Free Republic

Secretary Chertoff is riding into the sunset—dragging the fence behind him. As mentioned in yesterday’s immigration blog by Steve Elliott the Sun Sets on the Border Fence On 12/31/08. This sunset provision of the Omnibus bill H.R. 2764 declares that the Secretary of Homeland Security loses all authority to build the fence—even if he wants to. However, even with the authority to build the fence, the Secretary has been lazy in using it. In a February 22, press release he claims that the Department of Homeland Security has built 302.4 miles of combination pedestrian and vehicle fencing and well on...

It's my birthday today. And, if I had one birthday wish, it would be the firing of Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff. Maybe, though, I should go further. I think I would wish for the elimination of the entire Department of Homeland Security, a boondoggle of almost unimaginable proportions. Take it from someone who knows quite a few Homeland Security employees, this is a do-nothing, paper-shuffling agency. It's full of many well-intended people who would like to make their country safer but are actually prevented from doing so by this monolithic bureaucracy that would make the old Soviet Union look...

The six imams removed from a US Airways flight last week have apparently adopted my suggestion that if they really want to protest the airline, instead of boycotting US Airways, they should start flying it frequently. The spokesman for the imams — or as I believe it's phrased in their culture, "designated liar" — Omar Shahin, staged a protest at Reagan Washington National Airport on Monday, after which, according to The Associated Press, "he and other religious leaders boarded a US Airways flight to demonstrate their determination to continue praying and flying." The original six imams removed from the flight...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Talk-show host Rush Limbaugh is canceling his international travel plans in the near future, saying he doesn't want to be "framed" by U.S. Customs officials after last week's incident when he was detained for more than three hours for possession of Viagra prescribed in his doctor's name. "It takes one time, and I've got red flags up, and I'm not going to put myself in the position of being framed," Limbaugh said today on his national radio broadcast. "With all this partisanship that's out there, I'm just not going to make it easy for people...

WASHINGTON -- The Homeland Security Department can't implement proposed personnel rules because they improperly limit the ability of labor unions to bargain over working conditions, a federal appeals panel ruled Tuesday. The system of regulations proposed early in 2005 by the federal agency "renders collective bargaining meaningless and is utterly unreasonable and thus impermissible," the unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said. Their strongly worded ruling upheld portions of federal District Court rulings last year and also expanded the protections of unions to bargain for worker rights. The department's proposed rules...

(snip)... "Ours is a system that rewards criminals, facilitates the movement of terrorists, (and) supports foreign agents," said Maxwell, who had been in charge of the Office of Security and Investigations at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services until resigning in February. ...snip...Maxwell testified before the House International Relations Committee's terrorism and nonproliferation panel. He alleged that the agency has awarded immigrant benefits, including citizenship, without complete background checks. In addition, he said, the agency has failed to investigate more than 500 criminal complaints against its own employees for allegations that include bribery, harboring illegals, money laundering and aiding known terrorists...

America's main immigration agency hired a suspected Iraqi spy and let him decide if asylum seekers from the Middle East should be allowed to stay, a former senior official has revealed. Michael Maxwell, former chief investigator at US Citizenship and Immigration Services, said the man made 180 rulings on asylum claims. A check of those allowed in suggested that about two dozen should have faced questioning on national security issues. "Ours is a system that rewards criminals, facilitates the movement of terrorists, [and] supports foreign agents," he told a congressional committee. An agency spokesman said its main aim "continues to...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Under pressure to produce broad immigration reform legislation by the end of the month, a U.S. Senate panel on Thursday neared agreement on a proposal that would give some of the 12 million illegal aliens living in the country an opportunity to earn citizenship. Although no vote will be held until after a weeklong congressional recess, the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday appeared ready to back a proposal by panel member Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, who has worked on the issue with his Republican colleague John McCain of Arizona. The panel, which is working on...

Some critics have suggested that Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine did not exactly wow ’em in his role as presenter of the Democratic response to the president’s State of the Union address. It’s true, he didn’t. But the real problem wasn’t Kaine. It was the Democratic response. And — as usual — the problem with the Democratic response was national security. Kaine started out promisingly enough, citing the president’s commitment to win the war on terrorism and support the troops. “Every American embraces those goals,” Kaine said. “We can — we must — defeat those who attack and kill innocent people.”...

