Month: March 2018

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Stealing the Law

A disturbing agenda can be discerned in this month’s Texas primary results for district attorneys.

Jolie McCullough, writing in The Texas Tribune reported that “Six of 12 sitting Texas district attorneys who faced 2018 primary challengers lost their races. Whether that’s normal turnover or part of a larger focus on criminal justice reform, several experts say it’s no longer safe to be an incumbent prosecutor.”

Those who lost tended to be more conservative. McCoullagh notes: “Most notably, liberal billionaire George Soros has set his sights on transforming the American criminal justice system one local prosecutor at a time. His money largely funds candidates running on reformist issues.”

Political action committees (pacs) funded by Soros spent millions in what normally would be considered lackluster district attorney races. A Soros pac  gave almost $1 million to an obscure DA primary  candidate, the leftist Joe Gonzalez.  As a result, he defeated his opponent,  Nico LaHood,  by almost 20%, who, McCoullogh notes, “was targeted because of his outspoken Christian faith and opposition to illegal immigration. Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, both Republicans, also criticized Soros’ involvement in the race last week…’ He’s trying to change the fabric of this country,’ LaHood said. “If there’s a DA that does not have the agenda that he does, then he wants to get them out.’”

The election results of 2010–2016 were devastating to the Progressive Left.  Eventually, The White House, the Senate, the House of Representatives, most Governorships, and most state legislatures were won by Republicans. Left wing activists have decided to do an end-run around that by using state attorneys general, local district attorneys, and the highly partisan Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to

It is a plastic tube, which fits around the cialis de prescription penile region. A blend of these herbs cialis generic 10mg is processed in the brain. On inspection of the results, comparing the 2 groups: One group with a high sat-fat / high cholesterol diet and The other group with a low sat-fat and low cholesterol diet reduced the risk of buy cialis line heart disease. The FDA approved this drug after analyzing its clinical efficacy and safety. generic cheap cialis http://www.learningworksca.org/about/sponsors/ As the New York Analysis of Policy and Government has previously noted, the concept of elected and appointed officials exercising their office with complete impartiality is a basic tenet of fair government.  While the absolute perfection of this ideal is rarely achieved, the past eight years have seen an unprecedented abandonment of the goal. Agencies such as the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service were extensively misused by the Obama Administration for partisan purposes. With the regime change following the 2016 elections, the center of gravity for using public office to benefit party or ideological interests shifted to some state attorneys general and district attorney races.

Martin Morse Wooster, writing for the Capital Research Center  notes that “Aiming to reshape society, state attorneys general wield ever-expanding powers over private corporations, foundations and nonprofits. Their activities–too often motivated by ideology and politics–frequently undermine the very institutions they are supposed to protect.”

Alan Greenblatt writing in Governing magazine reports that “’Democratic attorneys general are going to be very active, suing a number of regulatory agencies,’ says Paul Nolette, a political scientist at Marquette University. ‘They will be prepared to use a kitchen sink strategy against everything coming out of the EPA…’ The number of Democratic attorneys general has ticked down with recent Republican successes at the state level. But there are still 21 of them — more than the number of Democratic governors or legislatures…And it isn’t really the number of Democratic AGs that matters. A single activist attorney general such as Eric Schneiderman of New York or Xavier Becerra of California can command a small army of lawyers.…But with prominent Democratic AGs threatening to challenge Trump … it’s clear that legal briefs will be among the most powerful weapons progressives will be able to deploy against him.”

As was the case in Texas’ Gonzalez race, the issue that has gathered the most headlines in the battle between partisan attorneys generals and candidates for local district attorneys and their opponents is immigration. California’s Xavier Becerra plays a significant role in California’s attempt to ignore federal law regarding illegal aliens.

 

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Trump Attacks Trade Deficit

When President Trump announced his executive orders regarding a 25% tariff on imports of  steel and 10%  on aluminum,, the reaction from Wall Street, major financial interests, the media, and many politicians was uniformly negative.  But support has come from main street, global trade analysts, and American workers.

