A great interview of someone charged with oversight of Barack Obama’s increasingly lawless presidency. Unfortunately, as the latest decision regarding Eric Holder and the Justice Department’s response to Fast and Furious makes clear, even as the White House’s defiance of the law grows, the options we have for holding it accountable are not optimal. While the President has conceded that his decision to delay expanding upon his unconstitutional administrative amnesty is merely a political expedient intended to help Democrats salvage the upcoming congressional elections, Chairman Smith’s pairing of this outrageous plan against the continuing conflict Syria is an interesting juxtaposition. 

I suggest you listen to this illuminating interview in full to get an idea of what Obama & Co. have planned for us in the upcoming months. 

Last week I had the pleasure of witnessing a panel discussion at the Rush Arts Gallery moderated by Julie Ashcraft, who is currently curating an exhibition entitled The Grand Cypher: Hip Hop, Iran & Syria. You can see the multi-media exhibit through May 24th, but I decided to take in the works of art and poetry last week in order to listen to a riveting conversation about the nature of hip hop within a global context, the opening of which you can view for yourself. In addition to acclaimed independent rapper Immortal Technique and New York attorney Jenny Poupa Marashi, who was born in Iran, there were two artists who participated in the panel via Livestream, Ehsan Ziya (Atour)-who hosted the first hip hop podcast in the nation of Iran-and Francis A. Willey, a composer and artist known not only for an iconic image appropriated by freedom activists in the Middle East but for an innovative, less toxic method of processing photographs. 

What struck me about this event was the way it embodied was the transcendent nature of art. Many of the artists whose works were displayed in this exhibition had experienced indescribable hardships-including war and imprisonment-in order to have their voices heard. The fact that they are able to recognize the importance of art-and how essential it is to life-in the face of threats to their own livelihood and security demonstrates its universality to the human condition. In a society where artists clamor for subsidies from unwilling taxpayers, it was refreshing to experience artwork which was created  at great personal sacrifice, often in defiance of government censorship.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the panel discussion was a debate over the role of the hip hop community in fostering public debate over critical domestic and foreign policy issues. Immortal Technique-the Peruvian-born, Harlem raised rap artist Felipe Andres Coronel-was arguably the ideal person to address this subject, being at the forefront of independent, conscious hip hop. Even though I was familiar with some of his views prior to this discussion, I was nonetheless wowed by the breadth of knowledge on display by Coronel, whose commentary ranged over the role the Sykes-Picot Agreement played in the current, sanguinary problems in the Levant, to the extent of white slavery within an empire of oppression dominated by Arab-Muslim armies of conquest in the past. Regardless of what you think of his personal political philosophy, it’s difficult to argue that Immortal Technique brings a sagacity and historical knowledge to his work that is sadly lacking  in the contemporary rap world.

Ehsan Ziya, his Iranian counterpart, contributed his own fascinating observations to this discussion, which also delved into the necessity of maintaining creative and financial control over the work you produce. As an artist in an Islamic theocracy which exercises complete control over what artistic expression and information is allowed to be consumed by the general public, he experiences life very differently than artists living in North America or Europe. The plight of  those seeking to create independent cinema, music and art within Iran is well known in the west, however very few people are aware of the struggles of the underground rap scene. One of the chief obstacles rappers like Ziya must overcome is the Catch-22 facing musicians who seek to turn their passion into a vocation. Namely, that in order to monetize their art these rap artists need to be widely known among the Iranian public, but once they become well known, the authorities rapidly crush them.

Even though he is not explicitly political, Ziya faces persecution because of the incipient threat that any large group of individuals-even those who merely share a common interest in a particular musical genre-pose in the wake of the Green Revolution. Unsurprisingly, artists who do not challenge the existing political status quo-even in an oblique manner-receive the full support of the regime-a point validated by the approval of a rap LP devoted to the devastating 2003 earthquake in Bam, which was produced by a group of musicians who had the full-throated endorsement of the IRI and its state institutions. The chasm that exists between those artists who are unencumbered by the desire to please authority-and as a result, are persecuted by the powers that be-and those who insist upon kowtowing to power, was thrown into stark relief by The Grand Cypher.