WHY WE DON'T TRUST YOU WITH NATIONAL SECURITY January 4, 2006 It seems the Bush administration — being a group of sane, informed adults — has been secretly tapping Arab terrorists without warrants. During the CIA raids in Afghanistan in early 2002 that captured Abu Zubaydah and his associates, the government seized computers, cell phones and personal phone books. Soon after the raids, the National Security Agency began trying to listen to calls placed to the phone numbers found in al-Qaida Rolodexes. That was true even if you were "an American citizen" making the call from U.S. territory — like...

Former Vice President Al Gore today invoked Martin Luther King’s legacy in a wide-ranging attack on President Bush’s handling of war on terror—accusing the president of breaking the law and calling the war in Iraq a “colossal mistake.” Gore delivered an animated and passionate speech that latest nearly 90 minutes. His address was co-sponsored by the American Constitution Society and Liberty Coalition. MoveOn.org heavily promoted the event to its members. Much of Gore’s speech was devoted to Bush’s national security initiatives, including the domestic eavesdropping program that Democrats have tried to seize as an issue for the 2006 midterm elections....

Asserts Bush should be investigated for lying to Americans, breaking law Posted: December 30, 2005 5:00 p.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Accusing President Bush of breaking the law and lying to the American people, the American Civil Liberties Union today condemned a Justice Department investigation into the leak of the National Security Agency's operation to eavesdrop on suspected terrorists. The Justice Department announced the investigation today of disclosures to The New York Times about surveillance conducted without warrants on calls between U.S. citizens and terrorists in foreign countries since the Sept. 11 attacks. Administration officials argue the president had the...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Support for building a 2,000-mile fence to separate the United States from Mexico is growing as new warnings of terrorist entry have been added to the threat. This week, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee introduced a bill calling for the steel and wire fence, and more than 20 other lawmakers have signed on to it, USA Today reported. Hunter is proposing a fence from San Diego to Brownsville, Texas. "It's no longer just an immigration issue. It's now a national security issue," he said. While the Homeland Security Department...

The Department of Homeland Security announced a new plan to secure the nation's borders with Mexico and Canada, hinging its latest effort on a temporary worker program, more agents and more resources on the border. The Secure Border Initiative was announced by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in Houston. And in Washington, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales stressed the need for a temporary-worker program - something President Bush has been pushing for nearly two years. The immigration and border enforcement initiative comes just days before President Bush is scheduled to attend the opening day of the Summit of the Americas...

The discovery of a stolen, $7 million private charter jet at Briscoe Field in Gwinnett County has left investigators baffled as to why it was taken and who might have piloted it to Georgia. "Someone really knew what they were doing in order to fly this so, again, there's nothing to indicate any type of sinister overtones but the fact is someone highly trained did take this airplane," said Officer Darren Moloney of the Gwinnett Police Department. Several of the department's detectives returned to Briscoe Field on Tuesday and scoured the 10-passenger plane's interior. They reported finding no drugs or...

<p>Just heard as news alert on Fox News. One beieved dead. No other details.</p>

Property rights activists wary about agency’s ability to overstep legislation McALLEN — A security fence in California could have future implications for land owners in the Rio Grande Valley and elsewhere along the United States’ borders. The federal government announced Wednesday it will use a broad law embedded in May’s emergency war appropriations and tsunami relief act to override federal environmental legislation that protects land along the California-Mexico border, which is home to endangered species. The environmental law’s waiver is so the federal government can complete a three-tiered, 14-mile-long fence, replete with sensors, roads and surveillance — the only thing...

The good news is Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff this week acknowledged we have a problem with our border. The bad news is his solution is more judges and lawyers, not fences and enforcement agents. There's no question Washington is becoming aware of the growing public frustration over the way our country is being invaded – not just by illegal aliens seeking work, but criminals, drug dealers and terrorists. "The American public is rightly distressed about a situation in which they feel we do not have the proper control over our borders," Chertoff said in one of the great understatements...

DOLING OUT CRITICAL Homeland Security funds to cities and counties perceived to be at the greatest risk of terrorist attacks makes perfect sense -- at least outside the politically charged chambers of the U.S. Senate. Unfortunately, its members recently voted to treat all states almost equally when it comes to providing $2.9 billion in federal security grants -- essentially making little distinction between the risk of a terrorist attack on wheat fields in the Midwest and densely populated cities on the East and West coasts. Dipping into the public trough for favored home districts is a time- honored tradition in...

