Author Topic: Homeland Security, Border, sabotage of energy, transportation, environment  (Read 982782 times)

Crafty_Dog

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This leads to this leads to this
« Reply #2650 on: December 28, 2022, 07:24:09 PM »
https://dailycaller.com/2022/12/28/immigration-and-customs-enforcement-illegal-immigration/?utm_source=piano&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking&pnespid=uat2CXQfJbIe06Gd.m6wSp2VuUmrCcd2Pemx2PN5rAdmrmfYN2FOELTiWTW0gqb_2igOR7rm&fbclid=IwAR32SjYT3sK-kOvO7OIefGv-TCBNR4KMQNF6qCPdtW5u_a26AyI6MEj_XVs

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https://dailycaller.com/2022/12/28/southern-border-illegal-immigration-wyoming-crime/?utm_medium=email&pnespid=6bU8BSVEP.0civ.N_mvpEpjSv0izVpJzI.Sl07tj8wxmTl0SamkUhJo4NPToE8BQGRDH9vNV


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https://dailycaller.com/2022/12/27/joe-biden-asylum-illegal-immigration/?utm_medium=email&pnespid=rOV_DyBAP6Uf36PZrzvsA5fSoBjxT54oKvXjyPt2oANm.uIhF0BS5GlEtTsXAlhi27FCtRbR

There are a record number of asylum cases backlogging U.S. immigration courts under President Joe Biden, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).

There are roughly 1.6 million asylum cases, a record number, backlogging the system, according to TRAC, which analyzes and compiles government data. The wait times for court appearances have increased to an average of 4.3 years nationwide, TRAC reported.

Those waiting the longest for their court proceedings are in Omaha, Nebraska, where the average wait time is 2,168 days.


The new high for the Biden administration comes following a record year for migrant encounters at the southern border.U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered more than 2.3 million migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2022. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: ‘Unacceptable’: Texas GOP Rep Demands Mayorkas Answer To Data ‘Miscalculations’ After DCNF Reports)

“Asylum backlogs are not new (as TRAC has shown many times), since the number of people requesting the type of protection that asylum provides has typically exceeded the capacity of government agencies to process applications quickly and fairly. Yet in recent years, with political, economic, and environmental instability in places like Mexico, Venezuela, Haiti, Central America, Ukraine, and elsewhere, the United States has seen a growth in migrants’ needs that outpace even the growing number of Immigration Judges and asylum officers added by both Democratic and Republican administrations,” TRAC noted.


(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

In fiscal year 2012, there were over 10,000 asylum cases, according to TRAC. That number increased to 750,000 in fiscal year 2022.


Those seeking asylum come from 219 different countries, according to TRAC. But nearly 60% of applicants come from only five countries that include Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico and Venezuela.

Roughly 30% of those seeking asylum are children, according to TRAC. There have been large increases in the number of asylum cases in Florida and Massachusetts recently, TRAC reported.

“The shifting composition of nationalities reflects not just the volume of individuals arriving at our borders seeking asylum, but the country’s policies and practices of which nationalities are being allowed to actually enter the U.S. and seek asylum. Asylum seekers from the Northern Triangle countries and Mexico were usually immediately turned away under Title 42 and not allowed to enter and seek asylum. The Biden administration has created some exceptions to this policy, exceptions that have been structured by nationality,” TRAC noted.



In March, the Biden administration implemented a rule to hire asylum officers to vet claims before illegal immigrants went to court to address the backlog. Additionally, it added Venezuelans to the list of several nationalities that can be expelled under Title 42, a Trump-era public health order used to expel certain illegal immigrants to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, in October.

Asylum officers can approve or deny claims. If a case is denied, an immigration judge can overrule the denial, according to TRAC. Some asylum seekers are brought first to an immigration judge if they were previously apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or processed for expedited removal.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Crafty_Dog

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Tijuana-San Diego Airport
« Reply #2651 on: December 30, 2022, 08:38:40 AM »
https://mexiconewsdaily.com/travel/san-diego-and-tijuana-a-vanishing-border/?utm_source=MND%20mail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MNT&pnespid=s6B9GnpZbaVD2PKbpSuqHc7Qoku0DJorPOynxexstgZmrOSsu3MDi5WKM4c1nhkwoXIfmEcY

San Diego and Tijuana: a vanishing border?
Marko Ayling
Marko Ayling
December 29, 2022
0

Aerial view of the San Diego-Tijuana metropolitan region. (Wikimedia Commons)

Whenever I travel from Mexico City to my hometown of San Diego, I always fly through the Tijuana International Airport. I take advantage of something that few travelers know: it extends to the U.S. side of the border.

It is built right against the border wall and a sealed bridge travels up and over the physical fence, allowing quick and affordable travel between San Diego and Mexico.

I’m sharing this for a few reasons.

First, it’s a massive travel hack.

If you’re traveling between Southern California and Mexico, it almost always saves you money (it’s a domestic flight within Mexico) and time, thanks to highly expedited customs and immigration cooperation. And with the surging cost of air travel, the savings add up.

Cross-border X-press in Tijuana International Airport
The Cross-Border X-press that connects Tijuana International Airport with San Diego, California is a testament to how many people move back and forth between the Mexico-U.S. border daily and how the two cities are slowly becoming one entity. (Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico)
Secondly, the Tijuana airport connects to 39 destinations within Mexico, making it easy to fly direct to many airports not serviced by LAX or San Diego. It also has direct flights to China and Japan, a byproduct of the city’s many maquiladoras (export-focused factories for foreign companies, many of which are Asian).


But more importantly, it’s a bright star in the often rocky relationship between my countries of birth and residence, an area of cooperation that has advanced despite (and during) surging nationalism and an example of how San Diego and Tijuana are increasingly becoming a single city separated by a shared border.

In fact, San Diego-Tijuana is one of the world’s largest binational metropolitan areas, with a combined population of 5 million people. And as I witness the ties deepen between Mexico City and other North American cities, my hometown is an example of cutting-edge bilateral collaboration.

Many of the following facts are pulled from the excellent book, “Vanishing Frontiers: The Forces Driving Mexico and the United States Together” by journalist Andrew Selee. The first chapter is dedicated to SD/TJ, which warmed my heart and inspired this article.

The cross-border airport (called Cross Border Express, or CBX) came about when San Diego city planners were looking to expand our airport, which is wedged between downtown and the harbor and constrained to a single runway. This has limited the city’s economic expansion, as larger planes can’t land here. But Tijuana International Airport has much more runway space and capacity for planes large enough to cross the Pacific.

So instead of expanding or relocating San Diego’s airport, they simply built a bridge over the border straight into the Tijuana Airport. Now San Diegans can check into their flight on the U.S. side, breeze through customs and be eating Ensenada-style tacos in Tijuana 20 minutes later.

For Mexicans, the American terminal has car rental agencies; shuttles taking you as far as Disneyland, Los Angeles, Arizona, and Las Vegas; and a relatively smooth immigration experience. It’s also right next door to the Otay Mesa outlet malls for bargain shopping.


CBX was funded by private investors, who took a gamble on the concept. But it’s been a huge hit.

Groundbreaking of SR11/Otay Mesa East Port of Entry project in Aug. 2022
The SR11/Otay Mesa East Port of Entry project, which broke ground on Aug. 22 and will be a new border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana, is just one of many binational projects collaborated on between the two cities. (Photo: SANDAG/Twitter)
I used it shortly after its opening in 2015 on my first trip to Mexico City. Since moving here, it’s become the only way I travel to California. And from what I have witnessed, it’s a common way for Mexican immigrants to visit family back home.

During my recent trip, I was surprised to enter a completely remodeled terminal that was even faster and easier than the previous one. The upgraded terminal cost 2 billion pesos (US $102.5 million) and is 83% bigger, has 75% more capacity and 25% more immigration processing lines.

And with plans to expand service in Asia and Latin America, it’s an example of how the cities are fusing into a major economic region.

After a couple of years of shuttling between Mexico City and San Diego, I’ve come to appreciate these connections even more. It’s no surprise that both San Diego and Tijuana have some of the best craft beer in their respective countries — brewers frequently cross the border to swap recipes. And while Americans fly to CDMX to eat at award-winning restaurants like Pujol or Contramar, the city’s top chefs are building outposts in New York and Los Angeles.

