Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, July 9, 2014



Democratic congressman Henry Cuellar ripped President Obama for being "aloof" and "detached" by not visiting the Texas border to see firsthand the immigration crisis. Cuellar made the comments on MSNBC...

* HUH? WHAT? WHAT'S THIS ABOUT MSNBC...???

* YEP. MSNBC. THIS SPECIFIC ARTICLE... VIA DRUDGE... FROM THE WEEKLY STANDARD:

"He's so close to the border," Cuellar exclaimed, "and let me say this - when I saw, and I hate to use the word bizarre... but under the circumstances... when he is shown playing pool in Colorado, drinking a beer, and he can't even go 242 miles to the Texas border, and plus, if he doesn't want to go down to the border, there's the Air Force Base where HHS is holding some of the young kids from the border. He could at least make that trip to San Antonio..."

* CUELLAR CONTINUED...

"...but again, border community leaders wants to see him down there on the border, and I think the optics and the substance of it is that he should show up at the border."

Cuellar added, "It Just floored me - because if he's saying he's too busy to go to the border... but you have time to drink beer... play pool..."

* AND WHY DID CUELLAR - A DEMOCRAT - SAY ALL THIS?

The president was in Colorado last night - drinking beer and playing pool.

* QUESTION TO MY AUDIENCE: ARE YOU FOLKS GETTING THIS VIA THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA? I JUST BROWSED THE NYT FRONT PAGE... DIDN'T SEE MUCH; HOW'BOUT THE WASHINGTON POST... LA TIMES...?

* IMAGINE... IMAGINE THIS WERE BUSH.

(*SHRUG*)


8 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/07/08/Border-Doctor-Previously-Deported-Illegal-Alien-with-Tuberculosis-Ignored-by-Feds

Dr. Elizabeth Lee Vliet - a preventive medicine physician and former Director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) - has practices in Arizona and Texas.

Vliet claimed that one of her patients, whose name cannot be disclosed for confidentiality reasons, called her with fears that the TB-positive immigrant was putting other lives at risk.

Vliet said her patient informed her that ICE and DHS would not take the illegal immigrant - who was previously deported but is now back in the U.S. - into custody.

* IS THIS TRUE...? (I MEAN... I KEEP READING THESE STORIES IN BREITBART. YOU'D THINK IF THEY WEREN'T TRUE THAT THE MSM WOULD ABSOLUTELY DELIGHT IN "OUTING" BREITBART - WOULDN'T YOU?)

A representative at UMC El Paso told Breitbart Texas that information on the supposedly infected individual could not be released. "HIPAA prevents us from releasing any information about specific diagnoses," the spokeswoman said.

* YA KNOW WHAT, FOLKS; WHEN WE'RE TALKING ABOUT INFECTEOUS DISEASE... WHEN WE'RE TALKING PUBLIC HEATH THREAT... SHOULDN'T SUCH INFORMATION BE PUBLIC? (I CERTAINLY THINK IT SHOULD BE!)

She added, however, that "five El Paso hospitals are currently treating immigrants."

* WOW... AND HERE WE'VE BEEN TOLD THAT THE ILLEGAL ALIENS ARE IN GENERALLY GOOD HEALTH! (HEY... HOW'BOUT A RUNNING TAB ON MEDICAL EXPENSES...)

The tidal wave of illegal immigrants have brought numerous diseases into the U.S. since the new year. Breitbart Texas recently reported on an outbreak of scabies in one housing facility for unaccompanied border minors - the infestation was contracted by numerous Border Patrol agents.

Other additional illnesses have also been noted. "We are starting to see chickenpox, MRSA staph infections, we are starting to see different viruses," Rio Grande Valley Border Patrol agent Chris Cabrera told ABC 15.

Vliet told Breitbart Texas, "The form of TB prevalent in the countries from which the majority of these illegals are coming is the most severe of all: multi-drug resistant TB, which has a low cure rate and requires the use of expensive medications with serious side effects."