The White House proclaimed last month that “The United States… faces higher barriers on its exports in markets abroad than producers abroad face on their exports to the U.S. Nothing about the principle of comparative advantage would lend itself to a defense of a status quo that imposes higher barriers to exports on America’s producers than on foreign producers. The global trade system has come under strain due to the influence of countries, like China, that violate market principles and distort the functioning of global markets… The Administration prioritizes its attempt to create the conditions that, according to the consensus principles in the economics literature, would maximize the benefits accruing to the United States—and produce gains for our trading partners as well.”

America’s 2017 trade deficit was $566 billion. That represents about 2.7 percent of GDP. Since 2000, it’s averaged that over $500 billion. In prior decades, the deficit was below 2% GDP.

Despite portrayals by some critics that the tariff move was abrupt, it has been considered since the start of the current White House.  The Department of Commerce  released a report last month revealing that it “found that the quantities and circumstances of steel and aluminum imports ‘threaten to impair the national security,’ as defined by Section 232…”

Key Findings of the Steel Report included:

  • The United States is the world’s largest importer of steel. [but] …imports are nearly four times our exports.
  • Six basic oxygen furnaces and four electric furnaces have closed since 2000 and employment has dropped by 35% since 1998.
  • World steelmaking capacity is 2.4 billion metric tons, up 127% from 2000, while steel demand grew at a slower rate.
  • The recent global excess capacity is 700 million tons, almost 7 times the annual total of U.S. steel consumption. China is by far the largest producer and exporter of steel, and the largest source of excess steel capacity. Their excess capacity alone exceeds the total U.S. steel-making capacity.
  • On an average month, China produces nearly as much steel as the U.S. does in a year. For certain types of steel, such as for electrical transformers, only one U.S. producer remains.
  • As of February 15, 2018, the U.S. had 169 antidumping and countervailing duty orders in place on steel, of which 29 are against China, and there are 25 ongoing investigations.

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Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross recommended to the President had previously recommended consideration of the following:

1.A global tariff of at least 24% on all steel imports from all countries, or 2. A tariff of at least 53% on all steel imports from 12 countries (Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, India, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam) with a quota by product on steel imports from all other countries equal to 100% of their 2017 exports to the United States, or 3.A quota on all steel products from all countries equal to 63% of each country’s 2017 exports to the United States.

The problem also should be seen in the overall light of the American trade deficit. In February, The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis  released its latest report on America’s trade status.

According to the analysis, “the goods and services deficit was $53.1 billion in December, up $2.7 billion from $50.4 billion in November, revised. December exports were $203.4 billion, $3.5 billion more than November exports. December imports were $256.5 billion, $6.2 billion more than November imports. The December increase in the goods and services deficit reflected an increase in the goods deficit of $2.6 billion to $73.3 billion and a decrease in the services surplus of $0.1 billion to $20.2 billion. For 2017, the goods and services deficit increased $61.2 billion, or 12.1 percent, from 2016. Exports increased $121.2 billion or 5.5 percent. Imports increased $182.5    billion or 6.7 percent.”

U.S. Commerce Dept. photo

The Report Concludes Monday.

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Russia Cyber-attacks U.S.

The FBI and Homeland Security (DHS) have announced that Russia repeatedly cyber-attacked America’s energy, water, aviation and manufacturing facilities.

The alert describes “indicators of compromise and technical details on the tactics, techniques, and procedures used by Russian government cyber actors on compromised victim networks.”

DHS and FBI characterize this attack as “a multi-stage intrusion campaign by Russian government cyber actors who targeted small commercial facilities’ networks where they staged malware, conducted spear phishing, and gained remote access into energy sector networks. After obtaining access, the Russian government cyber actors conducted network reconnaissance, moved laterally, and collected information pertaining to Industrial Control Systems (ICS). Since at least March 2016, Russian government cyber actors targeted government entities and multiple U.S. critical infrastructure sectors.”

Russia attacked two distinct categories of victims, according to the FBI and DHS:  staging and intended targets. “The initial victims are peripheral organizations such as trusted third-party suppliers with less secure networks, referred to as ‘staging targets.’ The threat actors used the staging targets’ networks as pivot points and malware repositories when targeting their final intended victims.”