Some other examples include how maquiladoras increasingly send goods back and forth across the border during different stages of production, how the La Rumorosa wind farm east of Tijuana produces green energy for San Diego Gas and Electric, and how the entire state of Baja California is connected to the U.S. power grid — not Mexico’s.

More importantly, the percentage of San Diegans who say their city’s future is closely tied to that of Tijuana has gone up from 9% in 2012 to over 70% now.

But clearly, challenges remain. For too many, the border is still an all-too-real barrier. There are many Mexicans (and other nationals) who are unable to cross the border in pursuit of the American dream. And while these stymied immigrants often settle in Tijuana and enrich the local culture (especially the food), it’s impossible to ignore how much easier it is to travel south than north.

And despite Mexico City’s explosive popularity with millennials, many Americans continue to view the country as a source of violence and unwanted problems, even as Aeroméxico trolls such bigotry in this viral ad from 2018:



Nevertheless, in an era when so many call for more walls, it’s refreshing to see bridges being built between cultures.

This article was originally published on The Missive on Substack. Minor editorial changes have been made to the original.
Marko Ayling is a life-long traveler and the creator and host of Vagabrothers, one of the most trusted and popular travel shows on YouTube, with 1M+ subscribers worldwide. He now writes “The Missive” on Substack, a weekly dispatch of travel tales, reading recommendations, and curated cultural recommendation

Crafty_Dog

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Treason
« Reply #2652 on: December 30, 2022, 04:10:42 PM »





Crafty_Dog

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Entire Guatemalan town emptied
« Reply #2657 on: January 07, 2023, 08:20:30 PM »

Crafty_Dog

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AMcC: Biden's Parole Scam
« Reply #2658 on: January 07, 2023, 08:22:59 PM »
Biden’s Immigration ‘Parole’ Scam
By ANDREW C. MCCARTHY
January 7, 2023 6:30 AM

Biden is willfully failing to execute the laws faithfully when it comes to illegal immigration.

We must have a “safe, orderly, and humane processing” of “migrants” seeking to enter the United States. Prepare to hear that a lot, particularly on Sunday at President Biden’s drive-by in El Paso. It’s the new Biden administration mantra. If you hear it often enough, Biden hopes you’ll pass into just the right detached, transcendental state — the state that seems to befall him now and again (and again . . . and again . . .). That way, you might not notice that Congress has already enacted into federal law the “safe, orderly, and humane process” for aliens who enter our country in violation of our laws.

It’s called detention.

Last weekend, I urged that the House impeach Biden over the security catastrophe he has willfully created at the southern border. In just the last two months, for example, over 600,000 illegal aliens — oh, sorry, migrants — have been apprehended. And mind you, that doesn’t count another 200,000-plus “got aways,” who’ve snuck in without being captured because Biden won’t provide adequate enforcement resources. As anger over his non-enforcement policy mounts, Biden is now trying to hoodwink the country into believing that he is getting tough on illegal-alien entries, despite two years of aiding and abetting millions of them. That is what tomorrow’s theater in El Paso is about. It’s why on Thursday, Biden announced a new policy, dramatically warning Latin America that aliens who show up at the border without legal authorization to enter will be denied the opportunity to apply for asylum.

On cue, the media-Democrat complex shrieked and blubbered about how very distressing it all is to “human-rights organizations.” But it’s a scam, and they’re in on it. The monitory tone of the coverage is misdirection. Buried deeper in the reporting is an alternative illegal-entry route the administration is pedaling — softly and disingenuously when addressing the American people, but loud and clear south of the border.


Biden and his factotum, Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, are telling aliens the world over who want to come to the United States that they just need to let us know they’re coming ahead of time. For this, they just need to use an app or avail themselves of various hubs in Mexico (and elsewhere, to be sure). The idea is that Biden will then purport to grant them parole before they get to the border. The fiction is that this way, when the alien hordes later show up at the border, they won’t be “without legal authorization” anymore. The parole decreed by the chief executive will be treated as if it were a visa granted under legitimate American law.

“Wait a second,” you’re thinking, “hasn’t Biden already been paroling hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens?” Yes, he has. But see, the parole has been happening after the aliens get “encountered” at the border. (Encounter is a euphemism that the government employs because it doesn’t want to say arrest — that, after all, would imply detention, which the government is not doing, though the law requires it.)

Biden’s Useless Border Posturing
The Biden administration doesn’t want to do the parole post-encounter anymore. Is that because of our national-security problem? Don’t be silly: It’s because of Biden’s embarrassing political problem.

If the parole happens after the encounter, then the alien gets counted as a “migrant” who has been captured trying to enter illegally. With these illegal-alien arrest numbers now racing past 300,000 a month, Biden is on pace to exceed, by leaps and bounds, the 2.3 million “encountered” in fiscal year 2022 (which ended last September and thus doesn’t count the nearly 1 million more since then). As if this were not a bad enough look, Biden then presumes to parole a goodly chunk of these “migrants” into the country. Government reports must thus reflect the dreaded “capture and release” of illegal aliens by the million.

To address this political embarrassment, Biden has concocted a form of what we might call “migrant laundering.” The illegal aliens will now apply for parole before they get here, so that when they arrive at the border — voila! — they are no longer illegal; they’ll have their Biden parole codes. Border agents (the Welcoming Committee) will find the code right there on the app, perhaps loaded onto one of those cellphones illegal aliens are given gratis, courtesy of Uncle Sam (a.k.a the American taxpayer). That means there will no longer be reason to count these aliens in government stats as illegals caught at the border and then released onto our streets. You’re to conclude that the aliens are no longer illegal because they have Biden administration parole authorization, as if that were the same thing as authorization under the laws of the United States.

The result: The administration will tell us that there has been a dramatic decline in the number of “migrants” “encountered” each month while trying to cross the border “without authorization.” Sure, the exact same thing that was happening before will still be happening: Wave after wave of illegal aliens will arrive at the border and be ushered into the country. But we’ll be told that because “encounters” are down, the president has “solved” the border crisis — even as it further metastasizes when Title 42 is rescinded.

Needless to say, this is illegal. It is both a gross violation of the narrow, statutory parole authority Congress has granted the executive branch for decades, and an unconstitutional usurpation by the president of Congress’s power to set the conditions for lawful entry into the United States. In impeachment parlance, Biden is willfully failing to execute the laws faithfully, and rather than preserving the Constitution as his oath requires, he is shredding it.

As we’ve repeatedly observed, Congress has been crystal clear that aliens who enter the country illegally, or are arrested trying to, “shall be detained” until any legal proceedings are concluded. And, since the vast majority of illegal aliens have no viable claims of a right to enter and remain in our country if they have not gone through our generous legal-immigration process, Congress has provided for deportation forthwith. As Biden officials bang on about the need for “safe, orderly, and humane processing” of “migrants,” understand: It’s not like Congress never considered due process for illegal aliens. To the contrary, lawmakers considered it very carefully. Quite rationally, they decided that the processes of detention and rapid deportation were not merely safe, orderly, and humane but also the best way to discourage aliens from making the often-perilous journey to the United States. There is nothing humane about a policy, such as Biden’s, that encourages the unspeakable horrors of human trafficking.

Naturally, emergency situations do arise. An alien at the border may have a heart attack or other health exigency that requires emergency medical treatment. The Justice Department may need the testimony of an alien in a terrorism or organized-crime prosecution. Or there could be an earthquake or a war as a result of which, for humanitarian and diplomatic reasons, it is in the national interest to temporarily admit some aliens until the crisis eases. For such reasons, Congress gave the executive narrow parole authority, only to be invoked in cases of true emergency, and only on a case-by-case basis — i.e., not as a pretext to grant admission and de facto amnesty to broad categories of aliens whose entry and presence in the country has not been authorized by Congress.