(*CLAP...CLAP...CLAP*)

Vliet told Breitbart Texas that the risk of diseases brought into the U.S. by the migrants is being dramatically downplayed by the Obama Administration and mainstream media.

She said, "Many people are trying to diminish the seriousness of this. They say, 'We have these diseases in the U.S.' Well yes, we do, but they've been well controlled, we have good hygiene, and most of our parents keep children home when they're sick. ... It's a very real risk. It could get out of hand very quickly; but since these are common disease that people have heard of, the risk isn't necessarily taken seriously."

William R. Barker said...

* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/8/istook-flying-illegals-home-would-be-995-percent-c/?page=all#pagebreak

We taxpayers are expected to house, feed, clothe and care for almost 30,000 illegal aliens for a full year, according to the White House’s official request.

That’s a small city.

Instead, we could fly all of them home for one-half of one percent of the $3.8 billion that President Obama proposes we spend.

* I'LL DO IT EVEN CHEAPER! JUST PUSH 'EM BACK OVER THE BORDER INTO MEXICO! LET 'EM BE MEXICO'S PROBLEM!

At the unofficial reported cost of $250 per person per day, President Barack Obama is proposing we spend $1.8 billion “to provide appropriate care for unaccompanied children.”

* LET AMERICORP DO IT! (YEAH... REMEMBER AMERICORP...??? WHY NOT LET "VOLUNTEERS" DO IT?)

In addition, Obama wants another $879 million “for detention and removal of apprehended undocumented adults traveling with children,” and “alternatives to detention programs” for these adults. He blends “removal” with “detention” to make it impossible to determine how many removals are planned.

* NOT MANY ARE PLANNED - WE KNOW THAT! (OBAMA IS THE ONE WHO - LITERALLY - ENTICED THESE PEOPLE TO VIOLATE OUR NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY AND INVADE OUR COUNTRY IN THE FIRST PLACE!)

* OH... AND JUST ANOTHER "DETAIL"...

Although Obama asks for lots of money to take care of people permanently, he gives zero details about a time-frame for deporting or repatriating any of the persons involved.

* IN ANY CASE...

The $250 a day figure compares with the $667 one-way cost of an airline ticket from McAllen, Texas, to Guatemala City, Guatemala, according to both Orbitz and Priceline. The combined airfare for 29,358 passengers would be $19.6 million. That is one-half of 1 percent of President Obama’s overall $3.8 billion request. Volume discounts and government rates would yield even lower fares. But even without discounts, sending everyone home right away saves taxpayers 99.5%!

It’s also closer to fly them from McAllen to Guatemala City than to Murietta, California. Only 1,297 miles compared to 1,549 miles. And no protesters.

* TO BE CONTINUED...

William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

But what about the red-tape processing that Obama says gets in their way? We know the president skirts inconvenient laws when he wants to do so. And although there is some red tape for the minors, there is no federal law that requires officials to drag their feet on deporting the thousands of adults newly arrived from Central America. And no red tape on the accompanied minors. All of them can be placed on planes pronto, arriving home far more quickly than it took them to journey to Texas. And arriving there more quickly than flying to California.

(*NOD*)

Regarding the unaccompanied juveniles, officials such as Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson don’t seem to have read the law. Johnson told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the top priority is “doing right by the children.” Actually, the law states the top priority is to repatriate those children to their country of origin.

* BINGO!

Before the language of that controversial 2008 statute outlines the red-tape processing, it explicitly states the goal of that process, namely that “the Secretary of Homeland Security, in conjunction with the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall develop policies and procedures to ensure that unaccompanied alien children in the United States are safely repatriated to their country of nationality or of last habitual residence.”

That bears repeating:

The statute says the goal is that the unaccompanied alien children “are safely repatriated to their country of nationality or of last habitual residence.”

* FOLKS... IF YOU'VE HEARD OTHERWISE... YOU'VE BEEN LIED TO.

