise that once he mastered his control, he’d be given a roster spot.

On August 4, Shepard’s big moment arrived. With the Senators getting hammered in game two 14-2 in the fourth inning and with the bases loaded, manager Bluege signaled for Shepard who promptly struck out George Metkovich for the last out. The 13,000 assembled fans, who had followed Shepard’s progress through the nonstop media coverage of the war hero’s progress, rose to their feet to applaud. Over the next five innings, Shepard surrendered only one run on three hits, and fielded his position flawlessly.

In a perfect world, Shepard’s saga would have continued to include his promotion to the starting rotation where he would have helped carry the Senators past the Tigers to win the AL pennant, and then defeat the Chicago Cubs in the October Classic. But the world is imperfect, and 5-1/3 innings with a 1.69 ERA were Shepard’s career MLB totals.

Bert Shepard Was A One-Legged WWII Hero who Pitched for Washington Senators

Bluege, hoping to eke out the AL flag from the Tigers, decided to finish the year with his established starters. In 1946, players returned from active WWII duty; Shepard didn’t make the team, but was offered a coaching job. Bored, Shepard asked to be sent to the minors where he pitched for several years at Chattanooga, Waterbury and Modesto. Along his minor league journey, Shepard returned to Walter Reed to have more of his leg amputated.

April is Limb Loss and Limb Difference Awareness month, and the Amputee Coalition is an organization that would celebrate Shepard’s rewarding life that included the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Metal awards. Before he died in 2008 at age 87, Shepard worked as a Hughes Aircraft safety engineer and an IBM typewriter salesman, played in golf tournaments with his buddy New York Yankee shortstop Phil Rizzuto, and walked 18-hole golf courses. He flew his own plane to visit amputees across the nation. Part of Shepard’s visits included encouraging demonstrations like effortlessly running the 60-yard dash and dribbling a basketball. In his later years, Shepard advocated for amputee workers’ rights and designed an artificial ankle that allowed those with severe leg injuries like his more mobility.

Shepard’s remarkable story of perseverance and achievement has a heart-warming footnote. For years, Shepard wondered about the German physician who saved his life in Germany, “Who carried me from the wreck? Who saved my life?” In May 1993, a third party arranged a meeting between Dr. Loidl and Shepard. After they met, an emotionally overwhelmed Shepard said: “I prayed for this. And after half a century, my dream has incredibly come true.”

Joe Guzzardi is a Society for American Baseball Research and Internet Baseball Writers Association member. Contact him at guzzjoe@yahoo.com.

Bert Shepard Was A One-Legged WWII Hero who Pitched for Washington Senators

Bert Shepard