The Obama-Biden administration blew out the parole limitations in 2009. The consequences have been disastrous. Before then, it was the rare alien who asserted a fear of persecution because such claims were so routinely denied. But now, aliens and smuggling networks know that “migrants” who say those magic words will be paroled into the United States and, in all probability, never kicked out. That’s why they’re coming in droves now. And of course, transnational progressives believe, regardless of what our law says, that our obligation is to roll out the red carpet and ensure that “migrants” have a “safe, orderly, humane process” for positing whatever bogus claim they can conjure up — even as aliens who try to play by the rules of our legal immigration system wait in line.

For a change, I will end this weekend rant with a silver lining. For all the hullaballoo about Biden’s finally deigning to eyeball the catastrophe he has wrought this weekend, the most significant development in the next few days will be the start, on Monday, of a federal trial in Pensacola.

Florida, in a lawsuit brought by state attorney general Ashley Moody, a key ally of Governor Ron DeSantis, has challenged Biden’s mass-paroling of illegal aliens as a violation of the Constitution and federal statutory law. The presiding judge is Thomas Kent Wetherell II, formerly a state appellate judge and deputy solicitor general, who was appointed to the federal bench in 2019 by then-president Donald Trump — whose border-security measures Biden has recklessly dismantled. In May, Judge Wetherell denied the motion of the defendants — the Biden administration — to dismiss Florida’s lawsuit, writing:

Suffice it to say the court is wholly unpersuaded by defendants’ position that they have unfettered discretion to determine how (or if) to comply with the immigration statutes and that there is nothing that Florida or this court can do about their policies even if they contravene the immigration statutes.

Sounds like this trial could be more consistent with what most Americans think of as a safe, orderly, and humane process.

ccp

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Re: Homeland Security, Border Protection, and American Freedom
« Reply #2659 on: January 07, 2023, 09:12:58 PM »
**On cue, the media-Democrat complex shrieked and blubbered about how very distressing it all is to “human-rights organizations.”**

And on cue the NYT WP MSNBC PBS NPR CNN ABC NBC CBS LSD PCP will all report that Biden is clamping down on immigration

but he can't fix it entirely till Republicans agree to reform (amnesty for 30 million)
and easier for another 30 million to come in later.

3 card monte bullshit


Crafty_Dog

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Re: Homeland Security, Border Protection, and American Freedom
« Reply #2660 on: January 08, 2023, 09:11:03 AM »
"3 card monte bullshit"

Exactly so.

DougMacG

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Crafty_Dog

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Re: Homeland Security, Border Protection, and American Freedom (energy grid too)
« Reply #2662 on: January 09, 2023, 08:10:06 AM »
I have added Energy Grid to the thread's name.

Crafty_Dog

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PP: Biden's plan to El Paso the Buck
« Reply #2663 on: January 09, 2023, 09:08:12 AM »
Biden's Plan to El Paso the Buck
A three-hour photo op at the border doesn't change the president's deceptive plan to "fix" the border crisis.

Nate Jackson


Joe Biden and his DHS sidekick Alejandro Mayorkas traveled to El Paso over the weekend to pretend to care about border security for three whole hours. That was fresh after giving a speech last Thursday in which he claimed he's going to fix the crisis by ... offering a plan to make it worse. He begins a summit in Mexico City with other North American leaders today on the topic of migrants.

"Biden Visits Southern Border Amid Fresh Crackdown on Migrants," reads The New York Times headline. What "crackdown" would that be? Perhaps the scribes at the Times read a different speech or plan than we did. What Biden actually promised is that he'd drastically increase the number of asylum slots — all migrants from four particular countries have to do is let the U.S. know they're coming — so as to put a patina of legitimacy on the current surge at the border.

The Times is complicit in the left-wing propaganda, reporting that "Democrats and human rights activists condemned his new enforcement plan as a 'humanitarian disgrace.'" The Times wants you to think that means some sort of crackdown. In reality, leftist complaints are all part of the show. Biden needs them to cover for the fact that he is proposing what Andrew McCarthy calls "migrant laundering."

What's Biden's plan to address the record 2.2 million arrests at the border last fiscal year? Or the minimum five million who've crossed illegally since he took office? He'll simply reduce the number of Border Patrol "encounters" with illegal aliens by making those aliens "legal" before they ever arrive. It's duplicitous and deceptive, and it'll yield even more flouting of U.S. immigration law than the millions of illegals over the past two years have done.

Mayorkas gave the game away by saying the president's policies will "incentivize a safe and orderly way and cut out the smuggling organizations." Key word: incentivize.

Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott, for one, is having none of it. "This [visit] is all for show," Abbott argued. Indeed it is. Adding that it's a "sanitized" itinerary, Abbott noted that Biden specifically "avoids the sites where mass illegal immigration occurs and sidesteps the thousands of angry Texas property owners whose lives have been destroyed by your border policies." Illegal border crossings are up 260% in the El Paso Sector over the last fiscal year, but it sees only a tiny fraction of the problem.

Given that Biden caused the crisis, Abbott said the visit is "two years and about $20 billion too late." Nevertheless, he met Biden as the president disembarked Air Force One and handed him a blistering letter.

"All of this is happening because you have violated your constitutional obligation to defend the States against invasion through faithful execution of federal laws," Abbott wrote Biden. "You must," he added, "comply" with the law regarding detention and paroling aliens, "stop sandbagging" enforcement provisions like Remain in Mexico and other expulsions, "aggressively prosecute illegal entry between ports of entry," follow the law and congressional appropriations and "immediately resume construction of the border wall" in Texas, and, finally, "designate the Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations."

Abbott and other governors along the Mexican border represent the American citizens on the front lines of Biden's intentional invasion. They have every right to be outraged by Biden's dereliction of duty, and no three-hour photo op at the border is going to fix that. Neither is slapping the "legal" label on every border crosser and announcing "problem solved."

Crafty_Dog

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WSJ: O'Grady: Biden bows to Venezuelan blackmail
« Reply #2664 on: January 09, 2023, 04:33:16 PM »
Biden Bows to Blackmail on Migrants
The administration rewards Venezuelan trafficking with 30,000 new visas.
Mary Anastasia O’Grady hedcutBy Mary Anastasia O’GradyFollow
Jan. 8, 2023 5:19 pm ET


The Cuban military dictatorship has unleashed three destabilizing rafter crises since taking power in 1959. They occurred in 1965, 1980 and 1994-95, all years when a Democrat was in the White House. During the Obama administration, more than 120,000 Cuban migrants found their way to U.S. ports of entry from 2014-16, mainly via Central America.

There was no attempt by Fidel Castro to flood American shores with desperate balseros during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush or George W. Bush despite their hard-line policies against Cuba. Donald Trump faced caravans arriving at the southern border starting in 2018 but by the end of 2019, the numbers of migrant “encounters” by U.S. Customs and Border Protection had dropped precipitously.

This partisan dichotomy is worth noting in light of the human train-wreck at the southern U.S. border since President Biden took office. Is the migrant crisis merely a spontaneous flood of huddled masses yearning to breathe free, or is it an organized assault on U.S. law and order similar to Castro pranks of old?

Flight data from Venezuela to Mexico collected by the nongovernmental organization Center for a Secure Free Society, or SFS, and interviews the center has done with migrants at the U.S. border suggest the latter. In a paper due out in March, SFS director Joseph Humire presents research to show that Caracas has played a key role in facilitating the migrant spike since 2021.

Using migrants as weapons is essentially an act of war. Yet on Thursday the U.S. announced that it will grant an additional 30,000 visas a month to Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, Cubans and Haitians if they apply from their home countries. Mr. Biden sets a bad precedent in bowing to blackmail as so many of his Democratic predecessors did.

Enemies of Western liberal democracies have a long tradition of sparking migration crises to extract geopolitical concessions from governments that appear vulnerable to extortion. In a 2016 essay in the journal Military Review titled “Migration as a Weapon in Theory and in Practice,” Tufts University political science professor Kelly Greenhill defined the strategy as “coercive engineered migration.”