Moscow used a variety of cyber tactics, including spear-phishing emails (from compromised legitimate account), watering-hole domains, credential gathering, open-source and network reconnaissance, host-based exploitation, and targeting industrial control system (ICS) infrastructure.

Russia’s cyber-soldiers used email attachments to leverage Microsoft Office functions for retrieving a document from a remote server using the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol. As a part of the standard processes executed by Microsoft Word, this request authenticates the client with the server, sending the user’s credential hash to the remote server before retrieving the requested file. After obtaining a credential hash, the threat actors can use password-cracking techniques to obtain the plaintext password. With valid credentials, the threat actors are able to masquerade as authorized users.
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Moscow was able to compromise the infrastructure of trusted organizations to reach intended targets. Approximately half of the known “watering holes” are trade publications and informational websites related to process control, ICS, or critical infrastructure. Although these watering holes may host legitimate content developed by reputable organizations, the Russians altered websites to contain and reference malicious content. They used legitimate credentials to access and directly modify the website content. The threat actors modified these websites by altering JavaScript and PHP files to request a file icon using SMB from an IP address controlled by the threat actors.

Throughout the tenure of the Obama Administration, acts of both physical and cyber aggression by America’s enemies were not responded to by the most pacifist presidency in U.S. history. There was virtually no substantive reaction by Obama to China’s incursion into the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, or to Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine, or to the attack on the American facility in Benghazi which resulted in the death of a U.S. Ambassador. As China, Russia, and North Korea moved ahead at unprecedented levels in their armaments programs, Obama reduced spending on U.S. defenses.

The Obama Administration consistently failed to respond to Russian cyber attempts to target the U.S., both in terms of infrastructure as well as in the electoral process.  In 2014, Ali Watkins, writing for Politico,  reported “The Obama administration received multiple warnings from national security officials between 2014 and 2016 that the Kremlin was ramping up its intelligence operations and building disinformation networks it could use to disrupt the U.S. political system, according to more than half a dozen current and former officials…Politico spoke with more than a dozen current and former officials from across the national security spectrum, including intelligence agencies, the State Department and the Pentagon. Almost all said they were aware of Russia’s aggressive cyberespionage and disinformation campaigns … but felt that either the White House or key agencies were unwilling to act forcefully to counter the Russian actions. Intelligence officials ‘had a list of things they could never get the signoffs on,’ one intelligence official said. ‘The truth is, nobody wanted to piss off the Russians.’”

 

FBI illustration

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Mueller’s Conflict of Interest, Part 2

During Mueller’s leadership at the FBI, reports The Wall Street Journal’s Devlin Barrett, the political organization of Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, “an influential Democrat with longstanding ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton, gave nearly $500,000 to the election campaign of the wife of an official at the Federal Bureau of Investigation who later helped oversee the investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s email use…The Virginia Democratic Party, over which Mr. McAuliffe exerts considerable control, donated an additional $207,788 worth of support to Dr. McCabe’s campaign in the form of mailers, according to the records. That adds up to slightly more than $675,000…”

The information that has been ascertained provides a disturbing picture of the Clinton campaign utilizing highly partisan research of very dubious veracity from individuals colluding with Russia to prompt surveillance from officials of the Obama Administration, which itself had obtained a significant reputation of misusing federal agencies such as the IRS and the Justice Department for partisan purposes. Yet there is not yet even of hint from Mueller about examining those very important facts.

When a special counsel vigorously pursues one side of the political divide based on evidence that is highly speculative and derived from demonstrably biased sources, but rather pointedly ignores any and all evidence of a far more substantive nature on the other side, there is ample cause for concern.

