Justice Alito and Plaintiff Janus Saved Free Speech

Posted on June 27, 2018June 27, 2018 by Denise Simon

Excellent!

There are an estimated 5 million government employees in 24 States. Mark Janus is a Illinois State employee that has been forced to pay $600 per year to the public sector union known as AFSCME. In a 5-4 ruling with the opinion written by Justice Alito, no more forced dues are required even when not a member of a union. Of course, Justice Elena Kagan wrote a dissenting opinion stating that ‘its crusade by the majority is turning the First Amendment into a sword’.

AFSCME President Lee Saunders had argued that strong labor unions are needed because they give “the strength in numbers [workers] need to fight for the freedoms they deserve,” including retirement plans and health care.

The repercussions could affect unions nationwide. Union membership nationwide is less than 11 percent of the American workforce, but about a third of government employees are members. More here.

As a condition of employment, a person is forced to pay up to keep their job while they have no voice in lobby efforts, where money is spent or in collective bargaining.

Supreme Court hears major challenge to government unions ... photo

The Janus case started in the 7th circuit and the union fee case has been going on for an estimated 40 years. Janus was represented by Mark Mix, the president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.

The basis of the argument is being forced to pay union fees of any sort is coerced political speech. Part of the Alito decision includes:

Compelling individuals to mouth support for views they

find objectionable violates that cardinal constitutional

command, and in most contexts, any such effort would be

universally condemned. Suppose, for example, that the

State of Illinois required all residents to sign a document

expressing support for a particular set of positions on

controversial public issues—say, the platform of one of the

major political parties. No one, we trust, would seriously

argue that the First Amendment permits this.

Perhaps because such compulsion so plainly violates the

Constitution, most of our free speech cases have involved

restrictions on what can be said, rather than laws compel

ling speech. But measures compelling speech are at least

as threatening.

When speech is compelled, however, additional damage

is done. In that situation, individuals are coerced into

betraying their convictions. Forcing free and independent

individuals to endorse ideas they find objectionable is

always demeaning, and for this reason, one of our land

mark free speech cases said that a law commanding “in

voluntary affirmation” of objected-to beliefs would require

“even more immediate and urgent grounds” than a law

demanding silence.

The 82 page opinion is found here. It is compelling reading.

Open Secrets, a site for money in government published this in part:

2018

$13,352,634

80%

19%

That number above represents union money to legislators where 80% went to Democrats and 19% went to Republicans.

Since 1989, public sector unions have contributed $385 million to federal elections, and Democrats have received the vast majority of that money. In the 2016 election those groups pumped $63.8 million into races, 90 percent of which went to Democrats. So far in the 2018 cycle, $13.4 million has gone toward races, with 80 percent benefiting Democrats.

The top 20 politicians to receive money from public sectors since 1989 have been Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer.

In this election cycle, Democratic senators in hotly contested races have benefited from union support.

In the past 10 years, public sector unions also spent nearly $160 million on lobbying.

Overall, 28 states have passed so-called “right-to-work” laws, which ban requirements for union membership or fees. The states include Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana, former union strongholds where average hourly wages and union memberships have slipped since the laws passed.

A dip in union membership would likely bring a significant drop in funding for big union political spenders like AFSCME, which has spent $114 million on federal elections since 1989.

Other top spenders that would see their funds potentially slashed include the National Education Association, the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

Facts are Stubborn Things Regarding Immigrants

Posted on June 26, 2018June 26, 2018 by Denise Simon

So, a friend sent an article to me written by Victor David Hansen and published by National Review. It is about Mexico and this presidential candidate and the threat he has made to the United States. He encouraging a mass exodus of his own people to the United States. Why? Money. There is a protected $70 billion trade surplus for Mexico under NAFTA. Another item is, illegal immigrants and Mexican nationals remit $30 billion back to Mexico.

Hansen’s article is here for the full read and context.

So, doing just a few minutes of research, it seems countless left-leaning media operations are all stating that illegals are not only not eligible for entitlement programs while in the United States, they don’t get any Federal dollars. What?

In a 2013 study, meaning 5+ years ago, there were at the time 3.7 million unlawful immigrant households in the U.S. The financial burden was determined to be $54.5 billion at the time. Now, we can’t seem to get to a real true number of illegals in the United States. It ranges from 11 million to 20 million. But hey, we take in an estimate 500,000 each year….so 20 million appears to be a more accurate number.