Therefore, I highly recommend visiting this exhibition, which will be on display through next week.

That is why we should rejoice whenever someone who actually has a thorough, well-grounded understanding of this subject contributes to the public discourse. Such is the case with Harvard professor George Borjas, the nation’s foremost economist when it comes to examining the economic and fiscal impact of large scale migration to the United States. Even though Immigration Economics won’t be published until next summer, it’s worth considering the potentially crippling economic consequences of the legislative amnesty the open borders caucus is currently trying to force through Congress. 

 We are already experiencing the fallout from another hastily enacted, gargantuan bill which was rushed into law by a partisan majority-heedless of the consequences-let’s not rush headlong into yet another economically ruinous piece of legislation simply because it carries the endorsement of the chattering classes. 

Although the deaths of migrants from North Africa and the Middle East upon the doorstep of Europe has occupied the attention of news media over the past few weeks, the difficulties endured by nations which serve as buffers between the third world and the West are often overlooked. One of the countries taxed by an influx of refugees from war-ravaged nations is the west African nation of Cameroon. Over 100,000 refugees reside in that country after fleeing Nigeria and the Central African Republic, because of a brutal Islamic insurgency  and ongoing civil war, respectively.

In other migration news, dozens of Rohingya Muslims from Burma are reported missing after their boat capsized in the Bay of Bengal. Despite the grossly misleading reportage we’ve been treated to by outlets like the BBC and Washington Post, among others, the inter-communal violence within Burma is not simply a case of an Islamophobic backlash, as Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has repeatedly pointed out. This Daily Telegraph photo essay provides a much more nuanced view of the violence engulfing Burma, much of it directed against Rakhine State’s Buddhist population by Muslim jihadists.

Moving on to the Western Hemisphere, we learned today that the U.S. Treasury Department has blacklisted 20 businesses linked to Rafael Caro Quintero, the Mexican drug lord responsible for the brutal torture and execution of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, who was recently released from prison this past August, despite having over a decade remaining on his prison sentence. Thanks to the endemically corrupt Mexican government, the proceeds of Quintero’s racketeering empire remained in his family, which will undoubtedly prove useful to one of the world’s most wanted fugitives.

In cheap labor lobby news, Indian outsourcing titan Infosys has reached a settlement with the federal government in its lawsuit alleging widespread visa fraud. The wholesale importation of foreign workers by Indian outsourcing firms is a problem in the high tech industry, although it is not the sole, nor even the primary, reason for the widespread unemployment and underemployment of highly qualified computer programmers and STEM graduates. As Norm Matloff has explained, the employment practices of American companies are even worse than their Indian counterparts, which shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s come across the ubiquitous pro-amnesty ads bankrolled by amnesty’s biggest cheerleader in Silicon Valley.

Finally, the news that there are still hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens streaming into the United States shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s been paying even perfunctory attention to the immigration reform debate occurring in Washington D.C. over the past year. While most of these aliens come from Central America, their  ultimate destination is clear. Despite the pressing need for border security, Janet Napolitano’s replacement at DHS doesn’t seem to be concerned about the waves of illegal aliens streaming across our southern border.

Mark Krikorian speculates that Mr. Johnson was installed in order to enact the wholesale version of amnesty via administrative fiat. Whether his promotion leads to stealth amnesty or is simply a savvy public relations move on the part of the Obama administration, the remainder of this year will provide some interesting clues as to how the anti-citizen party will proceed in its path to electoral hegemony.

