California is a diverse, populous state full of potential. Yet for residents in twenty-one counties in Northern California—and they are particular about their truly northern status compared to San Francisco—they feel left out. I learned first-hand about the struggles for these rugged salt-of-the earth conservatives during a three-day visit to the region. I gave two speeches on conservative activism and to recruit help for the fight against California’s increasingly unpopular sanctuary state law, SB 54.
“North State” is so far north, the closest airport is in Medford, Oregon. The region stretches from California’s northwesternmost county, Del Norte, to the northeastern corner of Modoc County, down to Tuolumne County (which just opted out of SB 54). The citizens want more than respect. They want to form their own new state: Jefferson. The namesake comes from President Thomas Jefferson’s vision of a free republic emerging in the Pacific Northwest and a desire for more regional autonomy.
“To the rest of the state, we don’t exist” says Louis Gliatto, the head of the Yreka (not Eureka) Tea Party and Siskiyou County Committee member for “Citizens for Fair Representation.” To prove how out of touch the Rest of California (ROC) has become, Tehama and Siskiyou counties were the first jurisdictions to opt out of SB 54, one month before Los Alamitos passed its own Constitution Compliance ordinance. The two North State counties openly declared that they would comply with federal law. How could the press have missed this? A county of 44,000 residents deserves to be recognized for taking that bold step. This new state project is not new, yet few know about it. In the late 1870’s, the state legislature was limited to 120 representatives, but the state population has skyrocketed. Only until the 1930s did legislative districts account for size and population for representation in Sacramento. In 1941, this spread-out conservative community of ranchers, loggers, and farmers initiated the movement to break away, frustrated by the growing disconnect and lack of representation from Sacramento. Today, three state senators and six assembly members must compete with the dominant LA and Bay Area delegations.
The Jefferson movement faded away quickly in the wake of World War II, but California’s reckless escalation of progressive policies has revived the Jefferson movement for the last five years. In northern cities and along the roads, Jefferson signs and flags (a green field featuring a gold prospector’s pan with two Xs’s to represent the sense of being double-crossed by the rest of California) gently stand out or wave under many of the American flags, all on proud display throughout the region. Despite the left-wing tilt of Mendocino, Sonoma, and Marin counties, Jefferson residents are down-to-earth entrepreneurs, engineers, and invested farmers. They laugh about the differences between Humboldt County, with its commercial kush and tie-dyed shirts; and Siskiyou County, where lush, verdant pastures match the unofficial banner, and colorful sunsets greet the peaceful homesteaders. Jeffersonians vocally oppose commercial marijuana, too, as its illegal cultivation and distribution (despite the passage of pro-pot initiative Prop 64 in 2016) has caused violent crime and corruption to spike.
Hosted at the Bacigalupi Ranch—owned by husband Jerry and wife Donna with their daughter Debbie—I witnessed a new world in the same state, and I connected with hard-working conservative activists in their own right. I discovered that I wasn’t the only town mouse in a land that would please a country heart. Many Siskiyou County residents relocated to escape the expensive busyness of San Francisco and Los Angeles. Another woman relocated for health reasons. Other residents owned thriving businesses in the Bay Area, but they couldn’t stand the liberal politics any longer.
Republican leaders in the region joked that they had come to Northern California for an easy retirement, but now they face a new set of political fights. Bringing wealth and prosperity to Jefferson, they still chafe under the progressive tyranny of Sacramento, and it shows. Democratic Party micromanaging has wiped out a once-thriving timber industry. City markers from thirty years ago represent once-bustling communities which have all but disappeared or gone dormant. Welfarism and drug abuse have grown rapidly because of economic stagnation and political persecution. Jefferson farms feed the state and country, but in return the political class feeds off their money, work, and property. The Democratic leaders are now targeting their dams for full removal (read “destruction”), which would ruin farms, homes, and businesses along the Klamath River. All the “Damn the Dams!” talk has forced down property values and diminished hopes of relief within Jefferson.
Taking a tour of the Bacigalupi ranch, I learned directly about California’s burdens on the region’s ranchers. Jerry wanted to expand a man-made lake on his own property. He put off the project for one decade, then found out that project’s fee ballooned from $800 to $5000 a year. Frustrated, Jerry abandoned his development plans for his own property. Fortunately, Jeffersonians don’t take the government’s abuse lightly. Mark Baird, one of the leaders of the Jefferson movement, recounted how they defend their property. When Fish and Wildlife employees threatened any kind of overreach against his property, Baird responded: “Bring your gun. You’re going to need it.” Those officials never came back. This story inspired me as to how Jefferson residents can increase their autonomy. “Why not enact sanctuary for gun owners as Illinois has? Demand that your county supervisors pass a constitutional carry ordinance to counter Sacramento’s gun grabbing.” The residents liked the idea.
