Flag Day 2015 USA: 10 Facts To Know About The Star-Spangled Banner
Pope Francis, meet Iñigo Montoya UPDATED
Pope Francis:
Pope Francis praises Junipero Serra as U.S. ‘founding father’
Junípero was not a member of the American Constitutional Convention of 1787, did not fight in the War of Independence, sign the Declaration of Independence, or as far as I cold tell, even set foot on the thirteen colonies.
However, since Junípero was a Franciscan priest, maybe Pope Francis means that Junípero was a founding padre.
UPDATE:
I rarely agree with Latino Rebels, but I agree on this: The Pope’s Saint of Death
Today’s must-read
Cuba still sponsors terrorists, says man whose dad’s killer is harbored there
Guillermo “William” Morales, a U.S. fugitive, in Havana, where he has been living. Morales escaped from police custody in the 1970’s, after being sentenced to 89 years. He was the architect of bombings in New York City that claimed lives, including that of Frank Conner, showed in the inset photo with his son Joseph.
H/t Babalu
Did Obama give in on Cuba so Uruguay would take 6 Gitmo alumni?
Lame duck Uruguayan president and former Tupamaro terrorist José Mujica brags, according to an AFP and EFE report at La Tercera (link in Spanish), that he asked the Obama administration to release three Cuban spies in exchange for Uruguay accepting six Gitmo detainees.
Mujica indicó also indicated that negotiations with the U.S. government “are far from closed. They depend, among other things, on various decisions outside our reach.”
Paul Mirengoff asks, THE CUBA APPEASEMENT AND THE LATEST DETAINEE RELEASE — IS THERE A CONNECTION?
Although no one seems to dispute that Mujica, a former leftist guerrilla, urged that the Cuban spies be released, the U.S. denies that their release was ever part of the negotiations, which have been going on for many months. It would appear, then, that either Mujica or the Obama administration is lying.
However, the truth may be that Mujica asked for the release of the Cuban spies and the administration signaled that this would be taken care of as part of a larger deal with Cuba. In this scenario, the Obama administration could deny that the release of spies ever became part of the give-and-take of negotiations. Again, it seems likely that releasing the Cuban spies is something Obama wanted to do anyway, for purposes of accommodating the Castro regime.
If Obama’s recent transactions with Uruguay and Cuba are viewed collectively, here is the “bill” to the U.S.: (1) the release of six terrorists with no assurance (not even a paper one) that they won’t immediately return to the fight against the U.S., as so many have; (2) the release of three Cuban spies; and (3) the granting to Cuba’s Communist tyrants of as much legitimacy and economic help as Obama has the power to confer.
There will be more coming from these – up to now – seemingly unrelated stories.
The plan
The plan:
1. Create a crisis
2. Overwhelm the system
3. Act by executive order
The purpose: Consolidation of power.
In practice:
1. Create a crisis by showing that the immigration laws of the United States are not being enforced, while allowing the transport, through the borders of multiple countries, of tens of thousands of illegal aliens.
Questions: Are we supposed to believe that tens of thousands of Central America’s indigents suddenly, all at once, as a group, could come up with the money to pay the coyotes? Or that the coyotes, working for the cartels that control all the smuggling into the country, are not getting paid? Or that the transport of thousands of people on a daily basis is a completely spontaneous, uncoordinated, serendipitous, action?
2. Overwhelm the system (with the added bonus of a national security threat):
National Border Patrol Council NBPC Statement on Influx of Juveniles in Rio Grande Valley Sector (h/t Tree Hugging Sister; emphasis added)
Nearly half of all Border Patrol agents assigned to the Rio Grande Valley are working at duties that would not be considered to be law enforcement. These duties include feeding, clothing, and watching after children. These duties are slowly being taken over by FEMA and other governmental groups, but still leave a small group of agents protecting our borders. The cartels know this and have been actively exploiting the situation. Cartels are forcing juveniles and illegal aliens to cross the border in between the ports of entries because it further ties up Border Patrol agents in the field. In effect, cartels are using these immigrants as a human shield to divert resources that would otherwise be spent interrupting their trafficking operations. Once the agents are taken out of the equation, the cartels are smuggling drugs, weapons, and special interest aliens across the border unfettered. At a time when agents are most needed to deal with the cartel threat, they are unavailable because they are either dealing with a tidal wave of humanity by either arresting juveniles and families in the field or by processing them in the stations.