Stay tuned…

In order to illustrate what havoc our government’s encouragement of bad actors like Wahabbist theocracies like Qatar and Saudi Arabia-not to say nothing of Turkey’s latest sultan-we’re going to share video footage that is beyond disturbing. We should preface this with a strong warning that the video you’re about to watch is gruesome, but an example, nevertheless, of why we need to stop interfering in conflicts where there is no exigent United States foreign policy or national security interest.

With that said, here is the latest abomination to occur within Syria.

The DC March for Jobs is less than a week away! Although the chartered bus  from New Jersey is no longer available, there are still available buses for those willing to make the trek from other parts of the country. Even as the Congressional Black Caucus turns its back on its constituents, the Black American Leadership Alliance is standing up for the millions of Americans who are struggling to find work in a job market that has seen virtually no net job growth among citizens over the past decade.

Joint Leah Durant, Senator Ted Cruz, distinguished scholar Peter Kirsanow and other American patriots next week as they stand up in defense of border security, employment, and equity for American citizens!

The purpose of  last Wednesday’s events, like the marches and rallies staged on Cinco de Mayo, was to pressure elected officials in Washington D.C. into repeating the same disastrous mistakes of the past. In this case, a wholesale amnesty which would cost upwards of six trillion dollars in the coming decades. While most of the people gathered in Union Square were open borders advocates of one sort or another, there was a spirited contingent of counter-protestors from New Yorkers for Immigration Control and Enforcement, a.k.a. NY ICE, whom I’ll get to in due time.

There were several journalists eager to cover the pro-legalization marchers, including a reporter-and I use that term advisedly-from the New York City affiliate of Noticias Mundo, a Spanish-language collaboration between Colombian channel RCN and cheap labor enthusiast Rupert Murdorch’s chief American asset, Newscorp.

And while there were many people agitated over the immigration-and the various proposals floating around Congress that purport to address the subject-as with any reasonably large demonstration spearheaded by the left, mission creep was evident from the beginning. The issue sprawl ranged all the way from global concerns, such as the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership…

…to more localized grievances, such as the cascading effects of the U.S. Postal Service’s insolvency, as well as the recently resolved school bus strike in the City.

The parlous state of our city’s public education system was also addressed-in both English and Spanish.

And of course, plenty of protesters blamed the dreaded process of sequestration-whose impact verges on the apocalyptic according to some analysts-for the plight of specific ethnic groups and economic classes.

The Sequester Game was an attempt to inject some levity into an otherwise earnest day of political sloganeering and ideological indoctrination.

One that drew upon traditional May Day tropes, such as this Maypole inscribed with exhortations to pursue various political projects of concern to the left. Although traditionally viewed as a festival heralding the arrival of spring, it is now an occasion which has been colonized by  those with a Marxist interpretation of history.

The top of the pole was graced by a papier-mâché babushka bearing a placard with a statement just as  ambiguous as her facial expression. 

I saw a few familiar faces in the crowd, including the attractive young rollerblader who played the part of  a money bunny at an Occupy Wall Street rally held in Bryant Park last year. Rather than targeting her ire at Herr Bloomberg-whose last term is mercifully drawing to a close-she took aim at some of the investment banks which have balanced their ledger sheet by feeding at the public trough. One of the most conspicuous offenders in this regard, CEO of JP Morgan Chase Jamie Dimon, is depicted in the effigy seen above. A man who not only benefits from outright wealth transfers from American taxpayers, but also regulatory structures that inhibit competition. Pretty much the antithesis of capitalism, as it’s correctly understand.

One group that continues to loosely align itself with OWS is Anonymous.

If nothing else, the market for Guy Fawkes masks remains robust.

Although I’m not sure wearing them while manning literature tables is their intended usage.

Speaking of literature booths, there were a lot of them in Union Square Park, including those run by Marx’s bête noire, i.e. anarchists.

They had a variety of pamphlets, including one exploring the concept of jury nullification.

Socialism today, socialism tomorrow, socialism…well, you get the picture.

The alternative to what? Prosperity and freedom, perhaps. Unfortunately, socialism and/or corporatism is the default economic setting for much of the world today, with a few notable exceptions.

