For those who believed the departure of Eric Holder from the national spotlight would be put an end to troublesome questions about Fast and Furious-and the obstruction of justice and abuse of power its failure unleashed-I have some bad news for you. The trial of several members of a Mexican rip crew for the death of Agent Brian Terry has reignited the discussion over how BATF-supplied weaponry made it into the hands of vicious Mexican criminals. Naturally, the federal prosecutors of these Mexican mobsters want to suppress any questioning and evidence that implicates the criminals who worked for the Obama administration, who are the chief culprits in the death of Brian Terry-to say nothing of the hundreds of Mexicans and Central Americans who may have lost their lives as a result of this debacle.

Whether or not they succeed in their ignoble quest remains to be seen. However, justice demands that the full truth of Agent Terry’s death-including the responsibility of those sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution and protect the lives of American citizens-be  revealed. Let’s hope this case helps speed it along.

If any evidence were needed that corruption and statecraft are inseparable, then the saga of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman would prove sufficient. While the wily Casanova merely escaped the Leads beneath the  Doge’s palace in Venice a single time, El Chapo has managed to spring himself from two maximum security federal prisons. This, in addition to evading the clutches of both Mexican authorities and the most powerful nation in the world for the better part of two decades. His latest vanishing act occurring this very weekend, to the surprise of a surprising number of observers, actually.

Whether his latest disappearing act can be attributed to the Sinaloa Cartel’s cozy relationship with certain members of Mexico’s Institutional (Ruling) Party, or to the troubling accusations made regarding its ties to our government, or simply to a particularly lax penal policy, remains to be seen. However, it’s always worth asking these questions, especially when the people who might provide us with answers seem so reluctant to do so.

Many of you will remember this site’s description of El Narco, a wonderfully illuminating and disturbing look into the world of the transnational cartels which have embedded themselves within Mexican society written by British investigative journalist Ioan Grillo. Mr. Grillo has just published an insightful op-ed, in the New York Times that explores the grisly discovery of a fresh batch of corpses on the outskirts of the city of Iguala, which lies just a little over sixty miles away from the capital of Guerrero State in southwestern Mexico.

Some of the unfortunate victims of his horrific crime may have been students from a teacher-training college with a history of activism associated with leftist political causes. The overlapping themes of crime, social equality and class divisions, and extensive political corruption make identifying the actual culprits in this massacre difficult, as does a wholly dysfunctional criminal justice system that allows between 60 and 80 percent of murders to remain unsolved.

Reporters like Mr. Grillo and others like him deserve credit for attempting to shed light upon what is one of the most opaque, convoluted subjects related to contemporary Mexico.

Kudos to intrepid investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson for bringing attention to a noble cause. As most of you know, the investigation into the death of Agent Brian Terry at the hands of Mexican narco-insurgents has gone nowhere for nearly the past four years, in no small part due to the obstruction of this administration. Even so, the friends and family of Brian have never stopped speaking out on behalf of justice.

One of the ways they have done so is by establishing the Brian Terry Foundation, which not only spreads awareness of the Obama administration’s Fast and Furious gunwalking debacle but helps out those who have been victimized by the failure to secure our nation’s borders.

To that end, Erik “Trek” Utrecht will bicycle from his hometown of Flat Rock, Michigan, Brian Terry’s hometown, to Bisbee, Arizona-home of the Brian Terry Border Patrol Station-beginning September 15th. You can find more information-including how you can contribute to it-on the Brian Terry Foundation website.

Kudos to the Newshour for highlighting the threats posed to America from the unsecured stretch of land in America’s southwest as well as the Rio Grande Valley, which has become a pipeline for illegal immigration from Mexico. The growth of criminal insurgents from south of the border is another issue that needs to be highlighted, as in Ioan Grillo’s magisterial work about Mexico’s global criminal syndicates, El Narco. 

After listening to Gary Thrasher, it’s not hard to figure out why the morale of American Border Patrol agents is at an all-time low. You can read a transcript of his interview on the Newshour’s website. 