Weak nations, Ms. Greenhill explained, can capitalize on the desperation of their populations “to achieve political goals that would be utterly unattainable through military means.” Clearly “the idea that states such as Cuba, Haiti, and Mexico could successfully coerce their neighbor, the United States, with the threat of military force is absurd,” Ms. Greenhill wrote. But “the tacit or explicit threat of demographic bombs” to force the U.S. to negotiations, is not. Cuba was successful in this strategy during the presidencies of Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

Ms. Greenhill’s essay doesn’t mention Venezuela but in recent years it may have become the most aggressive practitioner of the geopolitical coercion that she described.

Venezuela wants desperately to get out from under U.S. sanctions imposed by the Trump administration and restore its legitimacy. It made progress last year by forcing U.S. talks with dictator Nicolás Maduro to free American hostages and feigning interest in negotiating a return to democracy. But the large numbers of people desperate to leave the country also scream opportunity.


Many migrants are opponents of the regime, and exile is a way of purging dissidents. But it isn’t enough that they leave. Caracas delights in the destabilizing effects of large numbers of migrants on Uncle Sam’s doorstep. Those eventually employed in the U.S. will send back dollar remittances, which will prop up Venezuela’s economy.

Some seven million people have fled Venezuela since 2014, when the economy hit the skids. But in most of those years, migrants went largely to neighboring countries in South America. When Mr. Biden arrived in the White House, things changed.

Mr. Humire told me last week that “immigration agents encountered nearly 190,000 Venezuelans along the U.S.-Mexico border in the latest fiscal year ending September 30, a 375% increase over the previous fiscal year.” Organized crime trafficked many of those people on land but the evidence collected by SFS suggests that it wasn’t without help from Caracas.

According to SFS, in 2021 and 2022 the majority of the direct flights to Mexico from Venezuela were operated by Conviasa, which is subject to U.S. sanctions, or other, smaller state-owned or state-controlled airlines. SFS found that Venezuelans it interviewed at the border, who had arrived in Mexico by air, had purchased packages from Venezuelan travel agents. The packages included the necessary government-issue travel documents to enter Mexico and contacts with human smugglers who facilitated the ground journey to the U.S. border.

Mr. Biden could clamp down on Mr. Maduro’s trafficking network by imposing sanctions on fuel and service providers to the Venezuelan airlines. Instead, he has opted to reward the exploitation of the refugees. Problem not solved.

Write to O’Grady@wsj.com.


DougMacG

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Re: MY really dislikes Abbot; sees war on our soil coming
« Reply #2666 on: January 09, 2023, 10:04:11 PM »
https://michaelyon.locals.com/upost/3329234/texas-governor-gregg-abbott-has-opened-our-border

Not one of MY's better posts IMHO. 

If I'm reading him right and if I watched the right video...

He is putting responsibility for the border on the state instead of the Feds.  He is putting blame on Republicans instead of Democrats.  He attacks ad hominem and attacks for trade trips and for nere attendance at world economic forum. Shouldn't our side infiltrate these events?  If not, no wonder they've become so one sided against us.  His title of lying/liar fails to call out a specific lie.

Someone can point out to me how tearing down more Republican leaders helps secure the border.

It fits a pattern of ripping the only people doing something for not doing enough.  Maybe he's the one not doing enough.  Writing from Panama instead of exposing election fraud at home.  We lost our border to the 2020 election, and 2022.  Why didn't he travel to Phoenix, Atlanta or Phillie and put some hard evidence behind the failed court cases?  None of his links work unless you send him money.  What is he selling, discord within the conservative / Republican side?

If he ran his attacks earlier maybe we could have Beto as Governor, working with Biden as President,  with Democrat Hobbs taking charge of Arizona and a Dem Governor of New Mexico.  How small does he want our movement and influence to be?
« Last Edit: January 10, 2023, 06:37:14 AM by DougMacG »

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Re: Homeland Security, Border Protection, and American Freedom (energy grid too)
« Reply #2667 on: January 10, 2023, 07:03:50 AM »
Working from memory, he feels Abbot should be using the Texas National Guard, the Texas Rangers et al to DEFEND THE BORDER whether the Feds approve or not and anything less is deck-chairs-on-the-Titanic stuff because we REALLY are being invaded and that when we begin to assert ourselves, we will be violently taught just how penetrated we are.

Witness the battle in Culiacan a few days ago between the Army and the Sinaloa Cartel-- he is not without evidence.

That said, I agree he can be sloppy and appearing "over the top" in some of his, , , I forget his phrase , , , "unedited blasts" posts.  He is a lone voice in the wilderness on a extraordinary range of issues.  I worry too that he has put on a massive amount of weight and all the massive time zone changes he puts his body through are a heavy load on his health.


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Abott's second in command opines
« Reply #2668 on: January 10, 2023, 02:23:36 PM »
Second

https://www.realclearwire.com/articles/2023/01/07/the_invasion_equation_874351.html

The Invasion Equation
By Clarence HendersonJanuary 07, 2023
Click To Republish
The Invasion EquationI took this photo myself and release all rights. JamesReyes at e
The Army National Guard vs. The Invading Cartel Armies
Rape trees, river floaters, skeletal remains, and fentanyl candy. The new vernacular of illegal immigration is an indictment of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) loss of operational control along the U.S.-Southern border. A consequence of this is the transformation of cartel insurgencies into well-formed armies that recruit and employ uniformed soldiers, have supporting intelligence operations, and control terrain. The challenge now confronting state and federal law enforcement is no longer how to deter an insurgency; it’s how to defeat an army.

Modern armies are resourced by nation-states who provide moral leadership in times of war. But the accountable governments of nation-states can falter and fail. Mexico in particular has a compromised central government that is not protecting its own homeland from subversive actors. When this happens, a conglomerate of paid professionals, mercenaries, conscripts, and criminals fills the void to either protect or exploit the resources of a community. It was true within the first communities of Mesopotamia, and it is happening now in communities across Mexico. This is how armies begin. A state is incapable of securing its communities, accountable governments lose legitimacy, and subversive actors start vying for control of terrain to exploit resources. 

The hallmark of any effective army is its ability to control terrain. The cartel armies have done that by co-opting the gangs of the U.S. and operate the world’s largest crime syndicate complete with narco distribution hubs throughout the U.S.. In Mexico they cordon cities and run roadblocks to collect information and extort residents. To date, as much as 20 percent of Mexico has come under control of the cartels as previously reported by CIA analysts. Their center of gravity is the illicit drug and human trafficking revenues from which they derive their strength. The illegal aliens that they infiltrate, the drugs that they smuggle, and the terrorist that they give safe passage each infiltrate the Southern border under their control and further empower their control of terrain.

The Invasion Word
Armies deter aggression and win the nation’s wars by dominating the land. So, the maxim goes… But this is a description that prescribes to a classical definition of state-on-state aggression initiated by an invasion of one state’s sponsored military against another’s. Article 4, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution even guarantees that the U.S. shall protect its states against invasion. And if not, Article 1, Section 10 permits states the right to protect themselves from an invasion. These “invasion clauses” are the genesis of the debate that is occurring between the federal government and border states. The federal government clings to the classic definition of an invasion and does not believe the humanitarian disaster occurring under the control of cartel armies constitutes an invasion. Whereas border state Governors believe in a 21st century asymmetric style of invasion pointing to the infiltration of bad actors causing economic and criminal harm to their states. Regardless, the federal dogma continues along the line that an invasion is an “armed hostility from another political entity.”

To date, America’s next great leader has yet to emerge and articulate a coherent unified response to the 21st century cartel invasion. Instead, a range of state-based strategies and stunts have been developed. Governor Gregg Abbott of Texas has passed an executive order empowering his state to apprehend illegal immigrants in certain circumstances as well as designating Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey was seeking court affirmation for his state’s right to defend itself, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is focusing on trafficking operations. And each of the aforementioned Governors has since adopted the political stunt of giving illegal aliens safe passage to sanctuary cities in northern states via bussing. As a result, cartel armies continue to consolidate power and gain control of territories while states bear the brunt of economic and criminal impacts.