The apex of socialism, of course, can be found in the proposition that the state exercises final authority over  its subjects’ bodies. Notwithstanding the fact that the lawmakers who crafted Obamacare are already fleeing from its consequences, there are still millions of people willing to go further down the rabbit hole of wholly socialized medicine.

I’m sure among those can be counted the Trotskyists who were gathered in Union Square.

As well as the small coterie of Bolsheviks I found as I made my way through the police barricades erected in anticipation of this event.

The woman wearing the strange, black and green biohazard cap was apparently in charge of this group, although to what purpose its members were being put is beyond my ken.

What I did glean from my encounter with the useful idiots-who weren’t so useful in this case-was that they had a problem being photographed.  I discovered this after having a conversation with the Don Pedro fan seen in the picture above. The idea that anyone would express a natural curiosity in people wandering around Manhattan wearing t-shirts extolling an ideology that has murdered between 50 and 100 million people, and deprived tens of millions more of their liberty, never seemed to cross their minds, such as they are.

Patiently explaining my purpose merely seemed to heighten his anxiety, especially after I gave him my business card and told him the name of this website. This is a brief recapitulation of our exchange:

Communist: American Rattlesnake? I don’t know if I like that name.

Me: Why are you disturbed by the name?

Communist: Because most of the time…that rattlesnake thing is for reactionaries and fascists who wave the American flag!

Me: Like the Latino family standing next to the George Washington statue? 

Communist: That’s different! 

Me: How so? 

Communist: Mmm…

(Followed by a minute of so of silence and a stupefyingly dull facial expression.)

I can’t say that I expected a more welcome reaction from the dozen or so emissaries of Bob Avakian, the founder and head of a bizarre personality cult called the Revolutionary Communist Party.

If the Shepard Fairey-like silkscreened t-shirts bearing Avakian’s youthful visage aren’t enough to set off alarm bells, a brief excursion to the RCP’s website-which gives North Korean propaganda a run for its money in the weirdness department-should be enough to persuade you that these people are certifiably insane.

One of the recurring mantras of the Avakian supplicants is that the “real revolution” is imminent, and that you should get with it immediately.

Or entrale a la verdadera revolucion, if you prefer. In either case, it’s redolent more of a Marshall Applewhite-led Heaven’s Gate initiation than scientific socialism.

Nevertheless, the declamation of  revolutionary Communism must go on, even if mesh, pop-up hampers must take the place of wooden rostra and bullhorns. Evolution, my friends!

In addition to cyberspace, the proteges of Avakian also broadcast their incredibly delusional message through the cutting edge technology of dead trees, which bolsters the thriving industry of print journalism.

Alas, my preliminary investigation of these pioneering revolutionaries was abruptly curtailed when several of them demanded that I cease and desist taking pictures.  I can’t imagine what possible objections Communists could have to some harmless photography, but I took thge dispute in stride and calmly described-once again-the purpose of this website. After one Avakianik insisted that I give him copies of American Rattlesnake’s “newspaper,” I proceeded to explain the concept of a news website and why mass-producing a newspaper on pulp, a la Screw or The Nation, is an unnecessary and costly investment. He was not persuaded.

Therefore, I decided to make better use of my time by studying some of The Master’s doctrine, including what seems to be the handbook for all aspiring Revolutionary Communists, Basics.

A compendium of Avakian’s lectures and writings, Basics can also be used-it turns out-as a handy visual aid. In this case, as a giant mercator projection that focused on the depredations which global capitalism has inflicted upon various parts of the globe. One of the worst seems to be the manifestation of widespread famine in developing nations that have embraced the free market. Apparently, collectivism is the way to go in agriculture. Yes, a proven success.

The fact that there was widespread famine and civil strife in India during post-independence, socialist rule, and that that devastating hunger could be attributed in large measure to misguided agricultural policies, is an historical anomaly, I’m sure.

