8kun Responds To Congress

8kun Responds To Congress — The lawyers for Jim Watkins, who owns the social media message board 8kun, have responded to a letter from the One Hundred Seventeenth Congress Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol demanding he provide [m]isinformation, disinformation, and malinformation related to the 2020 election that appeared on 8kun.

The lawyers gave a excellence response that Watkins has posted on Telegram, Gab and Gettr that all should read so we are posting it with some minor formatting edits:

8kun Responds to Congress

September 7, 2021

One Hundred Seventeenth Congress
Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol

U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515

Microsoft Word – 8kun Jan 6 Committee Response.docx

Re: Select Committee 8kun Inquiry

Chairman Thompson and Members of the Committee:

We write in response to your letter dated August 26, 2021 asking 8kun to produce a broad range of information related to “[m]isinformation, disinformation, and malinformation related to the 2020 election.” Without doubt, it is the duty of all citizens to cooperate with congressional efforts to obtain relevant facts needed for legislation. Equally so, it is incumbent upon Congress to respect the constitutional rights of the witnesses it calls upon. To be more direct, the “Bill of Rights is applicable to investigations as to all forms of governmental action.”1

8kun will respond to appropriate requests issued by this Committee. But as the Supreme Court reminded Congress just last year, congressional investigatory and subpoena requests are valid only when they are “related to, and in furtherance of, a legitimate task of Congress and must serve a valid legislative purpose.”2 Because of constitutional and pertinence concerns, we seek to narrow and better identify the information this Committee would like produced.

1. Introductory Constitutional Principles

Congress has sporadically wrestled with contentious issues of the day by means of investigatory committees. Unfortunately, Congress also has a history of abusing that power through targeting disfavored political actors and associations.3 This is forbidden by the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.4

a. New Deal and “Un-American Activity” Analogues

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and Supreme Court struck down congressional investigatory attempts to chill political speech and association in U.S. v. Rumely. There, the New Deal Congress was irritated with the conservative agitator Dr. Edward Rumely and the Committee for Constitutional Government (“CCG”). They organized business opposition to New Deal legislation, perhaps too effectively.5 The House Committee on Lobbying Activity demanded the names of anyone who purchased books, pamphlets, or other literature from CCG.6 The D.C. Circuit found this inquiry to be outside the power of Congress.7

The Court concluded the House Committee could never be constitutionally empowered to generally investigate all aspects of lobbying. It could investigate particular abuses, particular people, particular records, or particular criminal endeavors. But the First Amendment would forbid Congress from examining, publicizing, or reporting the “names and addresses of purchasers of books, pamphlets and periodicals” because that would serve as a “realistic interference with the publication and sale of those writings.”8 The investigation into Rumely and CCG suffered from another malady: the congressional mandate to investigate was flawed. Congressional desires to examine attempts to influence, encourage, promote, or retard legislation or to influence public opinion are simply void under the First Amendment.9

Courts have sometimes upheld limited inquiries where authorizing resolutions are sharply focused about threats to overthrow the government. But the congressional power to investigate even serious threats to overthrow the government is not limitless. In Watkins I, Congress stressed the urgency of its need to root out domestic extremists and to “be informed of efforts to overthrow the Government by force and violence so that adequate legislative safeguards can be erected.”10 But the Supreme Court cautioned that broad congressional authorizations for investigations could produce disastrous results:

From this core, however, the Committee can radiate outward infinitely to any topic thought to be related in some way to armed insurrection. The outer reaches of this domain are known only by the content of ‘un-American activities.’ Remoteness of subject can be aggravated by a probe for a depth of detail even farther removed from any basis of legislative action. A third dimension is added when the investigators turn their attention to the past to collect minutiae on remote topics, on the hypothesis that the past may reflect upon the present.11

In short, congressional resolutions setting few boundaries on nebulous topics violate constitutional norms.12

b. Constitutional Limits at Hand: Watkins II13

Forcing raucous businessmen of the 1930s or unorthodox platforms of the 2020s to answer questions about the most nebulous of topics—the underlying causes of political violence—is an unworkable congressional command. Worse yet, prying into intimate ideologies and thoughts is a serious censorial chokehold. As courts have realized, the requirement that one reveal purchasers of books, pamphlets, or papers marks the start of a surveillance state. And just as courts would not embrace a surveillance state arising out of congressional investigations in the past, so too is this approach inappropriate today.