Deploying the National Guard
The loss of operational control along the U.S.-Southern border by DHS has forced border state Governors into a constitutional dilemma. To date, no Governor has challenged the federal government to enforce federal immigration law and turn back persons seeking illegal entry. Instead, states such as Texas are relying on their own state constitutional authority to use the National Guard to arrest illegal aliens committing crimes. In fact, the National Guard has had a continuous presence on the Southern border since 2014 when former Texas Governor Perry deployed 1,000 troops to interdict Cartel del Golfo (Gulf Cartel). Deploying the National Guard to interdict cartel armies remains a desirable option due to the federal government’s abandonment of the border. But when opting for this option the Governor’s and their military commanders must maintain strategic symmetry throughout all facets of the operation. On-going challenges the National Guard is confronting on the border has generated the following principles that should be addressed when conducting border operations.

A Task Force is not a Strategy
Don’t Surge Your Troops to Failure
You Can’t Go to War with a Border
Build Consensus Between the Diplomats, the Bureaucrats, and the Generals
A Task Force is Not a Strategy
Governors love a good Task Force. And they exist for virtually every political, economic, and social purpose. As far as the border is concerned, Current task forces include Arizona’s Task Force Badge to support local law enforcement in border towns; New Mexico’s Human Trafficking Task Force; and Texas’ Task Force on Border and Homeland Security. These task forces sometimes strain due to the broad scope of concerns they attempt to address. Governor’s fall into a ‘my task force is bigger than yours” mentality and end up creating over representative committees. For instance, Texas’ Task Force on Border and Homeland Security has representatives from eight state agencies, the Border Sheriffs’ Coalition, county judges, mayors, property rights organizations, concerned citizens, and border community prosecutors. Good luck with that task force developing a specific focus.

A bloated think-tank style “task force” creates ambiguity at the operational level that lacks strategic context. What often results are large task forces that try to cover all conceivable scenarios due to the absence of a unified strategy. Inevitably, the Governor responds to think-tank style task forces and their recommendations and begins to implement what is confused as a strategy. Whereas the General tries to facilitate force structure and build a strategy within their joint staff. Thus, the two begin to react to separate problem sets.

Don’t Surge Your Troops to Failure
The National Guard is an operational force that provides strategic depth to our nation’s Army and Air Force. Over the past two decades the National Guard became quite adept as a resource provider to the Middle Eastern wars. In this federal role the National Guard followed a deliberate mobilization process lasting up to a year that culminated with properly trained, equipped, and missioned Soldiers. State led missions on the other hand are led by the Governor and TAG who controls the state’s National Guard. These National Guard soldiers and airmen are activated on state active duty and remain under the command and control of the Governor while costs are incurred by the taxpayers of the state. In this capacity the state’s TAG is responsible for training, readiness, and oversight of soldiers and airmen.

Governors don’t understand this concept and instead believe that the military exists within a perpetual state of readiness. And because of this belief they are quick to surge troops to the border when political pressure builds. Doing this wrong had disastrous results in Texas. Just this past summer a “no notice surge” of up to 10,000 troops to the Texas-Mexico border was attempted by the Governor. What resulted was a logistical nightmare of delayed pay, substandard living conditions, and equipment shortages. Most egregious were a number of suicides attributed to forced mobilizations because of no warning, and a tragic drowning due to limited training. In the wake of this disaster the TAG, Major General Tracy Norris, was replaced due to her inability to plan an operation, other senior officers were reassigned, and the number of troops on the border was reduced. 

You Can’t Go to War with a Border
The Prussian Soldier and writer Carl von Clausewitz wrote over two hundred years ago that war is not exerted on inanimate or passive human material. The U.S.-Mexico border is an inanimate terrain feature. It does not think or fight. The thinkers and fighters are “Cartel Americana” that have saturated the Americas in depth throughout the northern and Southern hemispheres. Defeating the illicit activities of the cartel armies requires a defense in depth strategy extending to within the cities and towns of the U.S. away from the border. What is required is a higher order of operational strategy consisting of what military theorist Liddell Hart refers to as the “concentration of strengths against weaknesses”.

The strength of the National Guard is its array of specialized units and human capital that do not exist within the active component of the U.S. military. Units such as homeland response forces, counter drug programs, cyber defense teams, and information operations; amongst other specialized capabilities could be the focus beyond the border. The primary intent should be to reclaim the physical and digital terrain that the cartel armies have seized. Augmenting the special agents within the Criminal Investigation Divisions of each state’s County Sheriff’s Offices, Attorney General’s Office, and Departments of Public Safety would provide a real threat to the cartel army’s self-preservation. Physical interdictions do not cease but instead become enhanced on the border. 

Build Consensus Between the Diplomats, the Bureaucrats, and the Generals
A Governor that decides to deploy the National Guard takes on the role of a diplomat to convince both the citizenry and state legislature for the need of civil self-protection. The messaging that the Governor delivers must be persuasive enough to receive popular support, pass legislation, and forge a budget. In Arizona Governor Doug Ducey influenced state legislators to create a border security fund consisting of $55 million; Florida Governor Ron DeSantis created a consortium of state law enforcement agencies expending $1.6 million to provide border security support to Texas; and Texas Governor Greg Abbott influenced his state legislature to provide $3 billion to finance the Operation Lone Star mission. Building consensus for a budget proposal is a core competency of Governorship. However, building funding consensus is not synonymous with strategic consensus.

Governors, as the Commander in Chief of state military forces, are responsible for providing a strategic context to their National Guard troops. They should be able to rely on their existing agencies to craft that strategic context. The strategic aptitudes of a state exist within the Department of Emergency Management, Department of Public Safety, and Military Department (National Guard) who possess competent strategic planners. It is within these departments and agencies that a strategic framework is developed to visualize the operation in time, space, and purpose. From that, operations at the tactical level are developed, and resources applied through existing state bureaucracies. Doing this right requires strategic patience which is antithetical to a Governor who may have just negotiated a “border package” and needs a surge to commence. Thus consensus on a strategy often is strained from the very first press conference.

Conclusion
Current border state Governors have been forced into a situation non dissimilar to Reagan’s dilemma of 1984 when he responded to the Soviet Union’s influence in our hemisphere. During that time Reagan stated, “the United States has a legal right and a moral duty to help resist the subversive activities of the Soviet Union.” The dilemma of our hemisphere today is how to defend the United States from cartel armies. It’s not good practice to commit large military formations to long term criminal enforcement. It’s simply not within the DNA of America’s founding principles. However, the U.S. is being invaded by cartel armies as they continue to infiltrate the U.S.. How our Governors decide to leverage Constitutional authorities will determine if this war can be won. 

Colonel Clarence Henderson (U.S. Army, ret.) is a former Infantry Brigade Combat Team Commander and U.S. Army War College graduate with over 20 years of active service and multiple worldwide deployments. He was the former commander of all troops on the border under Governors Rick Perry and Greg Abbott of Texas.

ccp

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cartels not terrorists
« Reply #2669 on: January 10, 2023, 03:34:36 PM »
not sure I agree with the entirety of the premises

but nonetheless another viewpoint long on what will not work and short on anything that will:

https://warontherocks.com/2020/02/mexican-drug-cartels-are-violent-but-theyre-not-terrorists/

leniency on drug users in the US
 from a criminal perspective and being warm and cuddly with them and their "disease "
is not helping either in MHO

I guess there is no answer
if there was we would be doing it.

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Re: Homeland Security, Border Protection, and American Freedom (energy grid too)
« Reply #2670 on: January 10, 2023, 04:55:17 PM »
I might be mistaken, but my understanding is that the cartels now make more from human smuggling than drugs, so a real good start would be to shut down taking in illegals.

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AMLO Mexican President says 40 Million Mexicans live in US
« Reply #2671 on: January 11, 2023, 03:18:35 PM »
AMLO Mexican President says 40 Million Mexicans live in US
-----------
Double that number I suppose if you include all of Central and Latin America and other countries.
-----------
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/01/10/remarks-by-president-biden-prime-minister-trudeau-and-president-lopez-obrador-in-joint-press-conference/

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40 mill Mexicans is US
« Reply #2672 on: January 11, 2023, 03:36:28 PM »
Montezuma's revenge

SANTA ANA'S REVENGE


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DHS slaps new limits on BP pursuits
« Reply #2675 on: January 12, 2023, 01:19:57 PM »
Third

DHS slaps new limits on when Border Patrol can chase fleeing smugglers
By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Wednesday, January 11, 2023

The Department of Homeland Security announced a new vehicle-pursuit policy Wednesday that will severely limit when Border Patrol agents can pursue migrant smugglers, saying the cat-and-mouse game has become too dangerous for everyone involved.