It’s impossible to attend any protest organized by the left and not be greeted by several dozen-or hundred, depending upon the turnout-t-shirts bearing the image of Ernesto “Che” Guevara Lynch, one of Ireland’s most embarrassing exports this side of Bono. Just multiply the image you see above twenty or so times and you’ll have an idea of what walking around Manhattan on May Day is like.

Less recognizable than Argentina’s Che Guevara, but still admired by Marxists of a certain age and disposition, is Africa’s Che Guevara, i.e. Thomas Sankara, the president of Burkina Faso for much of the 1980s. Another friend of Fidel, Sankara even had his version of the Young Pioneers.

In contrast to much of today’s brain-dead, multi-culti, post-modern left, Sankara was a strident opponent of such quaint cultural-religious practices as forced polygamy and female genital mutilation. However, he was in favor of armed Marxist revolution-having come to power in a coup d’état himself-and collective ownership of the means of production. Hence, his enduring popularity among a small segment of western-educated Marxists. Unlike another African ally of Che, whose successful revolution was effaced by subsequent events.

As obscure as the  former Communist president of Burkina Faso might seem, the Cuban Five-now the Cuban Four-are probably even less well known to those who aren’t aware of the extensive and capable intelligence network run by the Cuban government within the United States.

Although most Americans are oblivious to their existence, these spies serve as a potent rallying cry for the Castro regime, as well as a cause célèbre for the anti-American left. Some of you will remember the same type of literature and agitprop at previous demonstrations documented by this website.

Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised by the dedicated group of enthusiastic members of NY ICE I spotted from across the street.

Despite the balmy weather, these people are no sunshine patriots, but stalwart defenders of the Constitutional values upon which this country has thrived. They are in the streets, online, and on the phones pleading the case of ordinary Americans, year after year, regardless of the adverse political climate,  antipathy of the news media, or gamed lobbying structure of Capitol Hill.

Because they are aware of how much our government’s indulgence of illegal immigration has cost us in the past, and how much it will cost future generations of Americans if we don’t address this issue.

With real, substantive solutions, not the regurgitation of false rhetoric and the promise of deterrent measures which will never be implemented if and when the ultimate goal of immigration reform advocates, i.e. amnesty, is achieved.

If we’re going to look at adjusting our nation’s immigration policies, a good place to start would be with the words of our nation’s founding fathers, who remain a much better guidepost to wise decision-making than their dismal successors. If we really want to honor the labor of working Americans, we should start by rejecting plans that

That is Congressman Ron Paul, speaking to a surprisingly large crowd of supporters on the extremely wet lawn of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania the day before today’s Republican presidential primary. The site where this nation’s founding charter was drafted was an apt forum for a candidate whose entire campaign is based upon a return to Constitutional, i.e. limited, government. As it turned out, the city of Philadelphia provided the perfect venue for illustrating the chasm between the country conceived by the nation’s founders-whose powers were circumscribed and few, and chiefly designed to ensure the protection of personal liberties-and the nation in which we currently live, whose government endorses the confiscation of private property and mandates the purchase of health insurance in order to enrich well-connected corporate interests.

The diminution of traditionally enjoyed freedoms was illuminated by my  friends’ encounter with a security guard policing the Federal Detention Center of Philadelphia. As they began to snap a photo in front of the building-an activity universal to out of towners-they were admonished not to take pictures, lest they have their cameras and recording devices seized. Although taking photographs of federal buildings is a perfectly legitimate, legal activity-news that hasn’t reached the City of Brotherly Love, evidently-we were told that we couldn’t take any pictures in that vicinity. When asked why this activity was prohibited, we were told it was because of “terrorism” concerns, which engendered a five minute-long argument that resembled a scene from Family Guy.

After debating the criminalization of constitutionally protected behavior, we proceeded to walk to the End the Fed rally held in front of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, which preceded the day’s main event, Philadelphia Phreedom. Luckily, we found a fleet of vans and cars that pointed us in the right direction.