The best idea, of course, has been the Jefferson movement. With standing committees in twenty-one widespread counties, plus a pending federal lawsuit, the State of Jefferson is alive and kicking, reminding us of the eternal promises outlined in the Declaration of Independence: “Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.” Considering their efforts and successes, the name “Jefferson” is all the more fitting for this active, conservative region of California.
Thank You Mr Schaper and Townhall. Wishing these Jefferson Staters all the best but considering how hell-bent Moonbeam and Co. are on flipping off Federal Law it's doubtful even President Trump can bring them to heel. Might take the 2nd coming of Abe Lincoln.
Interim San Francisco Mayor Mark Farrell is reportedly willing to go to jail to ensure his city always remains a “sanctuary city.”
Farrell assured hundreds of amnesty activists last week who were blocking and protesting in front of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building that San Francisco will forever be a “sanctuary city.” He also, according to ABC7, “said he is willing to get arrested if that’s what it takes to defend sanctuary city policies,” echoing comments that Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf recently made.
The activists gathered to protest after ICE detained more than 200 illegal immigrants, nearly half of whom had criminal records, last week in various Bay Area raids. After Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf tipped off illegal immigrants that ICE would be conducting sweeps, Thomas Homan, the agency’s acting director, said on last week that more than 800 illegal immigrants remained at large in the community because of Schaaf’s “irresponsible decision.”
According to KTVU, the “Power, not Panic Emergency Response Committee” organized the emergency rally. The group is composed of entities like: the “ACLU, the Alameda County Immigration Legal and Education Partnership, Full Rights Equality & Empowerment SF, Contra Costa East Bay Interfaith Immigration Coalition, the Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network, Centro Legal de la Raza, the California Immigrant Policy Center.”
The activists had signs that read “ICE, go melt yourself,” “ICE out of CA,” “Stop Racist Deportations,” and “Sanctuary for All.” They also chanted “Shut down ICE.”
ICE said sanctuary cities like “San Francisco and Oakland force” the agency to “focus additional resources to conduct at-large arrests in the community, putting officers, the general public and aliens at greater risk and increasing the incidents of collateral arrests.” In 2015, an illegal immigrant who had been previously deported multiple times told authorities after he murdered Kate Steinle that he came to San Francisco because he knew it was a “sanctuary city.” Steinle’s tragic death allowed Donald Trump to make illegal immigration a national issue, which enabled him to surge to the front of the GOP field and never look back.
Earlier today, Leah
covered President Donald J. Trump’s graduation speech to new law
enforcement officers at the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia.
He lambasted a “dysfunctional immigration system” that allows in "the
worst of worst." Yet, President Trump’s comments on MS-13 gang members drew the most applause.
Referring to the “lottery system” President Trump said:
“You
think the country is giving us their best people? No,” he added,
referencing the lottery program. “What kind of a system is that? They
come in by lottery. They give us their worst people, they put them in a
bin, but in his hand when he’s picking him are really the worst of the
worst.
"Congratulations, you’re going the United States, ok? What a system."
Turning
to gang violence, he had a specific message for MS-13 gang members.
MS-13 is a violent El Salvadoran gang and drug cartel with a heavy
presence in the United States.
“To any member of
MS-13 listening, I have a message for you,” the President told the
officers and their families. “We will find you, we will arrest you, we
will jail you, we will throw you the hell out of the country," Trump
said.
"Somehow I like it better than jail," he said to applause.
"Jail, we have to take care of 'em. Who the hell wants to take care of
'em? You know the jail stuff is wonderful, but we have to pay for it,
right," he continued.
"We don't want 'em," adding, "We don't want
'em. They're getting out of here. Our cities should not be sanctuaries
for criminals. They should be sanctuaries for Americans."
In
May of 2017, Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 1,378 people
during a nationwide crime sweep known as "Operation New Dawn." This
operation was the largest of its kind. In Washington, D.C., authorities arrested 52 individuals that were gang members. However, 29 of those individuals were a part of MS-13. Thank You Mr Meads, Townhall, and President Trump.
(CNSNews.com) Binh Thai Luc, an illegal alien from Vietnam who had previously been incarcerated at San Quinten prison after committing an armed robbery in San Jose, was convicted on Monday of entering a home in San Francisco and murdering five people with a hammer.
“Prosecutors said Luc used a hammer to commit one of the worst mass homicides in modern San Francisco history, though the weapon was never found,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday.
The multiple murder took place on March 23, 2012. The jury arrived at its verdict yesterday after considering the case for seven days.