Compelling online platforms to share information about users who posted about efforts to “overturn, challenge, or otherwise interfere with the 2020 election or certification of electoral college results” chills the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans who were concerned about electoral integrity during the 2020 election. They have every bit as much a First Amendment right to peacefully gather with others, exchange ideas, and let their discontent be known by public officials as Rumely and CCG did. 14 Demanding that platforms produce mal-, mis-, or disinformation—terms that are undefined but that are usually euphemisms for speech the powers that be disagree with—works an equally pernicious chill against political speech in America. Once government is free to demand the names of users espousing unpopular, unorthodox ideas, free speech and free press rights on the internet disappear.

Like the problematic scope of inquiry in Watkins I, the present inquiries at hand here in “Watkins II” are just as troubling. Where Congress sets out to investigate nebulous topics like “subversion and subversive propaganda,” unlimited “influencing factors” behind the January 6 attack, or how misogyny and racism might impact political violence, constitutional problems grow exponentially.15 But the scope of this authorization is beyond Congress’s power due to its invasion into protected First Amendment rights and its failure to offer pertinent queries related to its otherwise legitimate concern—the spread of real political violence. Much like Rumely, particular queries focusing on particular people, particular records, or particular criminal acts may be examined. Fishing expeditions into the closely-held thoughts and beliefs of the American people rest beyond Congress’s prying eyes. The controversies surrounding the 2020 election, well settled within the Beltway, are hardly settled for many Americans. Roughly one-third of Americans—almost 110 million people—believe that President Biden’s 2020 victory was the result of widespread voter fraud.16 The First Amendment encourages citizens to debate and talk about issues of self-government—without fear of the government collecting and pouring over their communications. As Congress continues in this direction, some citizens will fear to espouse, and some will fear to read, messages that those in power dislike. The million-fold eyes of Argus Panoptes become a reality by congressional fiat.17 The resulting shadow the government will cast over online discussion that does not conform to the dominant party’s narrative should frighten every American.

2. Past Compliance with the Committee on Homeland Security

Mr. Watkins, as a representative of 8kun (formerly 8chan) freely appeared before the House Committee on Homeland Security in September 2019 to address that committee’s concerns over the proliferation of online extremist content. In doing so, 8kun produced relevant documents and Mr. Watkins answered relevant inquiries about the site’s operations. We attach the submitted “Congressional Primer on 8chan” for your reference as ADDENDUM A. Notably, 8kun included more than fifty pages of voluntary interactions with law enforcement about particular criminal investigations. Where requests are focused and particular and do not run afoul of constitutional norms, 8kun is enthusiastic to aid Congress and law enforcement in their operations. We hope we may be equally helpful here.

3. ClarificationofExistingRequests

It is Mr. Watkins’s desire that we continue 8kun’s practice of responding to lawfully issued requests and to provide as much respectful cooperation with your committee’s investigation as the First Amendment allows. However, the requests contained in your form letter dated August 26, 2021 are an unworkable starting point for cooperation. For example, item 1 requests production of “All . . . data . . . regarding your platform . . . .” Even if this sentence is read in conjunction with the items described in items “i.” through “iv.,” this request is so broad as to render compliance impossible. Other form requests, such as requests for “internal or external reviews and reports” regarding 8kun’s “algorithms” seem misdirected. 8kun is a small organization and a relatively simple website. There are no “internal or external reviews” nor are there website “algorithms.” This is but an entrée of errors— the requests, as written, need substantial clarification and focus for 8kun to attempt cooperation.

Please contact Mr. McDonald at your convenience to discuss your requests and determine if there is any specific information that the Committee is constitutionally empowered to seek and that Mr. Watkins is capable of producing. Alternatively, 8kun may be accessed through the internet at https://8kun.top/index.html. All of the information the Committee appears to seek is likely available in an open manner for viewing on the website. Should any substantive issues arise over related constitutional concerns, please contact Mr. Barr directly.