As the slogan above indicates, one of the sponsors of the End the Fed rally was Veterans for Ron Paul. Although the crux of this event’s message consisted of a critique of the Federal Reserve’s manipulation of federal monetary policy,

Another recurring talking point was the consistent support Ron Paul receives among active duty service members and veterans of the Armed Forces, a fact attested to by the large number of donations these two groups collectively give to Ron Paul’s presidential campaign.

There was an attempt by the rally’s organizers to bring the two seemingly divergent themes together.

The scheduled roster of speakers included a number of military veterans, including insurgent congressional candidate Karen Kwiatowski and Adam Kokesh, late of Russia Today.

Kokesh emphasized the foreign policy and national security dimensions of Rep. Paul’s campaign, referencing his promise not to engage in any military conflict that hasn’t explicitly been authorized through a congressional declaration of war.

The policy of non-intervention and national self defense espoused by Paul was invoked repeatedly throughout the day, a particularly resonant theme in an election year where two major military incursions were undertaken in pursuit of goals that are ambiguous, and potentially counterproductive to American security interests.

The backdrop to this city provided some interesting optics for anti-war activists in general, illustrated by this statue of a Civil War Era officer whose steed’s hindquarters have been affixed with a poster ridiculing the bipartisan consensus on warfare. In this case, the overwhelming congressional support given to an open-ended search for Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, the target of an effective viral video campaign by Invisible Children, a dubious non-profit opposed to the Lord’s Resistance Army.

Interestingly enough, this statue preceded another one honoring President William McKinley, the man who presided over the Spanish-American War. For those of you who may not recall, America’s involvement in that conflict was precipitated to a large degree by yellow journalism, a less interactive-but equally potent-predecessor to Youtube and social media websites.

Not every piece of art was relevant to the themes of Philadelphia Phreedom though, as this amorphous, abstract sculpture demonstrates.

In addition to the issues of war and peace, a number of other significant problems with our current government were identified, including the current Internal Revenue Code, which-as the sign below illustrates-Ron Paul has promised to do away with, should he be afforded the opportunity as President.

Beyond highlighting specific policy planks, the overriding message of both the End the Fed event and the larger Philly Phreedom rally was the revolutionary message of the Paul campaign, insofar as his beliefs are in contradiction to not only what the two presumptive presidential nominees-and their respective parties-believe, but in opposition to the current mindset that animates Washington D.C. and how the federal government operates.

One thing that I took away from the day’s events was the impression that supporters of the Ron Paul campaign were not merely content to champion the presidential ambitions of a single man-even if it was a man who embodied their beliefs and hopes for this country-but instead were committed to building a much broader and more resilient liberty movement for future generations of Americans.

Like most Ron Paul rallies, this event took some jabs at the perceived media bias against his presidential campaign, a criticism echoed, albeit in a more calculated way, by  supporters of the Media Research Center, who used the occasion to distribute Don’t Believe The Liberal Media signs. However, I was gratified when attempts by Alex Jones fans to exploit the event for their own purposes were met mostly with indifference-perhaps a sign of the growing maturity of the liberty movement-although, as you can see below, they were not completely unsuccessful in promoting their website.

After the rally in front of the Federal Reserve had concluded, the participants began to march around the Center City District of Philadelphia, a procession that would ultimately end up in front of Independence Hall for the main portion of Philadelphia Phreedom, which culminated in a keynote address by Rep. Paul.

As you can see, the weather conditions were far from ideal for an open-air event.

Although some individuals used the inclement weather to their advantage.

The demands for abolition of the Federal Reserve continued after leaving for Independence Hall, with many of the same protestors enthusiastically shouting, ‘END THE FED.’

The crushing national debt placed upon ordinary Americans by the actions of the Federal Reserve and Congress was creatively illustrated by this man:

The historical significance of both the setting and the campaign for which they were assembled was reflected by this man’s hooded sweatshirt-probably more appropriate attire than the t-shirt and thin dress shirt I was wearing for most of the day.