There may be a very substantial reason for Mueller’s reluctance. When the FBI was doing its partisan best to affect the Presidential election, ignoring Hillary Clinton’s misdeeds in regards to email security but moving forward with the Trump investigation, Mueller was head of the FBI, remaining in that position until September 4, 2013. While much of the FBI/FISA application activity occurred afterwards, the investigations didn’t suddenly spring to life.  They were, doubtless, the end product of work begun while Mueller ran the FBI, just as much of time when the agency engaged in a partisan refusal to prosecute Hillary Clinton for her email and Uranium trade misdeeds.  A Harvard-CAPS poll reported by The Hill’s Jonathon Easley revealed that “A majority of polled voters say special counsel Robert Mueller has a conflict of interest because of his past ties to former FBI Director James Comey, according to the latest Harvard CAPS-Harris survey.When asked if Mueller has a conflict of interest “as the former head of the FBI and a friend of James Comey,” 54 percent responded that the “relationship” between the two amounts to a conflict of interest, including 70 percent of Republicans, 53 percent of independents and 40 percent of Democrats…the two have been described as “brothers in arms”…”

Some in the media have begun to pay attention to Mueller’s conflict of interest. Glenn Harlan Reynolds, in a USATODAY opinion column, stated that “Special Counsel Robert Mueller has a problem: He has a disqualifying conflict of interest regarding a large part of his work. It involves a choice between investigating or relying on former FBI director James Comey, a longtime close friend of Mueller’s. Ideally, he’ll recognize that and resign. But if he doesn’t resign, Attorney General Jeff Sessions should appoint another special counsel to take over the obstruction-of-justice part of the investigation, where Mueller is disqualified… Mueller is too close to Comey to be impartial, and that violates Justice Department conflict of interest rules.”
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Mueller is not alone in being under a cloud of suspicion. A Rasmussen report  points out that “Loretta Lynch, Sally Yates, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Jim Baker, Rod Rosenstein, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. These are just some of the names on the growing list of senior DOJ and FBI officials that, according to the House and Senate Intel Committees, may have illegally conspired to exonerate Hillary Clinton of any wrongdoing in her handling of classified information on a personal server while Secretary of State and to destroy President Trump.”

In a sign of desperation, Mueller, according to Jonathan Swan  in an Axios report, “is subpoenaing all communications — meaning emails, texts, handwritten notes, etc. — that a witness sent and received” from Carter Page, Corey Lewandowski, Donald J. Trump, Hope Hicks, Keith Schiller, Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Roger Stone, and Steve Bannon, from November 1, 2015 to the present.  It’s a classic fishing expedition move by an investigator in search of a crime.

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) believes that a second special counsel is necessary to investigate the Department of Justice.

Mueller, indeed, should be on the receiving end of an investigation into political corruption.  Instead, he is running one.

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Mueller’s Conflict of Interest

DOJ photo

 

There is a problem pundits face when writing about political scandals. A journalist should describe the alleged crimes in a thorough, complete and impartial manner.  Given the nature of politics, however, it is important to also question the motivations of the accusers and those investigating the issue.

For the most part, the media has utterly failed to do so in the ongoing investigation of the alleged collusion with the Russians on the part of the Trump campaign in 2016.

Since Robert Mueller was appointed Special Counsel ten months ago, he has failed to produce any substantive evidence pointing to “Russian collusion” with the Trump campaign.  He has, indeed, failed to do so despite oppressive and highly questionable tactics employed against some individuals who were close to or part of the campaign. Andrew McCarthy, writing for National Review, notes that, rather inadvertently, the recently released Democrat memo reveals that the “FBI and the DOJ relied heavily on uncorroborated, third-hand, anonymous sources in their FISA application… Another major takeaway … is that the FBI and the DOJ withheld from the FISA court the fact that [the information used to authorize the surveillance of the Trump campaign, which is the basis for Mueller’s investigation] was a project of the Clinton campaign.”

Robert Barnes, writing in Law and Crime asks “when will Mueller indict Christopher Steele, FusionGPS, PerkinsCoie, the DNC and the Clinton Campaign?… three things make the Clinton Campaign a potential target: it knew Steele [a former British secret agent] was a foreign citizen; it knew, and paid, Steele to influence an election; and it knew, and facilitated, Steele neither registering as a foreign agent nor reporting his funding from the Clinton campaign to the Federal Election Commission, by disguising its funding of payments to Steele laundered through a law firm as a ‘legal expense.’ Don’t expect such an indictment.”
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Sally Persons reported in the Washington Times that “Reps. Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows plan on launching an investigation into the Obama administration to find out what they knew about the dossier that forms the basis of the investigation… ‘The Clinton campaign paid for the dossier. The Democrat National Committee paid for the dossier. And if a Russian oligarch was paying the author of the dossier at the same time, that is unbelievable,’ Mr. Jordan, Ohio Republican, said on Fox News.”