In 2014, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R.-Okla.) of Oklahoma introduced the “Keep Our Communities Safe Act," which would have ended the “catch-and-release” policy of letting illegal aliens go free in the United States when other countries will not accept them for deportation. At the time, Inhofe specifically cited Luc’s crime as the kind he was trying to stop.
“A Vietnamese immigrant, Binh Thai Luc, was ordered deported in 2006 after serving time in prison for armed robbery and assault,” said a press release Inhofe put out on June 11, 2014. “Due to the Supreme Court decision in Zadvydas v. Davis, Luc was released from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody when Vietnam refused to admit him. He is now facing charges for the murder of 5 people in San Francisco in March of 2012.”
“Before the killings, Luc was convicted in 1998 of committing an armed robbery at a Chinese restaurant in San Jose. After he served eight years in San Quentin State Prison, officials handed him over to federal immigration authorities for deportation back to his home country of Vietnam.
Vietnamese authorities, however, refused to provide Luc with travel documents, and he was released from custody as required by federal law.
“Prosecutors said Luc used a hammer to commit one of the worst mass homicides in modern San Francisco history, though the weapon was never found. The defendant was also found guilty of five counts of attempted robbery and two counts of burglary.”
Luc’s victims, as reported by the Associated Press, included a man and his wife, their daughter and son, and the son’s wife. Their names were Hua Shun Lei and Wan Yi Wu; Ying Xue Lei; Vincent Lei and Chia Huei Chu.
San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon did not seek the death penalty for Luc, according to the Chronicle. Instead, according to the paper, “he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.”
“He was released from San Quentin State Prison after serving eight years of his 11-year sentence, and was taken into federal custody for deportation back to his native Vietnam.
“But because Vietnamese authorities declined to take him back, he was released under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that undocumented immigrants must be freed within six months in such cases.”
The National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) came out in favor of the Department of Justice (DOJ) Thursday in Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s push to withhold funds from Chicago and other sanctuary cities.
The NSA — which represents more than 3,000 sheriffs nationwide — will file an amicus brief in support of the DOJ in ongoing litigation between Sessions and the city of Chicago, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned. Chicago sued the DOJ in August over his order to withhold certain funding grants from sanctuary cities, and the city won the case in September, but the DOJ has appealed the decision. Notably, the judge’s September ruling included a nationwide injunction on Sessions’s order, which effectively blocked funds from reaching non-sanctuary jurisdictions as well.
“The problem we have is not so much about sanctuary cities,” NSA Executive Director and CEO Jonathan Thompson told TheDCNF. “It’s that the political actions of one jurisdiction should never affect thousands of other counties. That’s what’s happening here and we find that objectionable.”
The actual federal grants involved are the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants. Chicago received $2.3 million in Byrne JAG funding in 2016 and has applied for $2.2 million in 2017.
The DOJ hopes to impose requirements that, in order to be eligible for funding, cities must share immigration status data with ICE officials, not bar ICE officials access to police stations, and give ICE officials 48 hours notice before releasing illegal immigrants from detainment.
Chicago argues the requirements are unconstitutional and that Sessions has no authority to impose them.
“The executive branch of the federal government may not arrogate to itself the powers that our Constitution reserves for Congress, on the one hand, or to state and local governments on the other,” the lawsuit claimed. “It may not concoct … sweeping new policy conditions that were never approved by Congress and that would federalize local jails and police stations.”
The NSA has until Dec. 15 to file an official amicus brief to the Seventh District Court.
It is an absolute travesty of justice that the former San Francisco DA's organization of Ca. Senator Kamala Harris acquitted this Illegal Alien of murder or manslaughter.
A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted the illegal immigrant killer of Kate Steinle on gun charges.
Jose Inez Garcia-Zarate admitted to the killing of Steinle in 2015, but said that the gun he found under a San Francisco bench went off accidentally. Last week, a jury found Garcia-Zarate guilty of felony possession, but not murder or involuntary manslaughter.
Garcia-Zarate, 54, will now face federal charges for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, as well as for being an illegally present alien in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Garcia-Zarate is a seven-time convicted felon and had been deported from the U.S. five times. The Mexican national was released from a San Francisco jail prior to the killing of Steinle, which led to a national outrage over sanctuary cities.
“The Kate Steinle killer came back and back over the weakly protected Obama border, always committing crimes and being violent, and yet this info was not used in court,” Trump tweeted Friday. “His exoneration is a complete travesty of justice. BUILD THE WALL!”
Thank You Mr Pfieffer, the DC, President Trump, and this particular Grand Jury.
(CNN) – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday signed a bill that would ban sanctuary cities in his state.