GREGORY ALAN GROSS / Union-Tribune A Border Patrol agent scans the horizon for signs of the driver of a drug-laden truck who fled after shooting an agent in the leg. LIVE OAK SPRINGS -- A U.S. Border Patrol agent was wounded in the leg by a shotgun blast Friday morning when he tried to intercept a pickup truck loaded with hundreds of pounds of narcotics.The unidentified agent, who is based in Campo, was taken by ambulance to a hospital. His wounds were not life-threatening, according to a Border Patrol spokesman.Heavily-armed Border Patrol agents, backed by Sheriff's deputies and California...

INVASION USA Homeland Security bill lets illegals go free Without more detention facilities, 'other-than-Mexicans' must be released Posted: May 22, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com The president of a labor organization representing Border Patrol employees and a Texas congressman are criticizing the House's recently passed Homeland Security bill for failing to fund construction of new detention facilities to hold illegal border-crossers from countries other than Mexico, resulting in their automatic release pending a later hearing date. HR 1817, the Department of Homeland Security authorization bill passed last Wednesday by the House, approved adding 2,000 new Border Patrol agents,...

Three years and eight months after the terrorist attacks that changed our lives and after spending $4.5 billion on screening devices to monitor airports, seaports, mail and the air we breathe, the Department of Homeland Security has acknowledged what many of us frequent fliers already suspected. The money was misspent on equipment that has failed to do the job. As with most things governmental, failure does not mean having to try something else. It means spending more money on even more expensive equipment. Among the problems associated with the current equipment, as detailed in last Sunday's New York Times, are...

Three British men were indicted yesterday in New York and charged with plotting attacks with "improvised explosive devices and bombs" on several major financial institutions in New York, New Jersey and Washington, DC. Evidently, the leader of the group, Dhiren Barot (among other names) applied to college in New York to avoid suspicion about his frequent trips to the United States, although there are no records that Barot attended any classes or even enrolled at the college once he was accepted. Details of the indictment suggest that the goal of the conspiracy was "to kill as many Americans as possible"....

No issue, not one, threatens to do more damage to the Republican coalition than immigration. There's no issue where the beliefs and interests of the party rank-and-file diverge more radically from the beliefs and interests of the party's leaders. Immigration for Republicans in 2005 is what crime was for Democrats in 1965 or abortion in 1975: a vulnerable point at which a strong-minded opponent could drive a wedge that would shatter the GOP. President Bush won reelection because he won 10 million more votes in 2004 than he did in 2000. Who were these people? According to Ruy Teixeira —...

2004 was a good year for terrorists, violent gang members, law-breakers and fraud artists seeking safe haven in America. Let's reminisce: The rise of MS-13. The savage El Salvador-based gang, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), has now penetrated more than a dozen states. In May, a Fairfax, Va., teenager had his fingers chopped off in an MS-13 machete attack. In November, Washington, D.C.-area police received warning that MS-13 is plotting to ambush and kill them when they respond to service calls. Active in alien, drug and weapons smuggling, MS-13 members in America have been tied to numerous killings, robberies, carjackings, extortions and...

HOMELAND INSECURITY Patriot Act II – is it a prudent step to stem terrorist activity in the U.S. and protect the homeland, or a Draconian measure designed to strip the last vestiges of freedom from the American landscape? Such is the question increasingly on the minds of Internet users, many of whom come down squarely on the side of legal experts who warn of the legislation's danger. Though an actual bill to further expand federal law-enforcement powers has not been introduced, activists for months have communicated online about what they see as potential Nazi-like developments. The first USA Patriot Act...

Those still pushing for the expansive powers that the naming of a Cabinet-level director of national intelligence would bring would do well to review what's been going on over at the Department of Homeland Security. It's not a pretty sight in some of the gargantuan agency's corners. But it is a pretty good example of the failures of a centralized command and control structure. Things appear to be particularly bad at U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement. And many of the complaints are coming from higher-up supervisors. As reported by The Washington Times, gathering and sharing intelligence is abysmal. Investigations can't...

Just announced by Sean.

During the debate Mr. Kerry accused Mr. Bush of adding to nuclear proliferation by building nuclear bunker busting bombs. He said he would eleminate "all" nuclear proliferation during the next four years. Does Mr. Kerry have in mind standing before the U.N. and proposing the elimination of all nuclear weapons among all nations as a condition for the rogue states to stop their development of bombs? Do we see a replay of the Carter/Kerry 1980's plan to freeze nuclear weapons?