That 2013 report also revealed: Unlawful immigration and amnesty for current unlawful immigrants can pose large fiscal costs for U.S. taxpayers. Government provides four types of benefits and services that are relevant to this issue:

Direct benefits.

These include Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation.
Means-tested welfare benefits. There are over 80 of these programs which, at a cost of nearly $900 billion per year, provide cash, food, housing, medical, and other services to roughly 100 million low-income Americans. Major programs include Medicaid, food stamps, the refundable Earned Income Tax Credit, public housing, Supplemental Security Income, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
Public education.

At a cost of $12,300 per pupil per year, these services are largely free or heavily subsidized for low-income parents.
Population-based services. Police, fire, highways, parks, and similar services, as the National Academy of Sciences determined in its study of the fiscal costs of immigration, generally have to expand as new immigrants enter a community; someone has to bear the cost of that expansion. Read that report here and then consider any updated statistics.

Further in 2017, illegals do receive benefits from the SNAP program. That summary is here.

With the Supreme Court decision today on the travel conditions regarding a handful of countries and presidential authority, it speaks to properly investigating and vetting those who come into our country. For those that flow across the border, we simply cant do that. Once here, our system is designed for those illegals to not be responsible or accountable for their illegal and fugitive actions or their status.

Just the mere fact they are in the United States is an entitlement in and of itself. They receive protections real citizens never receive. There is the matter of reduced or free college tuition, like that offered in Illinois.

The highest welfare use rates for immigrants are in New York (30 percent), California (28 percent), Massachusetts (25 percent), and Texas (25 percent).

Immigrants are eleven percent of our population, but they are 20 percent of the poor population. Unless our immigration policies are reevaluated and changed accordingly, welfare usage and subsequent costs will remain high.

Instead of addressing the problem, some in Congress have suggested measures that would make it even worse, such as proposals to increase immigrants’ eligibility for benefits. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that making legal immigrants eligible for Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) would cost an estimated $2.24 billion over ten years. More here.

There has been no real factoring on the cost to DHS and the taxpayer for ICE ad CBP. Then there is detention, the judicial process, deportation, ATF, DEA, education, and, and and…

Have you considered how many we are housing in jails and prisons? Have you considered the job you have where you may not be promoted as you don’t speak Spanish or perhaps not getting hired at all?

So, while Victor David Hansen has the summary very right, there are many more piece parts to the debate. Lastly, imagine the foreign aid given to countries that are exporting their human capital, criminals and entitlement seekers so money can be sent back.

So, Maxine Waters is now Running Silent?

Posted on June 26, 2018June 26, 2018 by Denise Simon

After her last little press conference trying to undo her political rhetoric in a real feeble attempt, seems she is running silent now.

Senator Chuck Schumer came out with a huge critical response to Maxine and rightly so. Then Nancy Pelosi issued a comment as well, although it was much more thin on substance.

But in between all of this two interesting things happened.

Judicial Watch came out with a hand delivered letter to the Chairman and Co-Chairman of the House Office of Congressional Ethics demanding that Waters be investigated and disciplined for her violation of House rules.
Congressman Andy Biggs, R-AZ introduced a measure calling for Waters to apologize and to resign her position.

What we have going on is building chaos that cannot be denied. The Department of Homeland Security issued an internal memo advising agency employees to take all measures for increase individual security and to be prudent in all work and life activities.

Meanwhile, this rhetoric, the protests and confrontations is only growing and far beyond that of government employees.

Check out Chicago as a bar called Replay Lincoln Park has refused to allow or serve customers wearing MAGA hats, stating it wants to keep the establishment classy.

There are some interesting but nasty tactics being used across the country but this tells a bigger story. You see, protestors in DC are virtually stalking administration personnel and surrounding their homes. How about this wanted poster being handed out and taped to walls and elevators?

So meanwhile, check out the plans for example in New Jersey set of June 30.

“On June 30, politicians across the country will hear the outrage of the American people towards these policies,” said Anna Galland, executive director of MoveOn Civic Action, one of the groups organizing the protests.

More than 400,000 people have RSVPed on social media that they plan to attend the events around the country, organizers said.

Other groups participating in the rallies and protests include American Civil Liberties Union, Greenpeace, NARAL Pro-Choice America, National Education Association, YWCA and the Women’s March organization, which held a similar large national march and sister rallies around the country in January.

The Washington, D.C., rally will be held at 11 a.m. at Lafayette Square near the White House. Some New Jersey activists are organizing buses to attend the event.