Interestingly, that law foresees a problem if minors are released in the U.S. to custody of fellow illegal aliens. The statute requires officials to make sure that a potential custodian is someone who is trained to recognize his “responsibility to attempt to ensure the child’s appearance at all immigration proceedings.” Obviously, that disqualifies anyone who himself is in the country illegally.

* DUH! (AND A VERY, VERY, VERY GOOD POINT...!!!) (OR AT LEAST IN A SANE WORLD IT WOULD BE!)

We don’t have to borrow and spend another $3.8 billion to fix the problems created by President Obama’s irresponsible promotion of amnesty. It’s far cheaper to follow the law and to send people home. That also is the best way to discourage other people from following in their footsteps.

William R. Barker said...

* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)

http://www.spj.org/news.asp?ref=1253

* CHECK OUT THE SIGNATURES... (AND WOULDN'T YOU LOVE TO KNOW WHO REFUSED TO SIGN? I WOULD!)

Mr. President,

You recently expressed concern that frustration in the country is breeding cynicism about democratic government. You need look no further than your own administration for a major source of that frustration – politically driven suppression of news and information about federal agencies. We call on you to take a stand to stop the spin and let the sunshine in.

Over the past two decades, public agencies have increasingly prohibited staff from communicating with journalists unless they go through public affairs offices or through political appointees. This trend has been especially pronounced in the federal government. We consider these restrictions a form of censorship - an attempt to control what the public is allowed to see and hear.

The stifling of free expression is happening despite your pledge on your first day in office to bring “a new era of openness” to federal government – and the subsequent executive orders and directives which were supposed to bring such openness about.

Recent research has indicated the problem is getting worse throughout the nation, particularly at the federal level. Journalists are reporting that most federal agencies prohibit their employees from communicating with the press unless the bosses have public relations staffers sitting in on the conversations. Contact is often blocked completely. When public affairs officers speak, even about routine public matters, they often do so confidentially in spite of having the title “spokesperson.” Reporters seeking interviews are expected to seek permission, often providing questions in advance. Delays can stretch for days, longer than most deadlines allow. Public affairs officers might send their own written responses of slick non-answers. Agencies hold on-background press conferences with unnamed officials, on a not-for-attribution basis.

In many cases, this is clearly being done to control what information journalists – and the audience they serve – have access to. A survey found 40% of public affairs officers admitted they blocked certain reporters because they did not like what they wrote.

Some argue that controlling media access is needed to ensure information going out is correct. But when journalists cannot interview agency staff, or can only do so under surveillance, it undermines public understanding of, and trust in, government. This is not a “press vs. government” issue. This is about fostering a strong democracy where people have the information they need to self-govern and trust in its governmental institutions.

It has not always been this way. In prior years, reporters walked the halls of agencies and called staff people at will. Only in the past two administrations have media access controls been tightened at most agencies.

* YEP! ABSOLUTELY! IT STARTED UNDER BUSH... AND OBAMA DOUBLED DOWN!

* TO BE CONTINUED...

William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

Under this administration, even non-defense agencies have asserted in writing their power to prohibit contact with journalists without surveillance. Meanwhile, agency personnel are free speak to others - lobbyists, special-interest representatives, people with money - without these controls and without public oversight.

Here are some recent examples:

• The New York Times ran a story last December on the soon-to-be implemented ICD-10 medical coding system, a massive change for the health care system that will affect the whole public. But the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), one of the federal agencies in charge of ICD-10, wouldn’t allow staff to talk to the reporter.

• A reporter with Investigative Post, an online news organization in New York, asked three times without success over the span of six weeks to have someone at EPA answer questions about the agency's actions regarding the city of Buffalo’s alleged mishandling of “universal waste” and hazardous waste.

• A journalist with Reuters spent more than a month trying to get EPA’s public affairs office to approve him talking with an agency scientist about the effects of climate change. The public affairs officer did not respond to him after his initial request, nor did her supervisor, until the frustrated journalist went over their heads and contacted EPA’s chief of staff.