The policy, released by Customs and Border Protection’s acting commissioner, bans agents from trying to box in a fleeing car or from using a pursuit immobilization technique in which a car is intentionally nudged to get it to stop.

The policy also discourages pursuits when a suspect is fleeing above the speed limit, is overloaded with illegal immigrants or is headed toward a more populated area. All are frequent occurrences in Border Patrol chases.

CBP said the new rules do not ban pursuits but are needed to reduce the danger and force agents to evaluate whether the suspected crime is serious enough to deserve a chase.

“The safety of officers, agents and the public are paramount as we carry out our mission,” said Troy Miller, the agency’s acting head.


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CBP data
« Reply #2678 on: January 24, 2023, 07:00:50 PM »


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MY: Darien Gap
« Reply #2680 on: January 25, 2023, 02:10:39 PM »


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RANE: What does Security mean in 2023?
« Reply #2683 on: January 30, 2023, 04:43:21 PM »
What Does 'Security' Mean in 2023?
undefined and Director of Analysis at RANE
Sam Lichtenstein
Director of Analysis at RANE, Stratfor
9 MIN READJan 30, 2023 | 19:01 GMT





A man monitors computer screens.
A man monitors computer screens.

(Shutterstock)

''What security issues should we be aware of?'' This well-intentioned client inquiry regarding operations in a foreign country recently gave me pause as I struggled to understand exactly what the client wanted. Was the client looking for an on-the-ground review of major violent risks, like crime and terrorism? If so, did that mean the client was not interested in the more strategic geopolitical risk of interstate war? What about environmental and health concerns — did the client care about infectious diseases, natural disasters and other threats? Or could it be that the client really cared about cybersecurity in terms of protecting IP and other sensitive data?

Of course, we could answer all of those questions, but running through that checklist in my head made me realize a more foundational question: what exactly does ''security'' mean today? As analysts, we must always consider situations from various points of view and, especially when considering client questions, properly scope our responses. But the truth about ''security,'' no matter how straightforward it may seem, is that it may be just as difficult to define as it is to truly achieve complete safety.

A Shifting Paradigm
As students of international relations theory will be quick to highlight, in its traditional sense, ''security'' is a realist concept that refers to a state's ability to protect itself from foreign attack. For realists, the global environment is a dangerous place and, as the most important actors in the international system, states at their most fundamental level must survive. In this conception, security is defined in opposition to external attack and there is no need to consider what happens within states themselves.

While a neatly-organized concept, over time many other theories have chipped away at realism's dominance. For instance, it is obvious that security within states can matter just as much as security between them, as evidenced by the violent toll of civil war, insurgency and other internal conflicts. Even this external versus internal distinction is an incomplete picture amid the rise of a wholly new environment like cyberspace as a zone of not just competition but outright conflict.

Moreover, as recently highlighted by our analysts, it is clear that ''security'' does not affect everyone equally, but rather some groups (such as women) often suffer disproportionately. Similarly, this focus on the individual illustrates that states are far from the only relevant actors: witness the lethal violence conducted by terrorist groups, criminal syndicates and other non-state actors. Even some private companies could find themselves listed here.

Perhaps most structurally: is ''security'' only about safety from physical violence? Following the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, I do not think anyone would deny that ''health security'' needs to be a bigger priority. Meanwhile, in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the concepts of ''economic security'' and, especially, ''energy security'' are back in vogue. And if you ask many companies, you would probably hear that ''data security'' or ''supply chain security'' are at the forefront of their concerns. Amid these different interpretations, what gets labeled as ''security'' (in some cases, now synonymous with ''self-sufficiency'') has thus become much broader over time — a process known (and at times critiqued) as ''securitization''.

What Is Old Is New Again
Despite the expanding concept of ''security,'' realists have always argued that their fundamental contention about a state needing to prevent external attack has stood the test of time. In this respect, Russia's invasion of Ukraine seemed to be tragic vindication and has duly inspired a flurry of headlines arguing various versions of ''realism is back.'' There is no debating that the return of land war to Europe (and growing concerns over Chinese predations on Taiwan) shows that territorial integrity, the basis of the traditional realist idea of ''security,'' cannot be taken for granted in the 21st century. But while realists are right to point out that a state's most basic duty remains to protect itself, there is no reason to think that interpretations of ''security'' will not continue to expand in its environments, key actors and basic conceptions.

First, a future shift in what counts as a security environment is already coming into focus. Outer space — once a merely theoretical area of competition and, in turn, potential conflict — is coming closer to reality every year. This will add to yet another domain to monitor beyond the already contested land, air and sea realms here on Earth, and more recently the rise of cyberspace (which still has a long way to develop before it is as well-defined as those other three).

Meanwhile, for all the powers that states have, it is also clear that they are far from the only key players. The recent past has seen the introduction of new non-state actors with disproportionate impact. In addition to the rise of cybercriminals, there has also been a re-emergence of mercenary groups — a relic some had thought was left behind centuries ago, illustrating the dynamism in what actors matter for security. Looking ahead, new threats can be sure to arise from other actors, such as individual hacktivists (whose capabilities seem to be only growing) and multinational companies (the largest of which have arguably supplanted many states in their power).

Finally, the future broadening of ''security'' beyond just physical violence is also easy to conceive. Once seen as relevant only to poorer countries, ''food security'' is another example of ''security'' as ''self-sufficiency'' that has become more widely resonant over the past year amid the Ukraine-related shocks to global food supplies and prices; and it is a focus that will likely endure long after the fighting in Ukraine ceases as governments seek to mitigate future crises, including those brought on by climate change. Relatedly, ''environmental security'' will also only grow in tandem with the impacts of climate change. And from a corporate perspective, something akin to ''reputational security'' may in fact be the greatest threat many firms face.

All or Nothing
As the concept of ''security'' comes to mean ever more things, it consequently becomes much harder to achieve. After all, in trying to do everything at once, we often risk doing nothing particularly well. This will create obvious challenges for governments that must decide how to prioritize resources, particularly as there will be inevitable tradeoffs. For instance, as seen over the past year, a clear tension is playing out in real time between short-term ''energy security'' and long-term ''environmental security.'' There will also be inevitable debates over whether to invest in defenses against future threats that may not emerge for many years compared with more immediate ones. Indeed, despite the staggering toll of COVID-19, most governments are loath to make major new investments in fundamental ''health security'' now that the most acute period of the crisis is over. Finally, investing in some forms of security, such as that regarding the emerging domain of outer space, will simply be out of reach for many poorer states, which will cede their ability to control events there. Magnifying all of these challenges is that what may be strategically wise could also be politically unpopular or divisive; after all, partisan politics often lurks amid many security threats.

If leaders within states struggle to agree on priorities, global coordination will be even more challenging. For instance, what some states see as a truly existential threat (like climate change) may benefit others; low-lying island nations are seeing their territory erode amid rising sea levels at the same time northern nations like Canada and Russia are seeing theirs expand amid the thawing ice in the Arctic. Similarly, what some states see as a security threat (such as cyberattacks) may also be a deliberate part of other states' strategies that they seek to amplify, not contain. Moreover, even if states desire to work together to prevent conflict, fundamentally differing interests (such as those over outer space) may still inhibit cooperation. And of course, all of these challenges are magnified in an emerging multipolar world in which the mechanisms for global collaboration are quickly fraying, if not already decisively split.

If the challenges for governments loom large, those for businesses may loom even larger. After all, the public sector is expected to deal with weighty security matters every day, whereas such matters are generally (at best) a secondary concern in the private sector compared with the business of business, so to speak. But companies are increasingly being pressured to do far more than their basic business functions, from taking a stand on high-profile political issues to being leaders in reducing carbon emissions and, in some cases, even being the primary defenders against certain security threats (such as those in cyberspace).