What John Kerry Wants for AmericaGun owner faces abuse by Boston Police when trying to renew CCW GOAL ( The Gun Owners Action League) received this account from a gun owner in Boston who is trying to renew an existing license to carry firearms. According to GOAL, this guy is a long-time resident of Boston and a long-time firearms owner. Never presented with a list of items he had to bring-in for renewal, the Boston Police Department has, at each renewal, waited until he has arrived before they have demanded new items he has not brought with him. This year,...

Democratic partisans, notably Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, are howling about the timing of the revelation that Clinton National Security Advisor Samuel “Sandy” Berger is under criminal investigation.  They contend the sensational allegation that he was observed by National Archives personnel stuffing highly classified documents into his clothing, and then "accidentally disposing” of some of them, is coming out now for a cynical political reason: In order to divert attention from the criticisms of the Bush Administration expected in the 9/11 Commission report due to be released today.   In fact, far from distracting the public from the factors that contributed to...

Even scarier the second time around.

Kerry Promises a Plan for Making Some Kind of Nuke Plan - PORT OF PALM BEACH, Florida — Accusing President Bush of not doing enough to prevent nuclear terrorism, John Kerry promised a plan yesterday to develop a new plan to create a strategy for producing a formula that could result in a procedure for creating some kind of plan to prevent nuclear terrorism. Speaking to a crowd of reptilian-looking senior Florida sunbathers, Kerry said he was laying out a "layered strategy" in his approach to laying out plans, and promised that, "I'll have a plan, in fact many plans,...

Not since “The USS Minnow” or “Spinal Tap” has a “Tour” been as disastrous as John Kerry‘s “National Security Tour“ which will soon be coming to a merciful end. How bad has it been? If it were a dog they‘d put it to sleep. Alas it has been Kerry himself who has been putting people to sleep. But fear not. We here at crushkerry.com have been drinking massive amounts of coffee and taking boxes of No-Doze so we could listen to the speeches and tell you just how weak John Kerry’s plans would make America. Ronald Reagan believed in “Peace...

<p>Sen. John Kerry, who delivers a major speech today on how he would reshape the military, is getting his national security ideas from a cadre of retired generals and ex-civilian officials who advised President Clinton.</p> <p>But in speeches so far, the Massachusetts Democrat sounds like President Bush when discussing his strategy for the war on terrorism and a military of the future. Mr. Kerry even attempts to sound tougher than the hawkish president.</p>

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — After laying out a plan to reduce the potential for a terrorist attack with nuclear weapons, Democrat John Kerry turns his attention to what he says is the second gravest threat facing the country: bioterrorism. The presidential candidate was discussing the issue Wednesday in politically important Florida with emergency medical technicians and other personnel who would be first to respond to a biological attack, as well as with public health officials. A day earlier, Kerry identified the nuclear menace posed by terrorists as the nation's greatest threat and said President Bush wasn't treating the issue seriously...

On the same day the U.S. government announced that terrorist Jose Padilla sought to obtain nuclear materials and detonate a dirty nuclear weapon in the U.S., Sen. John Kerry said the key to U.S. security is to unilaterally stop building nuclear weapons. Touted as the major national security speech of his campaign so far, the presumptive Democrat nominee said that as his first order of business as president he will abandon plans to build new nuclear weapons, including “bunker-busting” nuclear weapons advocated by the Bush administration. Kerry's statement for a unilateral U.S. nuclear arms moratium also coincided with the U.N....

    Kerry Vows Action on Threat of Nuclear TerrorismTue Jun 1, 2004 02:06 PM ET By Patricia Wilson WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - Democratic candidate John Kerry on Tuesday proposed to combat the threat of nuclear terrorism by securing all atomic arms in the former Soviet Union in four years and negotiating a global ban on new production of enriched uranium and plutonium. The party's presumptive presidential nominee also said he would open direct talks with North Korea on ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program. And he said he would call Iran's bluff by organizing nations to offer...

Whatever the 9/11 Commission report reveals when it is issued at the end of July, it will still lack the testimony of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, whose failure to act – in light of fair warning and overwhelming evidence – holds the key to his unacceptability as a national and international leader. Of course the credibility of the report is already in question, given not only its timing, during a presidential election year, but also the blatantly partisan nature of its panel and a number of its interviewees – all of whom seem unable to resist mugging for the...

In the most scathing attack yet against Sen. John Kerry delivered by one of his peers, Sen. Zell Miller warned yesterday that the likely Democratic presidential nominee would be a threat to U.S. national security if elected. Reacting to claims by Kerry ally Sen. Ted Kennedy that "Saddam's torture chambers have reopened under U.S. management," Miller told radio host Sean Hannity: "Those twin Senators from Massachusetts are the co-chairmen of the handwringers of America - the HWA. And they continued to bash this country. "Both of them," Miller said, "voted against every major weapons system that won the Cold War....