Then it seems breastfeeding moms have been invited to be a part of the anti-Trump immigration policy.

Due to the Supreme Court decision, 5-4 on the Trump third version of the travel suspension, expect more protests. The Supreme Court decision is here. Of note: “[T]he government has set forth a sufficient national security justification to survive rational basis review. We express no view on the soundness of the policy. We simply hold today that plaintiffs have not demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of their constitutional claim,” Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. wrote for the majority.

Roberts also dismissed arguments that the Supreme Court’s Japanese internment rulings had any bearing on the outcome of the lawfulness of the travel ban.

“Whatever rhetorical advantage the dissent may see in doing so, Korematsu has nothing to do with this case,” Roberts wrote. “The forcible relocation of U.S. citizens to concentration camps, solely and explicitly on the basis of race, is objectively unlawful and outside the scope of Presidential authority. But it is wholly inapt to liken that morally repugnant order to a facially neutral policy denying certain foreign nationals the privilege of admission.”

Days of Rage could still be upon the country. So, where is Maxine now? Has she deferred to Corey Booker or The Open Society Institute or Kamala Harris?

Military Bases are Destination for Migrant Insurgency

Posted on June 25, 2018June 25, 2018 by Denise Simon

The United Sates is not dealing with this issue and frankly is not even managing it. When a Mexican presidential candidate calls for a mass exodus TO the United States, we know the mission to flood the United States is a well known doctrine in Mexico.

Oh and by the way, in case you missed former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, make sure you tell the pro-immigrant activists that Johnson admitted the Obama administration also detained children without parents or guardians, citing it was necessary at the time. He further admitted he expanded it even though it was controversial.

So, let’s dump on the military bases to deal with the volume shall we? Sigh Does that mean that all weapons and or live fire training and exercises will have to stop to keep from making the migrants fearful?

Camp Pendleton California Marine Base. | Places I've been ...

San Diego County could become a destination for tens of thousands of unauthorized immigrants to be housed indefinitely by the U.S. Government, under the zero-tolerance policy implemented by President Donald Trump.

According to a report published Friday afternoon by Time magazine, military leaders are drawing up plans to create a tent city at Camp Pendleton to detain as many as 47,000 illegal immigrants from Central America and other locations over the coming months.

The facility at Camp Pendleton would be one of multiple temporary detention centers designated to house immigrants making their way into the United States.

According to an internal memo obtained by Time magazine, the U.S. Navy has been directed to establish “temporary and austere” encampments on military installations in Alabama, Arizona, and California that each could host tens of thousands of detainees.

The document, prepared by an assistant secretary for approval by Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, suggests construction could begin at one site within 60 days. The structures would be designed to last for six months to one year, Time magazine reported.

The memo has not yet been approved by Spencer or Secretary of Defense James Mattis, the report said.

The plans detailed in the internal document match the executive order Trump signed earlier this week in response to growing political pressure to halt the separation of parents and children crossing the southern border illegally.

The order does not end the Trump administration zero-tolerance program that aims to prosecute all illegal border crossings. Rather, it calls for families to be housed together in detention facilities instead of separated while parents go through both the criminal court system for illegal entry and then immigration proceedings after that.

The order says immigration courts should prioritize detained-family cases, but it will still likely take longer than the 20 days the government is currently allowed to hold children in detention, even if they are held with their families.

Officials at Camp Pendleton said they know nothing about a temporary immigrant-housing project.

“Camp Pendleton is unaware of any plan to house detainees on our base at this time,” Capt Luke Weaver said in a statement. “Contact DoD Office of the Secretary of Defense public affairs for information on this subject.”

The Time magazine report quoted a U.S. Navy spokesman saying it would be inappropriate to discuss internal deliberative planning documents.

The detainment plan estimates the Navy would spend more than $230 million to build and run a single facility serving 25,000 people for a six-month term.

According to a Government Accountability Office report published in April, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office requested $3.6 billion in 2018 funding to pay for immigrant housing — $1 billion more than the amount of funds requested the prior year.

The GAO report recommended several recommendations aimed at improving ICE’s cost estimates and making sure the budget documents are accurate.

The ICE budget for 2019 proposes a nearly 33 percent increase in the average daily count for unauthorized immigrants, from about 38,000 in 2017 to more than 51,000 this year.

Advocates who work with San Diego immigrant communities were stunned by the Time magazine report.