. . .
This situation, which started due to violence and dire economic conditions in Central America, has now exploded due to the message being relayed that the immigration laws of the United States are not being enforced. Interviews with detainees reflect this and this situation will continue if there are not consequences for breaking the immigration laws of the United States. We cannot continue to release detainees, even with the goal of deporting them in the future, if we hope to stop the flow of illegal aliens through the Rio Grande Valley. Mandatory detention and deportation is the only consequence that will resolve the problem.
At Drudge:
Lawyers for new illegals say most will be eligible for amnesty…
PAPER: Surge into Texas ‘seemingly endless’…
Virginia county renews push for deportation data…
Thousands of Sex Slaves Trafficked Over Mexican Border…
Feds lowball number of children crossing…
Illegals using ‘rehearsed’ answers to gain entry…
New use-of-force restrictions imposed on border patrol…
DREAMers invited to White House for honors…
3. Act by executive order: If the crisis is severe enough – which at the current rate it certainly will be – Obama will allow ipso facto legal status to all of them. The question is not whether he would do that; he will. The question is, would he grant them citizenship after the midterm elections and before the new Congress takes office in January 2015?
Arguably the most effective president in recent history: “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.”
UPDATE:
Linked to by Gates of Vienna. Thank you!
Venezuela: US to sanction chavistas
The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill Wednesday to penalize Venezuelan government officials found to violate human rights in that country’s crackdown on a protest movement, ratcheting up pressure on President Nicolás Maduro’s beleaguered government.
The bill calls for President Barack Obama to draw up a list of Venezuelan officials who are alleged to have violated human rights, freeze any assets they might have in the U.S., and bar them from entering the country by either withdrawing or denying visas.
A similar bill has been approved by a Senate committee, and is headed for a vote on the Senate floor in coming days.
Passage of the bill also raises pressure on the Obama administration, which has been wary of passing any kind of sanctions for fear it could create a backlash by allowing Mr. Maduro to mobilize supporters against the U.S. and distract from Venezuela’s growing homemade troubles. The administration also fears that the sanctions could jeopardize attempts at reaching a negotiated solution between the government and the opposition.
What negotiated solution? The o-called “negotiations” fell apart already.
14 Dems opposed the sanctions:The
Democrats led by Michigan Rep. John Conyers wrote a letter to President Barack Obama on Tuesday backing his administration. They also urged an exchange of ambassadors with Venezuela after a four-year hiatus.
Does this sound like a government willing to exchange ambassadors?
Venezuela alleged on Wednesday that the U.S. ambassador to Colombia has plotted to destabilize President Nicolas Maduro’s rule, adding to tensions between the two countries as the U.S. House approved a measure calling for sanctions on officials in the South American nation over human rights abuses.
A couple of days earlier, Mind your own business, Venezuela foreign minister tells Kerry.
In Caracas, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro welcomed the Democratic lawmakers’ initiative, saying he hopes “there is a bit of wisdom” in Washington. This wisdom from the guy who talks to a bird he thinks is Hugo CHavez.
Never mind, the Russian Foreign Minister says all problems should be solved on the constitutional basis, without threats of sanctions. In theory, they should; in reality . . .
Yleem D.S. Poblete posits that, in addition to the human rights violations,
For the sake of U.S. national security interests, the United States needs to act swiftly and resolutely to hold the Chavez-Maduro apparatus accountable.
The bill is now headed for a vote on the Senate floor.
Silvio Canto and I talked about this and other LatAm topics in last night’s podcast:
Elections in Colombia PLUS other US-Latin America stories of the week
Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua: Russia to add military bases overseas UPDATED
Last November Secretary of State John Kerry declared the Monroe Doctrine dead; Putin was listening:
Russia Seeks Several Military Bases Abroad – Defense Minister (emphasis added)
Russia is planning to expand its permanent military presence outside its borders by placing military bases in a number of foreign countries, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Wednesday.
Shoigu said the list includes Vietnam, Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, the Seychelles, Singapore and several other countries.