In my next post I’ll give you my thoughts on the rest of Philadelphia Phreedom, including the speeches made by Ron Paul and his surrogates on the lawn of Independence Hall.

Speaking of Michele Bachmann, she’s released a comprehensive immigration plan that would incrementally deport the estimated 11 million illegal aliens currently living in the United States. In addition to implementing a policy of enforcement through attrition, she would construct a border fence along the Mexican-American border, mandate that English be this nation’s official language, and do away with birthright citizenship. In a must-listen interview with Laura Ingraham, she also takes Newt Gingrich to task for his amnesty lite plan, which couldn’t differ more starkly from the Bachmann platform.

In disturbing news, the House of of Representatives has rubber stamped a bill that would exacerbate one of the most damaging aspects of our current immigration policy, i.e. chain migration. While the useful idiots in the mainstream media have attempted to portray this bill as benefitting high-skilled immigrants from China and India who want to remain in the United States, the true beneficiaries of this-should it be enacted into law-will be thousands of distant relatives from countries like Mexico sponsored by newly minted American citizens. Any time you hear the word “bipartisanship” your attenae as American citizens should go up, and this is no different. When the leader of the National Immigration Forum-one of the legal and political spearheads of the open borders movement-and Chuck Schumer support something, it’s usually a good idea to oppose it. Unfortunately, that’s not what the Republican-led Congress did, and we’re so much the worse for it.

In a shameful example of the depths to which the fifth estate will stoop in order to promote their open borders agenda, the tragic suicide of a young man named Joaquin Luna is being manipulated by the mainstream media in order to promote the DREAM Act, which has been repeatedly and emphatically rejected by Congress since it was first introduced over a decade ago. The good folks at Newsbusters have an astute analysis of the despicable manner in which just one media outlet-in this case, CNN-has attempted to politicize this personal tragedy.

One of the real tragedies of the immigration debate-such as it is-that we’re having in this country is the distortive effect the media has when it comes to prioritizing issues. Instead of focusing on the potential illegal alien recipients of taxpayer largesse, why aren’t we discussing the amount of carnage illegals are cumulatively inflicting upon our society? Jim Kouri has a must-read piece highlighting a buried government report that examines the damage they have caused by creating some of the most destrutive forest fires in our country’s southwest, particularly Arizona. It’s rare that I compliment John McCain, but I agree with The Blaze’s assessment that the GAO report vindicates previous public statements he’s made on this matter.

In news closer to home, a New Jersey judge has ordered the deportation of a woman who is allegedly being targeted by a Guatemalan gang called Valle del Sol while allowing her sister to remain the United States indefinitely. The extent of gang influence in Latin America is staggering, demonstrated once again by the open declaration of war on American and Mexican authorities recently issued by Los Zetas, perhaps the most feared narco-cartel in the country of Mexico.

In a case eerily similar to Operation Fast and Furious, the United States government is now facing calls for investigation into a money laundering operation undertaken by the Drug Enforcement Administration in an attempt to find patterns among Mexican drug trafficking criminal syndicates.

Staying in Mexico, we find a claim by Mexican authorities that they’ve foiled an international conspiracy by one of the late dictator Mouammar Kadhafi’s fugitive sons to escape Libya through illegal passage into Mexico. This story would be worthy of mockery if the impact of Mexican illegal immigration-facilitated by the Mexican government itself-weren’t such a grave matter.

In yet more news of immigration fraud that endangers our nation, a woman living in Rancho Cucamonga  has been arrested for bringing in unauthorized foreign students to train at her flight school under fraudulent visas. For those of you who are regular followers of American Rattlesnake, this story will sound very familiar. Apparently, our government has learned very little from September 11th.