One of the overlooked aspects of this country’s problem dealing with illegal aliens is the subset of this population which comes from Central America, often at great risk to life and limb. The treacherous route these migrants take  north relies upon a network of freight trains known as La Bestia, (The Beast), or El tren de la muerte, i.e. the train of death, which is self-explanatory. A fascinating new work by a young Salvadorian writer explores the nature of this perilous journey, which often leaves those who survive it permanently impaired, either physically or psychologically.

A group of these victims-originally from Honduras-is now petitioning the Mexican Senate to allow them to come into the United States without being detained and/or prosecuted. It’s good to see the pervasive violence visited upon Central Americans living in Mexico explored by the same media which routinely airs the grievances, however trivial, of Mexican illegal immigrants. One would hope that this awareness would extend to their reportage about the American side of the debate, re: illegal immigration, which never seems to recognize the humanity with which this country treats people who, after all, have committed a crime. Not that this generosity of spirit is often reciprocated.

Perhaps this is a sign that reporters are attempting to portray a fuller, more accurate picture of illegal immigration to America. Then again, maybe not.

For those readers within the greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area who would like to attend the event, you can find directions to the event here.

 4568 E Cactus Rd

Phoenix, AZ 85032

(602) 996-8840

For those of you unable to attend, here is an illuminating interview of Agent Taylor by Glenn Beck, which illustrates the atrocities that occur along the Mexican-American border at an alarmingly frequent rate.

h/t Brandy Baron

The scale of the problem we face on our southern border is often hard for Americans living outside of border states to comprehend. We’ve explored the havoc wreaked, both physically and psychically, by Mexican organized crime on this website at some length, but in order to grasp the magnitude of this problem you need to see it mapped out in real-time.   The Border Global Incident Map does precisely that, giving novices a live feed of every significant incident involving global drug, terrorist and human smuggling cartels which takes place in the Western Hemisphere.

We urge anyone who has an interest in this fascinating, sometimes disturbing, subject to check it out, if only to discover what news this country’s legacy media is ignoring in its quest to see yet another disastrous amnesty scheme enacted.

With the unfortunate news that Eric Holder is going to remain in his position as head of the Department of Justice for the second Obama term-at least for the foreseeable future-it’s only fitting that we take a cursory glance at the defining moment of his tenure as Attorney General. I refer, of course, to Operation Fast and Furious, which let high powered arms-of the sort demonized by anti-2nd Amendment demagogues and Holder apologists Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein-walk into the hands of ruthless Mexican drug cartels with the encouragement and under the leadership of Obama appointees in the ATF and Justice Department. 

One of those individuals is former Phoenix ATF Assistant Special Agent in Charge George T. Gillett, Jr., a man who was entrusted with overseeing Fast and Furious for over half a year, beginning in late 2009. It’s now been confirmed that a gun from this lethally stupid operation has been traced back to Mr. Gillett personally. Anyone who’s followed the fallout from perhaps the single most outrageous abuse of power by the Obama administration is familiar with the casualties which have resulted from this scheme, which are spread across the entire hemisphere.

The lack of accountability throughout this administration for those officials responsible for its implementation-including Mr. Gillette and others who have been promoted in spite of their criminality-should be astonishing, but is in fact reflective of the habitual blame-shifting and hypocrisy at the heart of Barack Obama’s presidency. What’s more, it reflects the inherent double standards that animate our government, which seeks to deny innocent American citizens their constitutional rights even as its leaders promulgate illegal policies that lead to the deaths of hundreds of innocent civilians abroad.

The same Capitol Hill gasbags eager to erode the 2nd Amendment in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre, a campaign based upon non-existent facts, are the first to defend Eric Holder and Justice Department officials under whose purview Fast and Furious unfolded, and who have done everything in their power to obstruct congressional investigations into their actions.

Whether we will make any progress in achieving justice during the President’s second term is debatable. Will the media-with a few commendable exceptions-continue to cover up for the malicious actions of government officials? Will the senators who installed Eric Holder into his lofty position begin to question their unfailing loyalty to an Attorney General who has lost the confidence of the American public and, to a great degree, Congress?

We shall see. Something that this latest revelation confirms is that elections do have consequences, some of them fatal.