Exploiting the liberties of free societies, terrorists are using the mass media to sow divisions among and within the democracies, terrorism experts report. The March bombing of the Madrid subway proved that low-budget terrorist attacks could be used to influence democratic elections and, by virtue of Spain's sudden military withdrawal from Iraq, to drive wedges between the staunchest allies in the international antiterrorism coalition. Senior Spanish and U.S. officials now believe al-Qaeda will plan more attacks in the United States to try to force President George W. Bush from office. Playing directly into the terrorists' hands is Bush's increasingly shrill...

New FReeper Anti-Kerry Ad: John Kerry Was Warned About 9/11 and Did NothingWhat did John Kerry know about 9/11, and when did he know it?These are the questions that John Kerry must answer for the 9/11 Commission.John Kerry was given a specific warning by the FAA about the possibility of terrorism launched from Logan Airport in May of 2001.  He did nothing, yet he has not been questioned by the "bi-partisan" 9/11 Commission.Go figure.Anyway, download the new ad by right-clicking HERE and selecting "save-as."Enjoy!As always, we very much look forward to your comments; to all the FReepers who worked hard...

.Spin vs. security Posted: April 14, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com Why were some members of the 9-11 Commission on the Sunday shows this past Easter weekend? Isn't the Commission supposed to be non-partisan? Isn't it supposed to be acting in the national interest? Isn't it supposed to speak with one voice on the means by which another 9-11 might be avoided? If so, why would Democrats Richard Ben-Veniste and Bob Kerrey feel obliged to appear on newsmaker shows? What "news" are they trying to make? The truth is obvious: Ben-Veniste and Kerrey have thrown the national interest overboard in order...

<p>Excerpts from Vice President Dick Cheney's speech yesterday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.</p> <p>Sen. Kerry's record on national security raises some important questions. Let's begin with the matter of how Iraq and Saddam Hussein should have been dealt with.</p>

"I do not fault George Bush for doing too much in the war on terror," droned Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry at a campaign event in Washington this week. Zzzzzz. "I believe he's done too little." What was that? My ears perked up slightly. Would this "proven leader" who claims he will "stand up to the special interests" talk about the need for racial, ethnic, nationality and religious profiling? Would he attack the Bush White House for appeasing the ethnic grievance industry and keeping silly Norm Mineta in his Cabinet during these deadly serious times? Or would he propose a...

Here is the money quote: If I am President, we will work toward victory in the War on Terror knowing that those on the frontlines of this battle are heroes, not political props. That the needs of our first defenders will never be left for last. Here's what we will do: We will pass the SAFER Firefighters Act, fund the FIRE Act, and create the Father Mychal Judge Fund to hire 100,000 new firefighters across America. And while we're at it, we will restore the COPS funds President Bush eliminated. We should be putting more cops on the beat not...

<p>WASHINGTON - John Kerry yesterday charged that President Bush failed to win the "war of ideas" against Osama bin Laden and isn't doing enough the safeguard America.</p> <p>Kerry - who seldom speaks out on terrorism, which is considered a winning issue for Bush - said the White House "hasn't pursued a strategy to win the hearts and minds of people around the world and win the war of ideas against the radical ideology of Osama bin Laden."</p>

Kerry Will Abandon War on TerrorismBy Kenneth R. Timmerman The Democratic Party's presidential front-runner, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), has pledged that if elected he will abandon the president's war on terror, begin a dialogue with terrorist regimes and apologize for three-and-one-half years of mistakes by the Bush administration. In a sweeping foreign-policy address to the Council on Foreign Relations in December, Kerry called the U.S. war on terror as conceived and led by President George W. Bush "the most arrogant, inept, reckless and ideological foreign policy in modern history." Kerry's remarks were widely praised by journalists. The Associated Press...

When Abraham Lincoln received complaints about the hard-drinking, cigar-smoking General Grant, he responded: “I can’t spare this man: he fights.” That could be the last word on George W. Bush in 2004. There are many things that the President has said and done that I don’t like. But at least he has some awareness of what’s at stake in the war on terror. Since global jihadists want to destroy republican government and the secular societies of the West, anti-terror efforts should enjoy bipartisan support. But instead, they’ve become a political football. In an address to the Council on Foreign Relations...