In contrast, the government of Israel seems to be learning very rapidly how much damage an open door policy can inflict upon a nation’s sovereignty. That’s why Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai has come out publicly and stated that African economic migrants-from predominately Muslim nations like Eritrea and Sudan-will no longer be welcomed with open arms by the Jewish state. The national identity of Israel may very well be imperiled by overly generous asylum policies, a lesson that we in North America  have yet to absorb.

Last but not least, we’re pleased to bring you another incisive, amusing take on the skewed priorities of our federal government, courtesy of Anthony Bialy. Even as this administration waves the white flag on illegal alien border jumpers, it continues its war against hippie drug paraphernalia. Only in America, and only under the Obama administration.

There are a number of lessons to be gleaned from the rapidly imploding criminal case against the former head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Beyond the usual, insincere breast-beating and lamentation over the media’s predictable rush to judgement, as well as questions of whether the traditional perp walk is a violation of a defendant’s due process rights, there is a much broader discussion that has yet to be broached. And that discussion entails the morass of fraud that lies at the heart of our country’s immigration system, especially the application process for potential asylum-seekers. 

The New York Post had an extensive analysis of why the credibility of DSK’s accuser has been called into question in yesterday’s edition. Although there are numerous accusations being leveled against the Guinean maid, including charges of tax evasion and lying about the aftermath of the alleged sexual assault by Khan, the allegations that I’d like to explore involve the deception she employed in order to get into this country in the first place.

One of ugly truths that the rah-rah, open borders at any cost crowd refuses to admit-but which is acknowledged by almost anyone else with a shred of integrity-is that political asylees and foreigners applying for refugee status in Western countries, including the United States, lie. They lie in order to gain access to the bounty that is Western Europe, or Australia, or North America-Mexico excluded-and they lie in order to protect their status within these very special places once they have arrived there. So the fact that this woman created an elaborate patchwork of lies, starting with a fictitious gang-rape that allegedly took place within her home country of Guinea, in order to gain political asylum  is not surprising in the least. In fact, those of you with good memories might recall the case of Adelaide Abankwah, a phony Nigerian “princess” whose story of  a potential clitoridectomy gained her the favor of our own esteemed, open borders pinheads, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and Senator Chuck Schumer. Interestingly enough, Mr. Strauss-Khan’s accuser also maintains that she was the victim of genital mutilation-and that her daughter in Guinea is under threat of FGM-a claim that might or might not withstand increased media scrutiny in the coming days. The similarities between these two examples of West African immigration scams might strike some as uncanny, until, that is, you remember that this sort of deception is par for the course.

Misrepresenting your circumstances in order to remain in a wealthy, industrialized nation is such a common occurrence that women’s rights activist and Islamic apostate Ayaan Hirsi Ali devotes an entire chapter to her own asylum case in her engrossing memoir, Nomad. She readily admits that she lied during the application process in order to avoid an arranged marriage and remain in The Netherlands, and that most asylum-seekers also fudge the facts in their cases, for better or worse. The mendacity of asylum-seekers is so widespread-it can be said to be almost universal-that it was satirized in a Steven Spielberg-directed film called The Terminal, a tedious comedy starring Tom Hanks as a wholesome immigrant who is forced to live inside of an airport because of overly officious Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureaucrats.

And if you think immigration fraud is limited to the United States, then you obviously haven’t been an avid reader of UK tabloids and broadsheets, or a follower of the BBC, which recount cases of fraudulent asylum-seekers gaming the system on a daily basis. The only surprising part of this case, in my opinion, is the shockingly long time it took the mainstream media to investigate the claims lodged by the accuser in this case. Unfortunately, I doubt this will lead the same journalists to question the wisdom of our government’s endorsement of unfettered immigration. To the contrary, the revelation that many of her initial claims were falsehoods was accompanied-at least in the New York Times-by a series of soft focus stories lamenting the potential negative repercussions these new developments will have on Guinean immigrants living in New York City. Leave it to the drive-by media to miss the point yet again. That is why this website exists, my friends.