The bill, which Abbott could be seen signing on Facebook Live Sunday evening, establishes criminal and civil penalties for local government entities and law enforcement that don’t comply with immigration laws and detention requests, the governor’s office said.
The new measure would fine government entities up to $25,500 for each day the law is violated.
It would also result in a misdemeanor charge for sheriffs, police chiefs and constables who fail to comply with detention requests and in removal from office for elected and appointed officials, Abbott’s office said.
“As Governor, my top priority is public safety, and this bill furthers that objective by keeping dangerous criminals off our streets,” Abbott said in a press release. “It’s inexcusable to release individuals from jail that have been charged with heinous crimes like sexual assault against minors, domestic violence and robbery.”
Thank You Governor Abbott, CNN, and Zip. To those of you SJWs who've been run over by 'Mental Health' remember that former State Attorney General Abbott didn't just go after the ringleaders of TMAP (JNJ).
University of California President Janet Napolitano, former Secretary of the Orwellian Department of 'Homeland Security', . . . which there would be No excuse for even existing if it weren't for people such as UC President and former Sec of 'Homeland Security' Janet Napolitano.
Why on earth are we funding these Academic Cesspools?
By David Horowitz
There are now 500 sanctuary cities in the United States, virtually all Democratic, which are pledged not to cooperate with the Department of Homeland Security in its efforts to secure our borders, identify terrorists, and deport criminal aliens. California has taken the lead in this pernicious movement and is about to become the first sanctuary state. Moreover, every public California institution of higher learning has declared itself a “sanctuary campus” including the University of California whose president Janet Napolitano is a former Obama appointee to head the Department of Homeland Security itself. This is the most massive movement of sedition since the Civil War and is the centerpiece of the so-called “resistance” – itself a form of sedition in a democracy – that Democrats have mobilized against the Trump administration.
With its proposed budget, the Trump administration has taken the first step in dealing with this internal threat to American security by withdrawing federal funding for criminal municipalities and counties which are in open defiance of federal law. De-funding is a good first step but is not enough to counter-act the serious threat that the sanctuary movement poses to our nation’s security in the midst of the global war that Islamists have declared on us. What is needed is the prosecution of the criminal officials leading this movement. The Department of Justice needs to investigate and indict the mayors of these municipalities and the derelict presidents and chancellors of sanctuary campuses.
This week to support such an effort, the Freedom Center launched a campaign targeting 11 California schools in the UC and Cal State system. We are putting up “WANTED” posters featuring UC president Janet Napolitano and Cal State University Chancellor Timothy White. The posters call for them to be prosecuted for sedition and their campuses defunded. The posters are part of what will be a national campaign targeting university administrators who, in an effort to appease radical students and faculty, flagrantly break federal law and obstruct federal officials from protecting American citizens.
The Freedom Center’s “No Sanctuary Campuses” campaign began last month at UC Berkeley when Milo Yiannopolous was scheduled to launch our campaign but was prevented from speaking by leftwing fascists whose riot caused over $100,000 in property damage and resulted in serious injuries for several bystanders, while the Berkeley police looked on and did nothing.
Sanctuary campuses are not only part of a radical attack on America’s social, political, and educational establishment but a dagger aimed at the rule of law and the nation’s safety. The illegal immigrant’s first act on American soil is to break the most fundamental of U.S. laws. The administrators who make their schools sanctuaries are making that lawlessness part of the character and identity of our most important intellectual institutions. The Freedom Center’s campaign will move from California to the rest of the U.S, and hopefully inspire others to do the same. It will call out by name administrators such as Napolitano and White who defy federal immigration law and hopefully will galvanize trustees, alumni and attorneys general to resist this assault on our country and take action against these administrators. It will also make the case against sanctuary campuses to the American public whose taxes underwrite the UC and Cal State University systems and other schools across the country.
The “sanctuary movement” began as a concerted effort by left-wing administrations in major American cities to undermine the Patriot Act and make it more difficult for the Department of Homeland Security to ferret out terrorists and criminal aliens, and deport them. This movement has already led to murders and other crimes committed by illegal aliens to whom sanctuary cities give immunity and protection. But since the election of a president determined to rectify this untenable situation the left has doubled down and is now working to spread this seditious movement from our cities to our colleges and universities, and, in California, to make the entire state a sanctuary for foreign criminals.
The time has come for patriotic Americans to form their own resistance to the growing threat from within, orchestrated by the political left. The president is under incredible, unprecedented attack for his efforts to defend the republic from these threats. He needs help in the form of local movements to remove from office seditious officials running our cities and universities, who have been able to do so with no consequences for them until now. The time has come to make America secure again.