Benjamin Barr
BARR & KLEIN PLLC
444 N. Michigan Ave.
Ste. 1200
Chicago, IL 60611 Telephone: (202) 595-4671 ben@barrklein.com

Stephen R. Klein
BARR & KLEIN PLLC 1629 K St. NW
Ste. 300
Washington, DC 20006 Telephone: (202) 804-6676 steve@barrklein.com

Tony McDonald
The Law Offices of Tony McDonald 1501 Leander Dr., Ste. B2
Leander, Texas 78641
Telephone: (512) 923-6893 tony@tonymcdonald.com

Footnotes

1 Watkins v. U.S. (“Watkins I”), 354 U.S. 178, 197 (1957).
2 Trump v. Mazars USA, LLP, 140 S.Ct. 2019, 2031 (2020).
3 Barsky v. U.S., 167 F.2d 241, 263 (D.C. Cir. 1948) n.8 (“‘Hollywood Fires 10 Cited in Contempt. Film Heads Rule They Must Swear Theyre Not Reds To Be Rehired’. Washington Post, Nov. 26, 1947, . 1, col. 4.”).
4 See Rumely v. U.S., 197 F.2d 166, 173 (D.C. Cir. 1952) (Congress “represents the people, and its power comes from the people. It is not a source or a generator of power; it is a recipient and user of power”); see also U.S. v. Rumely, 345 U.S. 41, 46 (1953).

5 Rumely would not disclose donors after being served with a congressional subpoena asking him to do so. See 96 CONG. REC. 13882 (Aug. 30, 1950) (statement of Rep. Buchanan); see also 95 CONG. REC. 6431 (May 18, 1949) (statement of Rep. Sabath) (“[M]any more millions have been spent on the part of many corporations and businesses who are endeavoring to . . . stop legislation which they are opposed to . . . . I have attacked these professional lobbyists for years. . . .This committee will recommend ‘teeth’ that can properly be enacted into law thereby eliminating these abuses”).

6 Particularly pernicious for the House Committee were sales of “The Road Ahead,” “Labor Monopolies and Freedom,” “Compulsory Medical Care and the Welfare State,” and the “Constitution of the United States.” Rumely, 197 F.2d at 169–70.
7 Id. at 173.

8 Id. at 174.
9 Id. at 173–74.
10 See Watkins, 354 U.S. at 204; compare with H.Res. 282, 117th Cong., 1st Sess. (legislative purpose to examine “facts and circumstances surrounding the domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol and targeted violence and domestic terrorism relevant to such terrorist attack”).
11 Watkins, 354 U.S. at 204.

Microsoft Word – 8kun Jan 6 Committee Response.docx

12 See Watkins, 354 U.S. at 214 (congressional subcommittee related to rooting out risk of Communist overthrow of government could not rest its basis for information on the need to learn about “subversion and subversive propaganda” because such a request was overbroad and indefinite); compare with H.Res. 282, 117th Cong., 1st Sess. (racism, misogyny, and Islamophobia may be drivers for domestic violence extremism; listed congressional purpose includes an examination of “influencing factors that fomented such an attack on American representative democracy while engaged in a constitutional process”).

13 “Watkins II” is the authors’ nomenclature for the impending dispute over the present congressional inquiry into Mr. Watkins and 8kun.
14 The National Park Service authorized a gathering of up to 30,000 people for the Washington, DC pro-Trump rally. Stephanie Dube Dwilson, How Many Were at the MAGA Trump March & Protest in DC? Crowd Size Photos, HEAVY, Jan. 6, 2021, available at https://heavy.com/news/maga-march-trump- dc-rally-crowd-photos/ It is currently unknown what small percentage of the peaceful rally attendees committed acts of political violence at the Capitol.

15 U.S. v. Peck, 154 F.Supp. 603, 608–09 (D.D.C. 1957).

Microsoft Word – 8kun Jan 6 Committee Response.docx

16 Max Greenwood, One-third of Americans believe Biden won because of voter fraud: poll, THE HILL, June 21, 2021, available at https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/559402-one-third-of-americans-believe- biden-won-because-of-voter-fraud-poll
17 Argus Panoptes is a subject of Greek mythology and is a many-eyed giant who kept subjects of his observation under close scrutiny. Mike Greenberg, Argus: Hera’s Hundred-Eyed Guard, MYTHOLOGY SOURCE, available at: https://mythologysource.com/argus-greek-giant/

8kun Responds To Congress
8kun Responds To Congress
8kun Responds To Congress
8kun Responds To Congress
Jim Watkins lawyers answer
8kun Responds To Congress
8kun Responds To Congress
8kun Responds To Congress