Looking ahead, organizations should only expect more of these responsibilities to pile on. As the post-World War II liberal international order continues to erode and the global system becomes more chaotic and uncertain, companies will increasingly be asked to do more as competing states struggle to coordinate. This will raise uncomfortable questions in boardrooms and challenge corporate leaders to rethink the scope of their activities. They may no longer be just an industrial firm or a services provider, but also an ostensible provider of security (whether it be cyber, health, environmental or another form of security). And what happens inside those boardrooms will increasingly have impacts elsewhere — in some cases life or death ones.

Corporate Security Is Everyone's Business

To return to the original client question, then, asking what security considerations companies need to know may require a much more expansive answer than originally intended. Businesses no longer can only consider common threats like crime, but must also remember that every employee is an ambassador for their corporate reputation, the first line of defense for their cyber networks and a potential vector for disease (on top of the many other security-linked responsibilities that are unlikely to be part of their formal job requirements).

This reality will make the jobs of corporate security officers that much harder as they become responsible for preventing an ever-growing list of threats for the sake of not only their companies but, in some cases, their countries. In this new, more complex security environment, merely taking a business trip may have much weigher implications that require we, as analysts, to adjust our focus accordingly to ensure our clients are as prepared as possible.

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Where is the Darien Gap?
« Reply #2685 on: February 01, 2023, 05:29:23 AM »
and just for those , like me , who had no idea where  in the world is the Darien gap :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dari%C3%A9n_Gap
« Last Edit: February 01, 2023, 08:59:53 AM by Crafty_Dog »

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Good thing that balloon was not an EMP
« Reply #2686 on: February 04, 2023, 04:06:04 AM »
Good thing that balloon was not an EMP , , ,

==========================
From our Electricity EMP thread in 2021

MILITARY

U.S. vulnerable to electromagnetic pulse attack from foreign nations

BY BEN WOLFGANG THE WASHINGTON TIMES

America’s electric grid and other key infrastructure remain vulnerable to an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack from China, North Korea or other adversary, and the U.S. is at a pivotal moment if it wants to avoid a potential doomsday scenario, a panel of experts warned Tuesday.

At a major virtual forum hosted by the Universal Peace Federation, specialists warned of the growing threat of an EMP attack that could knockout communications, water and sewer services, transportation systems, retail and other central components of American society.

The dangers of EMP attacks have long been understood, but China’s shocking test of a new hypersonic glide vehicle last summer has some analysts fearing it could give the nation’s Communist leaders the perfect avenue to deploy a high-altitude EMP, offering the chance to defeat the U.S. by sparking a long-lasting blackout, shutting down food and water delivery systems, and crushing military communications and contact with far-flung posts.

China already possesses so-called “super EMPs,” or weapons designed to create bursts of energy

much stronger than past versions, according to an analysis by the Task Force on National and Homeland Security, a congressional advisory board.

Combining EMP attacks with other modern unconventional military tactics could be even more devastating.

“That poses a real threat of possibly being able to win a war with a single blow by means of an EMP attack. Moreover ... they don’t envision employing an EMP by itself. It would be used in conjunction with cyberattacks and physical sabotage, and nonnuclear EMP,” Peter Vincent Pry, the task force’s executive director, said at Tuesday’s event, which was moderated by Washington Times Foundation President Michael Jenkins.

“This is regarded by Russia, China, North Korea and Iran as potentially the most decisive military revolution in history,” Mr. Pry said. “By attacking the technological Achilles heel of a nation like the United States, you could bring us to our knees and not even have to do battle with the Marines or the Navy or the Air Force, and win a war in 24 hours with a single blow — a combined EMP cyberattack.”

American scholars and lawmakers have warned for decades that U.S. infrastructure — especially the electric grid system — is highly vulnerable to EMPs. Huge swaths of infrastructure aren’t adequately protected against such an attack, specialists warned, despite widespread agreement on the importance of the problem and the existence of technology to solve it.

President Trump in 2019 signed an executive order directing a new level of governmentwide coordination on combating a potential EMP attack. Recent federal spending bills also have included measures to ramp up EMP defenses.

But many specific steps have yet to be implemented, such as bringing all pieces of the electric grid up to the military’s “hardening” standard so they are able to withstand a major electromagnetic pulse.

“We do know how to protect against it. It’s not a technological problem. It’s a political problem,” Mr. Pry said, citing federal bureaucracy and other factors that make the issue especially complex and difficult.

Other specialists said the Biden administrationshould keep the nation’s EMP vulnerability firmly in mind as it doles out billions of dollars in infrastructure money.

“There are active protection measures that will ground the pulse as it strikes the electric system of a vehicle, for example. The good news is those technologies are out there, they exist,” said David Winks, managing director at AcquSight, a leading cyber, physical and electromagnetic resilience firm. “I think it would be a good use of some of this infrastructure money to start investing in this.”

One of the largest hurdles is the vast number of state agencies and utility companies involved with the nation’s electric grid, making it difficult to install a single set of hardening standards across the entire country.

Meanwhile, China has invested heavily in its offensive EMP programs, and those investments are bearing fruit. In August, for example, the South China Morning Post and other regional media outlets reported that China very likely conducted its first test of an EMP weapon, successfully using the pulse to knock drones out of the sky. The Post cited papers published by Chinese technology journals that reported the test but offered little detail.

The Pentagon warns that electronic warfare is an increasingly important piece of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) arsenal and its preparations for a potential clash with the U.S.

China’s electronic warfare strategy “emphasizes suppressing, degrading, disrupting, or deceiving enemy electronic equipment throughout the continuum of a conflict while protecting its ability to use the cyber and electromagnetic spectrum,” reads a recent Pentagon report on Chinese military capabilities. “The PLA is likely to use electronic warfare early in a conflict as a signaling mechanism to warn and deter adversary offensive action. Potential EW targets include adversary systems operating in radio, radar, microwave, infrared and optical frequency ranges, as well as adversary computer and information systems.”

Even nations without China’s cutting-edge military capabilities could be able to infl ict serious damage using EMP technology.

“There is no need for precision. North Korea doesn’t need to have a very good ballistic missile in order to precisely deploy and detonate the weapon,” said Plamen Doynov, a professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and chief technology officer at the company EMP Shield.

Mr. Doynov also warned that unlike a nuclear strike, traditional bombing campaign or ground invasion, an EMP attack doesn’t directly cause any casualties, potentially allowing an enemy to more easily justify the move and make retaliation a more difficult political decision for the state that is targeted.

“It’s bloodless, at least initially,” he said. But over time, hundreds of millions of lives could be lost. Mr. Pry has estimated that a yearlong blackout caused by an EMP could kill 90% of Americans.

Such a catastrophic situation at home, of course, would allow American adversaries to essentially do as they pleased around the globe.

“Imagine the president in the situation where the dispute is over Taiwan, or the dispute is with Russia over the Baltic states,” Mr. Pry said at Tuesday’s event. “And they do an EMP [attack] on the United States. What’s the president going to do? Try to go into World War III, which he will surely lose? ... Or is he going to use the residual capabilities that we have, especially the military capabilities, to try to recover those critical civilian infrastructures because the clock is ticking toward the deaths of millions of Americans?”


===================

A second Chinese spy balloon is currently traversing Latin America, Pentagon confirmed late on Feb. 3 amid rising concern about a Chinese surveillance balloon hovering eastward across the continental United States.

“We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America. We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said in a statement to media outlets.

The comment came hours after Ryder was pressed at a briefing with reporters about a Canadian defense ministry statement on Friday that they were monitoring a “potential second incident,” and whether the United States is doing the same. Ryder in response referred the question back to the Canadian authorities.

The first Chinese balloon, which military officials described to be a “high altitude surveillance balloon,” appeared earlier this week above the state of Montana, home to one of the country’s three nuclear missile silo fields.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday postponed a trip to Beijing that would have marked the highest profile U.S. visit to China over the balloon, calling the balloon “irresponsible” and “a clear violation of U.S. sovereignty and international law.”

“[China’s] decision to take this action on the eve of my planned visit is detrimental to the substantive discussions that we were prepared to have,” he told reporters.