The undersigned organizations ask that you seek an end to this restraint on communication in federal agencies. We ask that you issue a clear directive telling federal employees they’re not only free to answer questions from reporters and the public, but actually encouraged to do so. We believe that is one of the most important things you can do for the nation now, before the policies become even more entrenched.

We also ask you provide an avenue through which any incidents of this suppression of communication may be reported and corrected. Create an ombudsman to monitor and enforce your stated goal of restoring transparency to government and giving the public the unvarnished truth about its workings. That will go a long way toward dispelling Americans’ frustration and cynicism before it further poisons our democracy.

Further examples on the issue are provided as well as other resources.

Sincerely,

William R. Barker said...

* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/07/09/border-patrol-official-dhs-ordered-illegal-immigrant-holding-facility-cleared-out-before-congressional-visit/#

* AGAIN... FOLKS... I WISH I WERE SHARING WITH YOU A STORY BEING CARRIED IN TODAY'S NYT - OR WASHINGTON POST... OR VIA NETWORK NEWS! BUT, GEEZ... IF YOU READ THE ABOVE NEWSBITE THEN YOU CAN SEE WHY I'M BEING REDUCED TO NEWSIBITING "THE BLAZE."

* HEY... FOLKS... THE MSM HATES GLENN BECK. THEY HATE BREITBART. IF THEY COULD DISPROVE THESE STORIES AND LEAVE "THE RIGHT" WITH EGG ON THEIR FACES... DON'T YOU THINK THEY WOULD?

* ANYWAY...

Department of Homeland Security officials are stonewalling lawmakers who try to make unannounced visits to immigrant detention facilities throughout the country and are closing off public roads along the U.S.-Mexico border in an effort to keep journalists from reporting on the growing illegal immigration crisis, federal law enforcement officials told The Blaze.

* YES... I'D LIKE TO HAVE NAMES.. (BUT IF THEY'RE BEING THREATENED BY THEIR POLITICAL MASTERS...)

(*SHRUG*)

The officials said senior supervisors have made scheduling visits ahead of time mandatory at detention facilities, turned back officials from unannounced visits, and that Border Patrol agents have been forced to clean up facilities and transfer illegal aliens from unauthorized holding cells before they are inspected by lawmakers.

Reporters have also been stopped by DHS officials from traveling along public access roads near the Rio Grande, where most of illegal immigrant children and groups are crossing into the U.S.

* WELL...? WHERE IS THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA...?!?!

The media crackdown along the Rio Grande happened shortly after The Blaze visited the region last month and traveled along some of the more secluded roads along the river’s edge. The Blaze witnessed dozens of illegal immigrants turning themselves in to Border Patrol agents after making the crossing into the United States and interviewed many of them before they were taken away.

While in McAllen, Texas, The Blaze made multiple requests to have access to the facilities where illegals are being held. Border Patrol spokesman Joe Gutierrez said all requests needed to be approved by senior DHS officials in Washington, D.C., and all were denied. A tour of a facility in Brownsville, Texas, was given to reporters who were forbidden from speaking to agents or immigrants. The Blaze chose not to participate in the tour.

* IS THIS REALLY YOUR AMERICA, FOLKS?

* TO BE CONTINUED...

William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

Border Patrol agent Chris Cabrera said supervisors in his sector cleared more than 200 illegal immigrants being detained in the sally port, a garage used to load and unload illegal immigrants, last Wednesday when a group of bipartisan senior lawmakers made a planned visit to the McAllen Border Patrol station.

“They don’t want people to know what’s going on here, or for that matter anywhere, when it comes to the surge of illegal aliens and when [Congress] went to visit, the place was cleared out,” said Cabrera, who is the vice president of the National Border Patrol Council’s Local 3077. “The night before the group of lawmakers arrived the senior supervisors loaded up a couple hundred people being held in the sally port and shipped them out to Laredo. If everything is so fine and dandy, why not let the lawmakers in just the way it is?”

(*PURSED LIPS*)

* WHERE... IS... THE... NEW... YORK... TIMES...?!?!