8kun Responds To Congress

8kun Responds To Congress

Power concedes nothing William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 9-9-21

Power concedes nothing William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 9-9-21

 

Zellpb qeb ifcb qexq fp jlpq rpbcri, xka exyfq tfii jxhb fq qeb jlpq xdobbxyib.
Coxkzfp Yxzlk

Power concedes nothing William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 9-9-21Answer to yesterday’s William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit quote puzzle: Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.
Frederick Douglass

Power concedes nothing William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 9-9-21

BBC Proms Worth Clicking

BBC Proms Worth Clicking

By Bob Small

Normally, my articles tend toward the Political, in one or another ways. However we will be discussing a yearly musical phenomenon (first heard in 1895) and how you can now hear it for free.

BBC Proms Worth Clicking

The BBC Proms aka Henry Wood Promenade Concert presented by the BBC began in 1895 as both Classical and Popular Music Concerts designed, via low ticket prices and an informal atmosphere, to bring music to the masses.

Over the years, the eight-week festival morphed into jazz, world music and many etceteras. Because Britain is no longer an empire but now a Commonwealth, they use this, as BBC itself, as what they themselves call “soft power,” as opposed to the massive military force they once had.

To find the BBC Proms on your search engine of choice (I use Duck Duck Go, so as not to be searched myself.) to get to BBC Radio 3. Click on BBC Sounds or any other link but I Player. (I Player requires you to live in England,) Then you can choose your Concerts. As of this writing , most are still available for a month, the earliest ones expiring first. I listen sequentially, but that’s also how I read a book or watch a movie, whereas others choose by Composer or Conductor, whether Classical or Jazz. I now use my Smartphone, which seems to work easier for me on BBC Radio 3 BBC Proms.

The Last Night of the Proms has traditionally featured the Anthem “Rule Brittania”and other highly Patriotic songs. Lately, though, what might be termed the ‘Woke’ crowd has been protesting that, seeing this as inconsistent with the aims of the British Commonwealth, especially as Britannia no longer ‘rules the waves’ or anything else. (Possibly not even Scotland if they get another referendum.) Rather, the Proms, like BBC itself, is a form of soft power, witness the many people, self included, who listen to at least one BBC program daily.

Jeffrey Peterson Linux Crusade

Jeffrey Peterson Linux Crusade — Little things can make a big difference. We’ve been advocating making DuckDuckGo one’s default search engine in lieu of Google; and Brave one’s default browser replacing Chrome or Safari. These things aren’t hard to do and if you won’t do them shame on you.

Tech pioneer Jeffrey Peterson, though, is taking it to a new level. On his Telegram channels, he’s evangelizing for the wholesale migration to the Linux operating system.

It’s about time.

Jeffrey Peterson Linux Crusade
Jeffrey Peterson

Linux is the open source alternative to Mac OS and Windows. Open source is source code free to modify or distribute. Note the word free. Yes, it means free, and this includes most of the software which is just usually as effective as what is offered by the Big Tech companies but without the costly licenses.

More significantly Linux is far more secure and private than what the plutocrats offer.

Another big plus is that old computer sitting in a closet and thought to be obsolete can be likely returned to life to such an effect one finds one using it more than the new machine.

The obsolescence is often planned, after all.

Anyway, Jeffrey’s Linux group is JP’s Technology Chat and can be found here. Obviously you need a Telegram account which we certainly recommend.

Another good Linux resource is Linux Users of Gab which can be found here. Obviously, you have to have signed up for Gab, which we also recommend.

And as long as we are considering a new dawn of technological freedom, quit Facebook, or as some refer to it Nouveau Lifelog.

Jeffrey Peterson Linux Crusade

Pedal to the Metal For Afghan Resettlement

Pedal to the Metal For Afghan Resettlement

By Joe Guzzardi
 

The State Department has designated 19 U.S. cities as acceptable for refugee resettlement which made the Biden administration’s resettlement policy clear: pedal to the metal; damn the torpedoes, full-speed ahead. Afghan resettlement deserves maximum caution; the administration took the opposite road. The official argument for speedy resettlement is that our allies – those who purportedly worked side-by-side with the American military – are in grave danger, and must be airlifted out of Kabul immediately. No doubt, there’s some truth in that assessment. But Americans want guarantees that only friends receive invitations.