The Department of Defense wouldn’t confirm the balloon’s exact location, its size, and other details on Friday other than saying that the balloon is maneuverable, has changed course at some point, and that it is currently flying at 60,000 ft eastward across the country.

President Joe Biden was first briefed on the matter on Tuesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Jan. 3, and was given the “strong recommendation” by military leaders not to shoot it down due to the risk that falling debris may harm civilians.

A senior defense official said the U.S. has taken unspecified mitigation measures against the balloon, adding that it was assessed that the device had “limited additive value from an intelligence collection perspective over and above what [China] can do through other means.”

The Chinese regime has claimed that the balloon over the United States is a civilian meteorological balloon from China that was blown off course. In response, Ryder said, “The fact is we know it’s a surveillance balloon.”

Costa Rica Reports

Ryder didn’t specify which country the balloon is currently hovering over, but local reports have cited sightings of a white balloon of mysterious origin over Costa Rica, which the country’s civil aviation authorities said doesn’t have a fly authorization.

“My big concern with the Chinese balloon flight is if this is a test to see how fast we react and what we do,” Art Thompson, CEO of California-based company Sage Cheshire Aerospace which provides stratospheric balloon launching and research services, told The Epoch Times.

The two balloons appear to have been launched from different locations, he said. The photos Thomson examined of the two balloons, over the United States and Costa Rica, show that they are very similar in style.

“When I look at the trajectory, the question is, where did they launch it from? And it could have been launched from mainland China, and then just drifted over and would have done a little oscillation in its flight,” he said.

Thompson has advocated for the United States to shoot down the balloon currently moving eastward over the nation with laser weapons. He believes that U.S. authorities still have several days to take action before the balloon reaches international waters, but the one over Costa Rica would have a much shorter timeline.

“It’s going to be out of touch fairly quickly because in Costa Rica, they’re going to be across into the gulf pretty fast,” he said.

“The Chinese are definitely testing us and preparing for something.”
« Last Edit: February 04, 2023, 05:01:32 AM by Crafty_Dog »

Crafty_Dog

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Re: Homeland Security, Border Protection, energy, transportation, Freedom too
« Reply #2687 on: February 04, 2023, 04:51:18 AM »
The United States could bring down the Chinese surveillance balloon currently flying eastward across the country by shooting it with a laser, which would cause it to gradually descend without inflicting serious damage to civilians on the ground, according to an aerospace specialist.

The Defense Department previously ruled out shooting down the balloon, which was first spotted earlier this week in Montana, saying that its size could cause a debris field large enough to harm Americans.

But Art Thompson, CEO of California-based company Sage Cheshire Aerospace which provides stratospheric balloon launching and research services, believes that a “semi-controlled descent” could be a solution. He was previously the technical director of the Red Bull Stratos program, which in 2012 smashed records for the highest-ever skydive, an endeavor that included the world’s largest manned balloon.

By firing a munition or laser weapon, one can put holes in the balloon and force it to vent air.

“Knowing what the weather patterns are, you could probably predict how fast you can get it to vent, in which case it’s semi-controlled. [Then] you can get it to touch down relatively softly, recover the equipment, and try to figure out exactly what this is,” he told The Epoch Times.

“The trick is that it has to be big enough to get the balloon to vent down and start dropping in altitude. But it has to be small enough that it’s not going to just come tumbling down or tear a giant hole out,” causing it to crash, he said.

This action, Thompson believes, would be in the United States’ best interests. “Because once it gets out of our control, you know, we’re never going to know exactly what it was used for.”

The Chinese balloon was first sighted above Montana, a state that houses intercontinental ballistic missile silos, earlier this week. A top Pentagon official said on Friday that the balloon is flying at 60,000 feet (18,300 meters), has the ability to maneuver, and has changed course at some point during its flight, although he wouldn’t specify when.

The Associated Press, citing anonymous officials, reported that the balloon has the size of about three school buses.

Defense Department spokesperson Brigadier General Pat Ryder said the balloon has a “large payload underneath the surveillance component” and could stay in the United States for several more days as it moves eastward.

Radio Signals Intelligence

Thompson suspects the balloon’s role has more to do with intercepting radio signals than collecting visual information—such as radio frequencies relating to communication systems or evaluating electromagnetic energy that can allow Beijing to interfere with U.S. communication systems if something were to happen. Satellite footage from Google Earth already provides the Chinese regime with plenty of photographic images of U.S. terrain with high accuracy, he noted.

That said, “they aren’t being very stealthy about it,” because the balloon uses a white shell that reflects a lot of light, making it conspicuous when compared to those made with StratoFilm, which is sheer and less reflective, like “a dry cleaner bag,” he said.

The balloon has most recently been sighted near Kansas City and several other parts of Missouri. A local news report cited a pilot seeing the balloon at an estimated 50,000 feet altitude, but suddenly dropped by 20,000 feet in seconds—a description that surprised Thompson and made him wonder if there’s already a hole in the balloon. Although he later noted that the pilot’s estimate could be inaccurate, as such a dive would mean the balloon is in a freefall, in which case it would have been on the ground by this point.

The National Weather Service (NWS) in Kansas City, Missouri, at 12:30 p.m. local time posted photos of the balloon, saying it was visible from their office in Pleasant Hill and the Kansas City metropolitan area.

“We have confirmed that it is not an NWS weather balloon,” it said on Twitter.

The U.S. Air Force received its first high-energy laser weapon that can fit on a tactical fighter jet last June. The U.S. Navy also has ground-based laser systems that can attack targets on air, although Thompson noted that they might not be immediately available to deploy in the area needed for use.

The United States has missed its best opportunity to bring it down, Thompson said. That’d be earlier in the week when it was flying over sparsely-populated areas.

But an alternative, he said, is to wait until the balloon leaves the coast but is still within U.S. territorial waters before shooting it down, and then getting the Coast Guard to retrieve it, which would pose the most minimal amount of civilian damage.

ccp

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I don't know what the military know but
« Reply #2688 on: February 04, 2023, 08:04:46 AM »
all I can say is the *apparent* indecisiveness

over a God darn balloon
is far more alarming than the balloon itself.

If our military commander in chief cannot make a decision on something this seemingly straight forward

we are in as Ross Perot used to say very  "deep doo doo"

* Definition of Indecisiveness. Indecisiveness is defined as a dysfunctional personality trait characterized by a generalized difficulty to make decisions (Lauderdale et al., 2019). Being a stable individual difference independent of a particular decision content, it is not to be confused with indecision.*



ccp

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our military intelligence
« Reply #2689 on: February 04, 2023, 08:08:16 AM »
wrong about China for 30 yrs

wrong about Afghanistan

wrong about Russia actually invading Russia
wrong about the Russian overwhelming Ukraine
wrong about the wokism in the military

and for GM - I will throw this in wrong about the clotshot in the military  :wink:

does not give me confidence

Crafty_Dog

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Re: Homeland Security, Border Protection, energy, transportation, Freedom too
« Reply #2690 on: February 04, 2023, 09:54:15 AM »
Maybe the indecisiveness is them being thrown under the bus to cover for President Magoo?

Nonetheless, the larger point you are making remains.

As the old joke goes, "military intelligence" is an oxymoron, but

a) IIRC they did predict the invasion of Ukraine and the Ukes pooh poohed it;
b) not sure of your meaning when you say mil-intel was wrong about wokism

G M

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Re: Homeland Security, Border Protection, energy, transportation, Freedom too
« Reply #2691 on: February 04, 2023, 09:58:13 AM »
Imagine the blackmail material the Chinese Ministry for State Security has on the Biden crime family…

Maybe the indecisiveness is them being thrown under the bus to cover for President Magoo?

Nonetheless, the larger point you are making remains.

As the old joke goes, "military intelligence" is an oxymoron, but

a) IIRC they did predict the invasion of Ukraine and the Ukes pooh poohed it;
b) not sure of your meaning when you say mil-intel was wrong about wokism



ya

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Re: Homeland Security, Border Protection, energy, transportation, Freedom too
« Reply #2694 on: February 05, 2023, 05:32:27 AM »
Biden's approval plunges after balloon gate

https://twitter.com/i/status/1621982213288992769

Crafty_Dog

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G M

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