Thank You Ms Dogan, Mr. Horowitz and NoSanctuaryCampus.
The California Senate passed Senate Bill 54 on Monday,
barring state and local law enforcement agencies from using their
resources to help federal immigration authorities. Senate Bill 54, also
known as the “sanctuary state” bill, passed the Senate in a 27-12 vote,
CNN reported.
“Our precious local law enforcement resources will be squandered if
police are pulled from their duties to arrest otherwise law-abiding
maids, busboys, labors, mothers and fathers,” Senate President Pro Tem
Kevin de León, who authored the bill, said in a statement.
De León claimed the bill is “a rejection of President Trump’s false
and cynical portrayal of undocumented residents as a lawless community.” Keep reading…
Maybe we're wrong, but as far as we know, it's Illegal to order or force a Police Officer to disobey the law even if you are the Mayor. weaselzippers
Kudos to the NYPD for refusing to go along with the Mayor’s lawless sanctuary policies. Via Breitbart:
The New York Police Department is reportedly cooperating
with Immigration and Customs Enforcement despite a promise from Mayor
Bill de Blasio that it would maintain a sanctuary policy.
The NYPD supposedly alerts Immigration and Customs Enforcement
officers to criminal court appearances of illegal immigrants that are
subject to deportation, according to the New York Daily News.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a law into effect in 2014
that dramatically reduces New York City’s cooperation with ICE. The
policy prohibits law enforcement from honoring ICE detainer requests –
except for those convicted of “violent of serious crimes.”
Regardless, the NYPD will contact ICE if they discover that an
illegal immigrant is facing deportation while in the process of
verifying warrants against the defendant. David Gonzalez, 51, for example, had been previously deported but
re-entered the United States and face charges of allegedly “rubbing
against a woman.”
The City did not comply with an ICE order to detain Gonzalez, but
rather “notified ICE” of his arrest and after a judge released him, he
was immediately taken into federal custody.
Advocates for New York City to remain a “sanctuary city,” were
reportedly upset to learn that the NYPD is working with ICE, calling it
“collusion.”
The co-founder and deputy director of Queens Law Associates, Lori
Zeno, said, “I think it really is outrageous. We’re supposed to be a
sanctuary city … Cooperating with ICE is one thing … But to me they seem
to be in collusion with ICE.” Keep reading…
Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ announcement on Monday that the Justice Department will bar all sanctuary cities from receiving any grants or other federal funds from the department should be welcome news to Americans—especially those whose families have been victimized by criminal illegal aliens released by sanctuary cities like San Francisco.
As Sessions pointed out, Kate Steinle, a resident of San Francisco, was shot and killed two years ago by an illegal alien as a direct result of San Francisco’s policy of refusing to honor federal detainer warrants.
The killer, Francisco Sanchez, had seven previous felony convictions and the city released him from custody despite the fact that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had filed a detainer with San Francisco asking that he be kept in custody until immigration agents could pick him up.
Sanchez even admitted to a television reporter that the only reason he came to San Francisco was because of the city’s sanctuary policy.
Sessions also mentioned another such incident that happened just within the last two weeks.
According to the attorney general, Ever Valles, another illegal alien, was charged with the murder and robbery of a man at a light rail station.
The only reason he was on the street was because the city of Denver refused to honor a detainer that ICE had filed with the city and released him from the Denver jail in December.
Valles is just one of many such criminal aliens who are being loosed on the American public by the reckless policies of sanctuary cities.
ICE recently released the first of its weekly reports on cities that have refused to honor ICE detainer warrants, as mandated by President Donald Trump’s executive order, “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States.”
The report details all of the local jurisdictions across the country from Florida to New York to Washington state that refused ICE detainers from Jan. 28 to Feb. 3 and released criminals from their jails rather than turn them over to the federal government for deportation.
The crimes committed by these illegal aliens, as outlined in a report covering just a single week, include: domestic violence, arson, aggravated assault, burglary, forgery, intimidation, possession of a dangerous weapon, intimidation, drug trafficking, sexual assault, homicide, and a host of other crimes. This is also no surprise.
As I have outlined before, prior reports by the Government Accountability Office that have reviewed the criminal histories of illegal aliens in federal, state, and local jails show a path of destruction and repeated criminal behavior by criminal aliens that is truly shocking.
There are literally millions of Americans like Steinle who have been victimized by crimes committed by illegal aliens that should not have happened and would not have happened if we actually enforced our immigration laws and if local jurisdictions cooperated with federal authorities instead of trying to obstruct them.
Sessions said that the American people “are justifiably angry” about these sanctuary policies that endanger them. They understand something that irresponsible local officials don’t seem to care about: “When cities and states refuse to help enforce immigration laws, our nation is less safe.”