Pedro Rios, director of the American Friends Service Committee San Diego office, said he had been hearing rumblings about new detention centers but never expected Camp Pendleton to be selected.

“I think it’s a mistake to suggest that housing families in austere temporary Navy bases is a solution to the humanitarian needs of people seeking asylum,” he said Friday. “The possibility that families will be held indefinitely is a clear violation of human rights standards.”

Elizabeth Lopez, an immigration attorney with the Southern California Immigration Project, worried about what this might mean for court hearings and what services the detention facilities would have.

“First off, I doubt the government is going to transport them to court, so they will have to build video conference rooms to be able to have hearings,” she said. “Secondly, it is going to be a nightmare to allow the attorneys on to Pendleton to visit our clients.”

Lopez also said she was concerned about the level of medical care migrants would receive while being detained.

Immigration attorney Ginger Jacobs said, “I am also concerned about the extremely high expense of these camps. It looks like it would take approximately $500 million to house people at Camp Pendleton for only a six month time period. That is an enormous waste of government resources. It would be far less expensive to allow the asylum-seekers to live in their own communities with GPS monitor ankle bracelets on, so ICE can keep track of their whereabouts.”

Peter K. Nunez, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California and board chair of a conservative think tank, said he favors erecting as many different detention spaces in as many different places as needed in order to enforce the law.

“There was a time back in the Clinton administration when they started using military facilities to detain people, so it’s not a new idea,” he said. “They have to be treated humanely, but that doesn’t mean they have to be put up in a five-star hotel.

“If they can create temporary detention facilities at Camp Pendleton or any other military base that are adequate to the housing needs, then certainly we can do that,” he said.

According to the Time report, a similar tent city would be established at the former Naval Weapons Station Concord, east of San Francisco. It too would be constructed to hold as many as 47,000 people.

Other facilities that are expected to house 25,000 immigrants would be established at abandoned airfields outside Mobile, Alabama. The memo also proposes studying the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Arizona. as a possible site for an additional immigrant detention center.

The arrival and housing of tens of thousands of immigrants at Camp Pendleton would not be a first for the military base that buffers between San Diego and the Greater Los Angeles area.

In April 1975, after the fall of Saigon, the first of 50,000 or more refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos began arriving at Camp Pendleton for processing before they were resettled to other parts of Southern California and beyond.

The temporary quarters closed by November of the same year.

Introducing Southwest Key Programs, Housing Illegals

Posted on June 22, 2018June 22, 2018 by Denise Simon

Primer:

Texas-based Southwest Key Programs has taken in roughly $1 billion in federal contracts since the Obama administration, and is expected to receive about $500 million this year to house and provide services for immigrant children, according to reports.

And Southwest officials receive significant compensation for their efforts. WQAD reported tax filings show Juan Sanchez, the group’s founder and CEO, received nearly $1.5 million in 2016 – nearly twice the previous year’s salary, of $786,822. His wife, Jennifer, vice president of Southwest Key, received about $280,000 in 2015 in total compensation, WQAD reported.

Three Flee Tucsonâs Southwest Key Unaccompanied Alien ... photo

But let’s go back to 2015 shall we?

There was this Department of Justice slush fund, you may remember. When big banks were found guilty of mortgage fraud like Citigroup or Bank of America, no one went to jail. They just paid fines. Well, those fines were quite substantial, as much as a total of $36 billion. So, there were actually a few slush funds of a quasi nature. You see, some banks rather than go through Treasury or to the Justice Department’s slush fund, they are told to pay some radical/activist groups directly, specifically designated by the Justice Department. The Justice Department’s division is known as The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), which coordinated and managed all of this. Oh, and for each dollar they did pay, they got credit for two dollars. How does that accounting work?

So, far left even Marxist organizations such as La Raza, National Urban League and Southwest Key Programs were just some of the beneficiaries. More here.

Then came other law enforcement operations also kicking in dollars and then a training program was created.

The National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD), a national nonprofit organization that promotes just and equitable social systems for individuals, families, and communities through research, public policy, and practice, developed the Immigrant Parents and Law Enforcement Promoting Community Safety Project curriculum

with the support of key partners.

NCCD would like to thank its law enforcement and community partners in Austin, Texas, and Oakland, California: La Clinica de la Raza, Southwest Key Programs, the Oakland Police Department, the Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Department, the Austin Police Department, the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, and the Travis County Constables. NCCD’s partners played a crucial role in the development and piloting of the curriculum.