Pedal to the Metal For Afghan Resettlement

Since Americans are, by and large, trusting people who want to help at-risk strangers, most would be accepting of new refugees if confident that they had been properly vetted, and the good guys were weeded out from the bad guys. The White House assures a wary public that incoming refugees are being processed by “intelligence professionals or law enforcement officials.” The Biden administration insists the vetting is “rigorous,” and dedicated officials are working “around the clock” to safely process Afghan refugees.

Safely vetting 83,000 refugees in a matter of hours is impossible. Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican, visited his home state’s Fort McCoy where Maj. Gen. Darrell Guthrie told him that many incoming refugees had no identification and weren’t Special Immigrant Visa holders. The administration classifies unidentified Afghans as part of a vulnerable population, are therefore granted humanitarian parole – once a rarely used DHS option, but now commonplace – and are admitted, no questions asked. Afghan advocates are lobbying for a 50,000-person humanitarian parole.

Biden’s resettlement strategy is slipshod, begs for abuse and could lead to tragic homeland consequences. Comprehensive refugee vetting is a six-step process that, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ website, should take between 18 and 24 months. First, the prospective refugee must register with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees who refers the individual to a U.S. Embassy. Then, the State Department steps in, and begins several security checks carried out through myriad federal security agencies.

The State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration will partner with other agencies to create an Overseas Processing Entity, a document ultimately given to a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officer. Eventually, the officer interviews the refugee face-to-face to determine if he can be resettled. Finally, the case returns to the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration for the final approval, subject to medical screening. The bottom line on faux vetting: the Taliban controls the U.S. Embassy. Documents that might help validate refugee petitions are inaccessible or have been destroyed. Anything other fable that the establishment elites’ offer up is smoke and mirrors.

Blood has been shed of Americans and innocent Afghans; trillions of dollars have been squandered, and countless establishment lies over two decades have been told and shamelessly retold. After American deaths, mountainous waste and brazen deceit, Biden adds insult to injury when he boasts about airlifting Afghans out of Kabul while citizens are left behind. Then, Biden, having done irreparable damage, forces his poorly managed resettlement plan on a skeptical public still coping with COVID-19’s fallout.

Although Americans never voted on the potentially nation-altering resettlement, taxpayers will fund the hundreds of millions of dollars the process requires over a multi-year period. No administration official has sought the opinions of the residents who live in the 19 cities. The administration is brazenly indifferent to deep doubts about the hasty decision to aimlessly resettle Afghan nationals. The refugees are, like it or not, on the way. Resettlement Biden-style is potentially a deadly Russian Roulette game of chance where Americans could be the victims.

Joe Guzzardi is a Progressives for Immigration Reform analyst who has written about immigration for more than 30 years. Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc.org.

Pedal to the Metal For Afghan Resettlement

Neither wealth nor splendor William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 9-8-21

Neither wealth nor splendor William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 9-8-21

 

Lksan ykjyazao jkpdejc sepdkqp w zaiwjz. Ep jaran zez wjz ep jaran sehh.
Bnazaneyg Zkqchwoo

Neither wealth nor splendor William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 9-8-21Answer to yesterday’s William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit quote puzzle: It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness.
Thomas Jefferson

Neither wealth nor splendor William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 9-8-21

Health System Bans Ivermectin For Covid In Houston

Health System Bans Ivermectin For Covid In Houston — Ron Watkins just posted on his Telegram channel this memo from St. Luke’s Health prohibiting the prescription of ivermectin to Covid-19 patients.

Health System Bans Ivermectin For Covid In Houston -- Ron Watkins just posted on his Telegram channel this memo from St. Luke's Health prohibiting the

St. Luke’s is affiliated with Baylor University and serves the Houston area.

Tip to the residents of Houston suffering from C-19: Call yourself a refugee.

Ivermectin is a remarkably safe drug. The National Institute of Health says it can be administered by non-medical staff and even illiterate individuals in remote rural communities.

Health System Bans Ivermectin For Covid In Houston -- Ron Watkins just posted on his Telegram channel this memo from St. Luke's Health prohibiting the
From https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3043740/ of February 2011.

We are not asking that ivermectin be sold over the counter such as dangerous drugs like Advil. We are just asking that doctors be allowed to prescribe it without administrative interference.

Is that too much?