The failure to deport criminal aliens like Valles puts “whole communities at risk—especially immigrant communities in the very sanctuary jurisdictions that seek to protect the perpetrators.”
The amount of federal grant money at stake is more than $4.1 billion, which the Justice Department distributes through its Office of Justice Programs.
Sessions said that all jurisdictions applying for such grants will have to certify that they are in full compliance with 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1373, which bans local and state jurisdictions from prohibiting their employees—including law enforcement—from exchanging information with the federal government over the citizenship status of any individual.
The American people certainly agree with what Trump and Sessions are doing. Sessions cited a poll in which 80 percent of Americans agreed that illegal aliens arrested by cities should be turned over to immigration authorities.
Sessions urged state and city officials to “consider carefully the harm they are doing to their citizens by refusing to enforce our immigration laws, and to rethink these policies.”
Hopefully, the added incentive of losing access to billions of federal dollars will help them “rethink” their rash sanctuary policies.
Hans von Spakovsky is an authority on a wide range of issues—including civil rights, civil justice, the First Amendment, immigration, the rule of law and government reform—as a senior legal fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies and manager of the think tank’s Election Law Reform Initiative.
Editor's Note: This piece was originally published by The Daily Signal.
The question is not where we get people like this.
The question is why we allow them to get away with making everyone else's life a living hell, on the backs of everyone else's labor.
The people of California are actually Forced to Pay this idiot to enshrine these square peg in a round hole utterances topervert their Legal System into a giant Pretzel Logic Clusterfail.
San Francisco’s City Council considered a bill Tuesday that will ban the city from doing business with U.S. contracting companies that want to do work on President Donald Trump’s border wall.
According to Fox KTVU, San Francisco Supervisor Hillary Ronen introduced legislation that would prohibit any company contracted to build the southern border wall from bidding on any future San Francisco city contracts.
“Stick to building bridges, not walls,” Ronen said at an event Tuesday with Oakland City Councilman Abel Guillen and Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin.
In an attempt to pressure two construction companies with San Francisco contracts, Hensel Phelps Construction Co. and the Tutor Perini Corporation, to withdraw from their planned work on the border wall, Rosen named the two firms in her remarks.
“By introducing this legislation, we are moving beyond symbolic protest and making it clear to companies interested in doing business with San Francisco, that we expect those companies to uphold basic principles of compassion and dedication to human rights,” Ronen said.
That famous golden spike takes on a whole new meaning with the
nearly 1 billion dollar rail to nowhere contract that clocks in at a
truly golden 35 million dollars per mile.
And
its recipient, Mr. Diane Feinstein owner of Tutor Perini, just happens
to sit in a warm position near the top of the state's political heap.
The
Perini-Zachary-Parsons bid was the lowest received from the five
consortia participating in the bidding process, but “low” is a relative
term. The firms bid $985,142,530 to build the wildly anticipated first
section of high speed rail track that will tie the megopolis of Madera
to the global finance center of Fresno. Do the division, and you find
that the low bid came in at a mere $35 million per mile.
And that
doesn’t include the cost of rolling stock (that’s engines and cars to
the normal among us). Nor does it include the cost of electrifying the
route. Does it at least include the cost of land acquisition? No, it
does not.
As this fiasco progress, remember that this $35 million
per mile represents the best California can do on the section of track
the High on Crack Speed Rail Authority selected to go first because it
will be the cheapest.
But at least that 35 million per mile will be the end of it. It's not
like Diane Feinstein's better/worse half's company has a history of
fraud and overspending.
According to the Seattle News
some of the Perini headlines read: “In February, Tutor-Saliba and
Perini agreed to pay $19 million to settle racketeering and fraud
allegations in a San Francisco airport project.” … “The companies are
embroiled in an 11 – year legal battle over $16 million in extra costs
on a Los Angeles subway job.”
Who could have thought
this would happen under the responsible and honest stewardship of
Governor Moonbeam and his gang of unions?
The
Construction Industry has a bad reputation. That reputation is well
earned as we are constantly being informed of fraud, cost overruns and
safety violations related to big and small construction projects at a
relentless and never ending rate. So it was apropos when the federal
government along with the State of New York decided to come up with a
crime busting taskforce aimed at the construction activity within the
region. They knew they were going after the five Mafia families but they
also ended up with a big catch outside the typical organized crime
membership. They took the “scalp” of the gigantic firm known as Tutor
Perini.