NCCD would also like to thank the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) for funding the development of the Immigrant Parents and Law Enforcement Promoting Community Safety Project. The BJA, a component of the US Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP), disseminates state-of-the-art knowledge and practices across US

justice systems and provides grants at the national, state, local, and tribal level

s to fund the implementation of these crime-fighting strategies. BJA provides

proven leadership and services in grant administration and criminal justice policy development to make our nation’s communities safer. This project was supported by Grant No. 2010-DB-BX-K064 awarded by the BJA. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not represent the official position or policies of the US

Department of Justice. You can read that trainers guide here in full.

Even The Boston Globe is attempting to tell the truth about Southwest Key Program. Hello CNN?

WASHINGTON — The outrage generated by President Trump’s forced separations of immigrant children from their parents at the Mexican border would seem to leave little room for middle ground. Advocates including Latino groups, Catholic bishops, the United Nations, and members of Congress are condemning the practice as inhumane.

But one major Latino charity is trying to occupy a gray area in the midst of the firestorm, with limited success at escaping controversy: Texas-based Southwest Key Programs Inc., a pillar of the Hispanic nonprofit world with deep respect across the country.

It now finds itself accused of complicity in Trump’s separations policy, raising broader questions about how much moral responsibility is borne by the thousands of people who are working to carry out that policy, even when the job includes taking care of the children themselves.

The $240 million-a-year Southwest Key organization has big contracts with the government to house immigrant minors in its two dozen low-security shelters in Texas, Arizona, and California, a population that in recent weeks has exploded with infants and children removed from their parents.

The Associated Press reported Friday that 2,000 children have been removed from their parents since April. Southwest Key estimates it has roughly 500 of those children in its facilities. It also is the only Hispanic-run organization with federal Department of Health and Human Services contracts to house the children en masse.

That has thrust Southwest Key into the middle of a burning human rights controversy and into what its chief executive described in an interview as a “dilemma.’’ A spokesman for the group said it has been deluged with angry calls and e-mails, including one person who called Southwest Key “the nonprofit wing of the Nazi party.”

There’s even been an internal debate within Southwest Key’s board of directors.

“It’s inhumane to me,” said Rosa Santis, the treasurer of the board for Southwest Key, which is based in Austin. “I think it’s horrible that they’re really separating kids from their parents.”

Now Southwest is risking that reputation as it participates in the Trump crackdown.

“This is raising issues about whether you are complicit at some level in a process and a procedure that has moral questions,” said Robert Carey, who oversaw Southwest Key’s contracts when he was the director of the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement from 2015 to 2017 during the Obama administration. “They are, in some way, part of a system that is not serving children and not protecting children. . . . It is immoral to tear children out of the arms of their parents.”

On the other hand, said Carey, who is now a fellow at the Open Society Foundations, “By being there, are they preventing further harm?” Read the full story here from the Boston Globe.

How about a couple of sample other states? Like Illinois? Check out how that is being funded.

Beyond the normal Catholic charities that have made a full business out of all of this, not to be overlooked is the Islamic Society, say in Tampa. They want a piece of the action.

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Members of Tampa Bay area religious communities have offered to host the 2,300 children who have been separated from their parents by President Trump’s border policy.

The Islamic Society of Tampa Bay and other religious leaders made the announcement about their humanitarian program at a news conference on Friday.

The leaders said that so far, there are more than 100 families in the Tampa Bay area who would like to host the migrant children until they are reunited with their parents.

“It will be very much like the foster care system per say.. without the financial help from the government. this will be competely self funded,” said Ahmen Bedier who is president of United Voices of America.

The families have offered to host the children at no cost. The program would also pay for the children’s transportation to the Tampa Bay area.

The faith leaders say they have received more than $1 million in pledges to pay for the children’s transportation.

“Our ultimate goal is to protect the children,” said Bedier.

He said the faith communities do not want to play the blame game when it comes to the crisis involving migrant children who have been separated from their parents.

“How did we get here? It doesn’t matter,” he said.

Bedier said he hopes the U.S. government will respond to the offer.

“We hope that the government responds well to our offer and takes us up on it.”

Nyla Hazrajee is one of the people stepping forward to host. She said, she would want someone to do the same for her child.

“This is not supposed to happen and it’s our job to make sure that it doesn’t happen,” she said.

He also said that local families who are interested in hosting migrant children can learn more by calling the Islamic Society of Tampa Bay at (813) 628-0007.

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