Health System Bans Ivermectin For Covid In Houston

Volags Getting Refugee Rich

Volags Getting Refugee Rich

By Joe Guzzardi
 

The State Department recently identified 19 U.S. cities as preferred destinations for Afghan refugees. Chosen because they’re “locations with reasonable cost of living, housing availability, supportive services, and welcoming communities with volunteers and resources,” the list includes Cleveland, Buffalo, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Baltimore, as well as other Southwest and Rocky Mountain cities like Salt Lake, Denver and Phoenix.

Volags Getting Refugee Rich

The usual suspects – the White House, the media, the bicoastal elites, 100 percent of congressional Democrats, and 80 percent of virtue-signaling congressional Republicans, a rough estimate based on how few in the GOP have objected – can barely contain their glee over what promises to be, at least in the initial refugee wave, between 22,000 and 30,000 Afghan arrivals. Even former President Donald Trump, who slashed refugee resettlement to historically low annual levels, advocated for resettling Afghans who assisted U.S. military, a category that’s broad enough to include office personnel and other nonessential workers.

But few are more thrilled than the “volunteers and resources” groups noted above, also known as “volags” – voluntary agencies – the so-called faith-based organizations, often disparagingly called the refugee resettlement industry. In her 2018 research report compiled from the latest publicly available data, senior researcher Dr. Nayla Rush of the Center for Immigration Studies found that the federal government funded the nine major U.S. volags at the rate of 58 percent to 97 percent. Taxpayer funds go to provide refugees support with housing, food, clothing, community orientation, English lessons, enrollment in various benefits and welfare programs, referral to social service providers including health care, and employment. Volags’ chief operating officers earned, at the time of Dr. Rush’s research, annual salaries that range from a low of $132,000 to a high of $671,749.

Although many resettlement workers may be motivated by good intentions, the indisputable conclusion is that, since volags are reimbursed on a per-capita basis, fewer refugees also mean fewer jobs and less income for the agencies and their employees. Logically, volags anticipate that the Afghan crisis represents a potential pot of post-Trump gold, and are pressuring Biden to expedite the maximum total of refugees. As Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service’s president and CEO Krish O’Mara Vignarajah candidly said, “We’ve been screaming from the rooftops for months now that we need to get these allies to Guam or another U.S. territory.”

Earlier this summer, the Senate, in anticipation of what it knew would be a significant Afghan refugee influx, unanimously passed a bill that provided $1 billion toward easing the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) application process. SIVs are issued to nationals of countries who have assisted U.S. military forces, often as translators. To coincide with the Senate bill, the State Department announced that it would confer Priority-2 (P-2) designation that grants access for permanent U.S. residency to certain Afghan nationals and their eligible family members that don’t or haven’t yet qualified for SIVs. Included would be Afghans who worked for U.S. government contractors, for U.S.-funded programs, or U.S.-based media or nongovernmental organizations, as well as their families.

John Kirby, assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, enthusiastically proclaimed that “we want to have the capacity to get up to several thousand immediately and want to be prepared for the potential of tens of thousands….We’re going to focus on getting as many folks [Afghan refugees] out as we can.” What total “many folks” might climb to, no one can predict. In a letter to Biden, U.S. representatives Barbara Lee (Calif.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) urged the president to set the refugee cap at “no less than 200,000,” an increase of nearly 140,000 from the 62,500 established for 2021, and many thousands more than the 125,000 the White House previously said it would seek in 2022. Other advocates want 1.2 million Afghans resettled.
In Congress, the progressive caucus speaks loudly, and has significant sway with its receptive audience in the White House. Reaching 200,000 refugees in fiscal 2022 sounds like a stretch, but it would be consistent with the Biden administration’s America-Last agenda which has been on full display at the Southwest border since Day 1.
 
Joe Guzzardi is a Progressives for Immigration Reform analyst who has written about immigration for more than 30 years. Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc.org.

Volags Getting Refugee Rich

Volags Getting Refugee Rich

Labor Day is devoted William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 9-7-21

Labor Day is devoted William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 9-7-21

 

Do dn izdoczm rzvgoc ijm nkgziyjm; wpo omvilpdgdot viy jxxpkvodji rcdxc bdqz tjp cvkkdiznn.
Ocjhvn Ezaazmnji

Labor Day is devoted William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 9-7-21Answer to yesterday’s William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit quote puzzle: Labor Day is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race or nation.
Samuel Gompers

Labor Day is devoted William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 9-7-21

What Biden Left Behind In Afghanistan

What Biden Left Behind comes courtesy of Stan Casacio who hosts the Don’t Back Down Show on WWDB AM 860


By John and Andy Schlafly

Some $85 billion worth of America’s most advanced military technology was left behind in Afghanistan, a shocking revelation that by itself would justify President Biden’s removal from office, along with his entire national security team. Biden has given new meaning to the term “cut and run” by abandoning American citizens while permitting an immense cache of advanced weapons to be used against them.