The
taskforce was comprised of members from Department of Justice, IRS, US
Dept. of Transportation, Office of State Inspector General, and US Dept.
of Labor and New York City of Transportation. According to the New York
US Attorney’s office: “Following a four-week trial, a federal jury in
Brooklyn yesterday (March 9, 2011) found Zohrab B. Marashlian, the
former president of Perini Corp.’s Civil Division, an international
construction services corporation, guilty of fraud and conspiracy to
launder money. The charges arose out of Marashlian’s false
representation to New York government agencies that Disadvantaged
Business Entities (DBE’s) were performing work in connection with major
public works contracts, when, in reality, Marashlian had
non-disadvantaged businesses favored by Perini Corp. do the work.” Tutor
Perini paid Marashlian $14 million in salary while all this was going
on. Two days before Marashlian was to receive a multi-year prison
sentence he committed suicide. A fellow employee is currently doing a
long prison term for the same case. Perini
has been caught doing such things over and over again. They are
absolutely ridiculous in California projects. It is like DBE fronting is
a part of its business model. Overall fraud appears to be a part of
that model also. According to the Seattle News some of the Perini
headlines read: “In February, Tutor-Saliba and Perini agreed to pay $19
million to settle racketeering and fraud allegations in a San Francisco
airport project.” “In 2004, Perini agreed to pay the federal government
$998,500 to settle fraud claims in the construction of an embassy
building in Venezuela.” “The companies are embroiled in an 11 – year
legal battle over $16 million in extra costs on a Los Angeles subway
job.” “Perini sued for more than $170 million in cost overruns on three
New York City projects during the 1990s before settling for about $22
million.”
Any Black
owned firm doing any of the above would be permanently banned from
doing anymore federal contracting. But Perini? Oh no, it has actually
grown exponentially in the government contracting field. How can this
be? Well, the principal owner of Tutor Perini is Richard Blum, the
husband of US Senator Dianne Feinstein (D – CA.) who serves on the
Senate Armed Services Committee which oversees the Dept. of Defense.
Since joining the US Senate, Senator Feinstein and her husband have
enjoyed billions of dollars in defense contracts. She voted for the
Afghanistan War and their company is rolling in contracts directly
related to the war right now. She voted for the Iraq war and their
company has been rolling in Iraqi contracts ever since. American
soldiers die and the Senator and her husband prosper handsomely and with
reckless abandon. It got so ridiculous that when she became the Chair
of the Armed Services Committee even her counterparts said that’s
enough! It is bad enough that all this is apparent but do you have to be
“Chair” while all this is going on? So, she stepped down from her Chair
seat but is still on the committee and the dollars continue to roll in
at an ever growing pace.
She voted
for the Stimulus Bill and Perini was showered with more federally
funded contracts. President Obama even participated in this one. He
kicked off the highway contracts from his Stimulus Bill with a press
conference at a highway construction site in Virginia. There he was
showing the world what the Stimulus money was doing in kicking off this
major highway project. The contractor he put on display was Cherry Hill
Construction. Who owns Cherry Hill Construction? Tutor Perini! There is
just no shame.
Wait, it
gets worse. The Minority Business Development Agency (US Dept. of
Commerce) has organized a public relations program that touts “MBDA
Unveils First U.S. Global Construction Program for Minority-Owned
Firms”. That sounds incredibly good. Incredible is the correct term as
the instructor of the program is none other than Tutor Perini. Can you
believe it! Sending minority firms for instruction by Tutor Perini is
like sending maidens to a brothel – something real bad is going to
happen.
The above is certainly our business as every penny of the abuse and waste is our tax money. We need to clean this up.
And we would like to personally Thank Mr. Alford for handing Sen Barbara Boxer (D-Ca.) her "You're Black! How Dare You Try To Jump Off the Democrat Plantation!" to wear for a hat, before Congress.
It's a wonder she didn't use the word "uppity" too.
Via Fox News: San Francisco has taken its defiance of the feds to a new level, ending its cooperation with the FBI in an anti-terror initiative begun after 9/11 – a move crtitics say could get innocent people killed.
Critics say the sanctuary city by the bay’s latest decision to forego cooperation with Washington, by dropping out of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, could put lives at risk. The JTTF has been credited with foiling 93 Islamist terrorist attacks and plots against the U.S. since 2001, including 12 this year, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Heritage Foundation. There are another 1,000 investigations into suspected terror activity nationwide.
These staggering statistics make the recent decision by the San Francisco police department to end the city’s partnership with the JTTF, at the behest of local activist groups that alleged Arabs and Muslims are wrongly targeted by the FBI and will be more so under the Trump administration, all the more concerning, said retired federal law enforcement officials.