Why isn’t Mueller also investigating this?

Bill Gertz, writing in the Washington Times, describes the long-standing immunity the Clintons seem to have when it comes to conspiring with enemy nations. In 1997, Beijing illegally funneled millions of dollars in cash into President Bill Clinton’s 1996 re-election campaign. “The Chinese were backing a president who had allowed American companies to sell high-technology goods to China that ended up boosting Beijing’s missile, warhead and other advanced weapons programs. The investigation into Chinese illegal campaign influence was triggered by reports in early 1997 that the FBI had intercepted communications from the Chinese Embassy outlining a multiyear campaign known as ‘The Plan’ to change U.S. policy, including helping Mr. Clinton’s reelection by funneling cash to Beijing-linked group Asian Americans for the Democratic National Committee.”

Clinton rewarded Beijing by authorizing the sale of Cray super computers to Beijing, which allowed their military to catch up on decades of military research, and, shortly before he left office, gave China major trade concessions which placed a vast number of American factory workers unemployed. During her tenure as Secretary of State, Ms. Clinton played a significant role in authorizing the sale of American uranium, the basic ingredient of nuclear weapons, to Russia. Large donations to the Clinton Foundation and other cash considerations followed.

The FBI, under Mueller’s tenure, didn’t take action.

The Report Concludes Tomorrow.

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Hollywood’s Irresponsible Views

Having been thoroughly embarrassed by sex scandals over the past year, Hollywood’s elites gathered at their annual orgy of self- congratulations to criticize the nation that gave birth to their industry, and the citizenry that continues to support it.

A prime example was the acceptance speech by Guillermo Del Toro, who won the Oscar for best director. Del Toro used his spotlight to essentially advocate for unfettered immigration, within the framework of a “one world” government.

It’s a popular issue in California currently. The move by Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf to openly work against the federal government’s attempt to apprehend illegal aliens has turned the debate about unlawful immigration into a constitutional crisis.  Her view ignores the fiscal reality that the proportion of public assistance provided to illegals is extraordinary. A Fox News study found that “Illegal immigrant families received nearly $1.3 billion in Los Angeles County welfare money during 2015 and 2016, nearly one-​quarter of the amount spent on the county’s entire needy population.”

A study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIRUS)   found that at federal, state, and local levels, governments spend approximately $134.9 billion to cover the costs incurred by the presence of more than 12.5 million illegal aliens, and about 4.2 million citizen children of illegal aliens. The FAIRUS study noted that Federal Tax Receipts from Illegal Aliens totals only about $22.1 Billion. On the state and local level, a Forbes study found that households headed by illegal immigrants paid a combined $11.64 billion in state and local taxes during 2010. Therefore, the combined intake of taxes from illegals is approximately $33.3 billion, resulting in a net combined government loss of $101.16 billion.

Fiscal matters aside, the concept of reducing national sovereignty, so popular among Tinsel Town’s dominating leftists, requires a more thoughtful analysis.

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The U.N., it should not be forgotten, has allowed governments as openly anti-human rights as Sudan to preside over its Human Rights Committee. It is also greatly influenced by bigoted regimes that condone the actions of anti-Semitic leaders,  and  those that look the other way as minority religions are suppressed.

Del Toro and others seeking greater international dominance over national governments fail to provide a rational description of how their globalist dreams would actually benefit the common man or woman either in western nations or those in developing areas. Would Americans truly benefit from more input from President Xi, who has essentially become China’s dictator for life following his consolidation of power?  Would any democratic nation be better off with giving a greater voice to Vladimir Putin, who has turned Russia into an oligarchic government? Should the uniquely American concept of guaranteed Free Speech rights be subjected to the restrictions of almost every other national entity, where the idea of a First Amendment simply doesn’t exist?

Indeed, doesn’t the existence of at least a small group of nations where individual rights are paramount act as a beacon for the oppressed throughout the world?

Hollywood’s business elites, some of whom who have willingly surrendered their ideals in return for the cash readily supplied by Chinese investors, certainly have a bully pulpit to influence a great number.  But that platform should come with a responsibility to actually think through the positions they advocate.