“The talks are under way, and we are close to signing the relevant documents,” Shoigu told reporters in Moscow.
The minister added that the negotiations cover not only military bases but also visits to ports in such countries on favorable conditions as well as the opening of refueling sites for Russian strategic bombers on patrol.
Earlier this week, US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced plans to shrink army to pre-World War II levels. His timing could not have been more perfect.
UPDATE, Thursday Feb. 27, 2014, via Kermit:
Russian spy ship docked in Havana
There you have it:
The Optimistic Conservative:
The timing of SSV-175’s patrol is presumably no coincidence. We don’t know exactly when she left her Northern Fleet home port on the Barents Sea, but since she was in Curacao on the 30th, we do know it was at least before 10 January (and probably before that. At an overall speed of 12 knots, the ship would have needed to leave the Barents around 2 or 3 January). It’s unlikely that the AGI is in Central America just for the excitement of popular unrest in Venezuela, however. The more interesting event could well be the deployment of the Iranian navy task force.
John Kerry was on TV just now saying “This is not Rocky IV.” No, it’s not: this is real.
The first 2014 Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean
ARGENTINABRAZIL
Brazil’s fighter jet decision
CHILE
Photos: Violent protests in Chile
Chilean miracle miners back in spotlight, with Antonio Banderas.
COLOMBIA
Bogota needs a “Bloomberg”; maybe, but it’ll do much better with a Giuliani.
CUBA
Reuters shocked…. shocked! … by Cuban car pricing
Mujeres: la carne barata de la revolución
The media
The most absurdly oblivious headline you’ll read all year
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Haitians without a nation
A ruling in the Dominican Republic divides immigrants in Boston
USAID to Pull Out of Ecuador
Organization cites efforts of Correa admin to stifle aid programs
Sitting in the Ecuadorian embassy, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange derides Catholic confessional system but can’t come up with an original thought.
HONDURAS
Election fraud in Honduras
JAMAICA
Cool Runnings Again? Jamaican Bobsleigh Team Return for Sochi Winter Olympic Glory Bid
LATIN AMERICA
Nafta at 20: A Model for Trade Policy
Opponents of the 1993 agreement have been proven definitively wrong.
Mexico 2013: End of the Year Reflections and the Year to Come
Suspected leader of Mexican drug cartel nabbed at Amsterdam airport, via Gates of Vienna.
PANAMA
Trouble at the Panama Canal
Your money or your locks
THE $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal is one of the world’s great infrastructure projects, aimed at enabling giant mega-tankers to pass through the 100-year-old waterway between the Atlantic and the Pacific. So a threat by an international consortium, led by Spain’s Sacyr, to halt construction work on January 20th if the Panama Canal Authority (PCA) doesn’t pay it $1.6 billion for cost overruns, is serious. The amount it is claiming is fully half the $3.2 billion it bid in 2009 for its part of the project.
Jorge Quijano, administrator of the PCA, told The Economist that the authority would not pay the money because cost increases were accounted for in the contract.
Panama Canal expansion: Spain steps in to negotiations
Meanwhile, In 2013 Chiriquí Had 673 Earthquakes
PARAGUAY
Paraguay drug seizures up by 39% in 2013
PUERTO RICO
Could a Puerto Rico Default Hammer the $3.7 Trillion US Muni-Bond Market in 2014?
Puerto Rico Marijuana Reform Gets A Second Life
Puerto Rico’s Population Continues Rapid Decline
USA
No, an illegal immigrant should not be admitted to the bar
URUGUAY
Uruguay consumer prices up 8.5 pct in 2013, top government target
VENEZUELA
Venezuela’s surveillance state strikes again
Transforming a mistake into a revamped tool of repression: the Delcy Rodriguez scandal
Venezuelan Central Bank Joins The Dark Side
The inflationary monster (in Spanish)
The week’s posts:
Argentina: More price controls
Latin America: Free trade vs. Mercosur
Cuba: Lies, lies, and more lies
Mexico: Another Fast & Furious gun found
Italy: Latin American thieves pick the wrong town to hide
Is 2014 Latin America’s “big year”?
At Da Tech Guy Blog: Ringin’ in the New Year in yellow undies: A brief story by Fausta
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