“In my opinion, the decision by the mayor and the police chief to withdraw the San Francisco Police Department from the JTTF is really narrow-minded,” said Mark Rossini, a retired FBI special agent, and founding executive of the National Counterterrorism Center, who served as a representative to the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center. “Politics aside, and the mayor and leaders of San Francisco have their right to their opinion, political opinion and beliefs. But when you’re working in law enforcement, law enforcement should know no politics.”
The FBI leads the 104 Joint Terrorism Task Force units across the country, but the majority of intelligence about crime and terror comes from local sources, said Claude Arnold, a former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations, who worked in California.
“There is less chance of uncovering networks, plots, missing pieces of a puzzle, without cities participating in the JTTF,” Arnold said.
San Francisco police have dozens of undercover agents and contacts in immigrant communities helpful to federal law enforcement investigations. Conversely, two San Francisco police are federally deputized for the JTTF, and as a result have access to classified intelligence.
“Information must flow both ways in these cases,” Rossini said. “By San Francisco pulling out, you’re losing that vital link of data that the FBI and the other federal agencies and the Department of Justice will need in order to complete its cases and investigate them thoroughly.”
In testimony provided before the California Senate's Public Safety
Committee, Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De Leon (D-Los Angeles)
decided to admit that "half of his family" is residing in the
United States illegally and with the possession of falsified Social
Security Cards and green cards. Lest you think we're exaggerating, here is the exact quote:
"…I can tell you half of my family would be eligible for deportation under [President Donald Trump’s] executive order, because if they got a false Social Security card, if they got a false identification, if they got a false driver’s license prior to us passing AB60, if they got a false green card, and anyone who has family members, you know, who are undocumented knows that almost entirely everybody has secured some sort of false identification. That’s what you need to survive, to work. They are eligible for massive deportation."
The quote came from a hearing being held on SB54, a California Senate
bill that was introduced by De Leon that would make the entire state of
California a "Sanctuary State" (we discussed SB54 here: "California Considering Legislation To Become First Ever Sanctuary State"). Fast forward to the 1:27:00 mark for the relevant comments from De Leon:
Of course, in a follow-up interview with Larry Mantle of KPCC,
De Leon was pressed but minimized the problems associated with not only
illegally crossing the border but also committing multiple other
federal crimes related to identity theft...sure, what's the big deal? Per Breitbart:
Meanwhile, Trump blasted California's "Sanctuary State" bill last
night during an interview with O'Reilly saying that he doesn't "want to
defund anybody" but failure to enforce federal laws would require
defunding to be used as a "weapon."
“I think it’s ridiculous — sanctuary cities. As you know I’m
very much opposed to sanctuary cities. They breed crime. There’s a lot
of problems,” Trump said. “If we have to we’ll defund. We give tremendous amounts of
money to California. California in many ways is out of control.
Obviously the voters agree. Otherwise they wouldn’t have voted for me,” the president added. “So defunding is your weapon of choice —” O’Reilly followed up. “Well, it’s a weapon. I don’t want to defund a state or a city,” Trump replied. “But you’re willing to do it?” O’Reilly asked again. “I don’t want to defund anybody. I want to give them the
money they need to properly operate as a city or state. If they’re going
to have sanctuary cities, we may have to do that. Certainly, that would
be a weapon,” Trump said.
Fast forward to the 4:50 mark for the relevant exchange: Can someone please explain at what exact point in American history it
became perfectly acceptable for an elected official to admit publicly
that "half" of his family has committed numerous federal crimes
including multiple counts of identity theft and falsification of federal
records?
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he expects the Legislature to pass an anti-sanctuary city bill this year, opening a new front in the battle over “local control.”
Weighing in on the intensifying national immigration debate, the Republican governor pledged to sign S.B. 4, which would require municipalities to enforce migrant detainers at local jails and withhold state grants if they don’t comply.
“I will work with the Legislature to compel government bodies and employees to live up to their oath of office,” Abbott declared.
Cities, counties, or universities that violate the law will face a “multitude of consequence, ranging from financial penalties to removal from office,” the former state attorney general said.
Abbott, who has clashed with Sheriff Lupe Valdez over sanctuary policies in Dallas County, took aim at newly elected Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez, who vowed to remove Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from the Austin jail.
“It’s erroneous to have an attitude that laws are like some big buffet where you can choose one item and ignore other items,” Abbott said, referring to sanctuary cities and campuses.
Federal law states: “A federal, state, or local government entity or official may not prohibit, or in any way restrict, any government entity or official from sending to, or receiving from, the Immigration and Naturalization Service [now ICE] information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any citizen.”
Responding to reports of crimes committed by illegal immigrants—some of them after multiple deportation—Hernandez told The Texas Tribune: “I just don’t think you solve the criminal justice process by deporting them. We talk about being progressive. I believe we need to lead the way.”