* WHERE... IS... 60... MINUTES...?!?!

“It even frustrated some of the mid-level management,” Cabrera said of the order by DHS officials to move the illegals the night before the congressional visit. “How are we supposed to get any help out here if we’re hiding the facts from the people who are supposed to be here to help us?”

Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.) sent a letter to HHS officials Monday protesting the administration’s demand that visits be planned and prescheduled. “It is unacceptable that any representative of the people be limited to pre-planned, showcased visits to a facility so critical to the well-being of children,” he wrote. “Ordinary Americans have a right to know what is happening in these facilities, how the children are being treated, and what is being done to stop this human tragedy.”

* YOU'D THINK A FREE PRESS WOULD BE JUST AS FURIOUS... BUT AGAIN... THIS IS A "BLAZE" NEWSBITE... NOT A NYT NEWSBITE. WHAT'S THAT TELL YOU, FOLKS?

William R. Barker said...

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/9/gop-lerner-warned-irs-employees-hide-information/

A newly released email from former IRS employee Lois G. Lerner, sent just as the tea party targeting scandal was erupting, warned colleagues to “be cautious” about what information they put in emails because it could be turned over to Congress.

* DRIP... DRIP... DRIP...

“I was cautioning folks about email and how we have had several occasions where Congress ask asked for emails and there has been an electronic search for responsive emails — so we need to be cautious about what we say in emails,” Ms. Lerner wrote in an April 9, 2013, message.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

The message came less than two weeks after the IRS’s internal auditor shared a draft report with the agency accusing it of targeting tea party and conservative groups.

(A month after the email, Ms. Lerner would plant a question at a conference to reveal the scandal, just before the inspector general’s report was made public.)

* FOLKS... THIS WOMAN SHOULD BE IN JAIL AWAITING TRIAL...

The email was turned over to the House oversight committee last week, more than a year after lawmakers sought it as part of their investigation into the IRS targeting.

* LAST WEEK...

* FOLKS... GOD ONLY KNOWS HOW MANY TOP IRS OFFICIALS SHOULD BE ROTTING IN JAIL AWAITING TRAIL!

Republicans said the email shows Ms. Lerner was aware Congress was probing the agency and that she was preparing to intentionally hide agency discussions from lawmakers.

* YA THINK...?!?!

Ms. Lerner’s emails have become a major scandal in and of themselves after the IRS revealed that her computer hard drive crashed in 2011, causing the agency to lose thousands of her messages.

* BECAUSE APPARENTLY "BACKING UP" ONES WORK PRODUCT IS UNHEARD OF AT THE IRS... (AS IS "THE CLOWD" UNHEARD OF...)

The IRS went back and tried to recover some of the messages by asking others on the email chain to dig through their mailboxes, but the agency acknowledged "some" messages may be permanently lost.

(*SMIRK*)

The head of the National Archives testified to Congress that the IRS likely broke federal records laws by not storing Ms. Lerner’s emails better.

* BACK TO "WHY ARE THE IRS OFFICIALS RESPONSIBLE FOR "NON-COMPLIANCE" NOT IN JAIL - OR AT THE VERY LEAST FIRED WITH NO PENSIONS?

IRS policy was to print out emails that constituted official records, but it’s unclear whether that ever happened.

(*DOUBLE SNORT*)

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen testified to Congress that he believed Ms. Lerner had printed out some emails. But Ms. Lerner’s lawyer, William W. Taylor III, told Politico, a D.C.-based news website, that she didn’t know she was required to do that and so didn’t print out any emails.

* HOWEVER...

On Wednesday, Mr. Taylor released a statement saying that “is not entirely accurate” and blamed a “misunderstanding.” “During her tenure as director of Exempt Organizations, she did print out some emails, although not every one of the thousands she sent and received,” Mr. Taylor said.

* FOLKS... IS OUR LEGAL SYSTEM CAN BE SO EASILY STYMIED... SO EASILY GAMED... THEN WE HAVE A PROBLEM ON OUR HANDS.