We are not just talking about a few guns or hand grenades. The abandoned American equipment includes more than 109 helicopters, 22,170 Humvees, 8,000 trucks, 64,300 machine guns, and 358,530 assault rifles, according to the non-partisan U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Jim Banks (R-IN), who is in the House Republican leadership after serving with our troops in Afghanistan, observed last week that the Taliban has “more Black Hawk helicopters than 85 percent of the countries in the world.” At least 33 Black Hawk helicopters are in the Taliban’s hands now. 

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan previously admitted that the Biden Administration lacks a “complete picture“ of all of the military equipment it left behind. In addition, databases of Americans and our allies are probably with the Taliban, too.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan previously admitted that the Biden Administration lacks a “complete picture“ of all of the military equipment it left behind.

Since 2007, our troops have collected biometric data about residents of Afghanistan by using mobile technology including the Biometric Automated Toolset (BAT) and Handheld Interagency Identity Detection Equipment (HIIDE). These tools include a fingerprint reader, iris scanner, and camera, in order to build facial and fingerprint watchlists.

Placement on a watchlist in the United States can result in being kept off an airplane, which is inconvenient. But inclusion in these watchlists in Afghanistan can result in death.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki gave an unpersuasive denial of a report, by the left-leaning news website Politico, that the Biden Administration had given the names of attempted evacuees to the Taliban. The reality is that Biden has no idea whether such a list has been given to the enemy.

“First let me say there have been reports that we provided lists of people who want to leave Afghanistan to the Taliban. That’s inaccurate. That’s misreported and misconstrued,” Psaki insisted.

But last Thursday Biden himself admitted that he did know enough about such a list to respond to questions about it. He declared that he could not state “with any certitude that there’s actually been a list of names.”

The biometric database, now presumably in the hands of the Taliban, is a deadly “kill list.” It potentially provides the Taliban with photos and fingerprints of Afghans who supported or assisted American soldiers, and those Afghans now face deadly reprisal.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken was reportedly vacationing at his family’s luxurious home in exclusive East Hampton, Long Island, as the Taliban was overthrowing the Afghan government. Blinken has so misjudged the rapid takeover of Afghanistan that he should resign immediately.

Incredibly, the Western-installed president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, is a former Berkeley anthropology professor entirely unsuited for the challenge of his job, just as Biden is. As reported by the Washington Post, Ghani was more interested in early August in digitizing the Afghan economy than in defending against the invasion of his own capital.

“We never thought we would take Kabul so quickly,” a Taliban commander marveled. With Biden officials departed for an early weekend and the Afghan president having abruptly fled the country, there was no leadership for any earnest defense.

Military equipment can be replaced, but our trapped Americans cannot. Our equipment can now be used by terrorists against our own citizens there and elsewhere.
“If there’s American citizens left, we’re gonna stay to get them all out,” Biden declared on August 18. But Biden then broke his promise by pulling out of Afghanistan before evacuating all of our citizens who want to leave.

“We did not get everybody out that we wanted to get out,” Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, Jr., admitted Monday evening as the final American troops were withdrawn from the country, even earlier than the deadline demanded by the Taliban. The remaining Americans are targets for terrorists as bargaining chips, or worse.

Under President Trump’s leadership, only 3 American soldiers died in the second half of last year in Afghanistan. Biden’s failure to secure Kabul airport and Bagram Air Base for the evacuation resulted in the horrible massacre of 13 American troops last week, nearly all in their early 20s and whose heartbreaking photos are being shared in eulogy across the internet.

While American citizens were left behind to face the Taliban alone, tens of thousands of Afghan men, women, and children are being airlifted and resettled inside our country, and there is no way to adequately vet them. Far from eradicating terrorism in Afghanistan, Biden has equipped and facilitated it.

John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work.

What Biden Left Behind In Afghanistan