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Illegal Immigration Expenses Outweigh Tax Revenues

Vice President Pence at border fence (DHS photo)

The move by Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf to openly work against the federal government’s attempt to apprehend illegal aliens has turned the debate about unlawful immigration into a constitutional crisis.  As a result, one of the key issues motivating the national clash on this issue, the financial cost of allowing significant numbers of individuals into the nation without any checks or supervision, has unfortunately moved into the background.

Those favoring stricter border controls maintain that illegals are a drain on federal, state, and local budgets. Those opposed allege that the taxes they pay, in one form or another, offset the expenses.

One factor that is difficult to quantify is the fraudulent access to government benefits illegals occasionally obtain. The San Diego Union Tribune recently reported that a Mexican man assumed an American’s identity for 37 years, fraudulently obtaining $361,000 in government benefits. It is doubtful that this particular crime was an isolated case.

The larger question concerns the actual governmental costs incurred by illegals.

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A study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIRUS)   found that federal, state, and local levels, governments spend approximately $134.9 billion to cover the costs incurred by the presence of more than 12.5 million illegal aliens, and about 4.2 million citizen children of illegal aliens. The FAIRUS study noted that Federal Tax Receipts from Illegal Aliens totals only about $22.1 Billion. On the state and local level, a Forbes study found that households headed by illegal immigrants paid a combined $11.64 billion in state and local taxes during 2010. Therefore, the combined intake of taxes from illegals is approximately $33.3 billion, resulting in a net combined government loss of $101.16 billion.

FAIRUS also notes that “Because the vast majority of illegal aliens hold low-paying jobs, those who are subject to wage deductions actually wind up receiving a complete refund of all taxes paid, plus net payments made on the basis of tax credits.”

The proportion of public assistance provided to illegals is extraordinary. A Fox News study found that “Illegal immigrant families received nearly $1.3 billion in Los Angeles County welfare money during 2015 and 2016, nearly one-​quarter of the amount spent on the county’s entire needy population.”

In some areas, illegals have more access to state benefits than most Americans.  An illegal student residing in some states may be charged only resident rates at a state college, while a U.S. citizen from another state will be liable for full tuition.

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Venezuela: Tragedy and Danger, Part 3

In 2017, Michael Shifter reported that “Just a decade ago, Venezuela was perhaps the most influential Latin American country in the Organization of American States (OAS), the world’s oldest regional cooperation group…On April 26, after a majority of OAS states called a special meeting to discuss Venezuela’s crisis, Caracas declared that it would leave the organization.”

A glance at key provisions within the recently released report by the Organization for American States outlines the crisis:

“The decision to produce this report stems from the marked deterioration in the country with respect to the exercise of human rights, and the grave political, economic, and social crisis in Venezuela…the Inter-American Commission addresses the human rights situation in Venezuela by analyzing the impact on them of the dismantling of much of democratic institutional system and the alarming increase in repression, violence, and citizen insecurity…For several years now, the [Inter-American Commission on Human Rights]  IACHR has been observing a gradual deterioration in the democratic institutional system and the human rights situation in Venezuela that has become significantly more intense and widespread since 2015. …This breach of the principle of the separation of powers is most seriously manifested in the alarming behavior of the Judiciary, especially in the past two years. Indeed, the exacerbation of the recent crisis in Venezuela is closely linked to a series of decisions taken by the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) that amounted to interference with the National Assembly (AN) and violated the principle of the separation of powers.

“This situation worsened in 2017 to a point at which Judgments No. 155 and 156 handed down by the TSJ on March 28 and 29, respectively, produced an alteration of the constitutional order. In those judgments, the TSJ did away with the parliamentary immunity of deputies to the AN, established that their acts constituted “treason”, granted the Executive broad discretionary authority, and arrogated to itself powers rightfully pertaining to the Legislature. As the IACHR pointed out at the time, those measures represented usurpation by the Judiciary and the Executive of powers constitutionally granted to parliament, as well as a de facto annulment of the popular vote, via which those deputies had been elected. The alteration of the constitutional order in Venezuela was possible due to a series of factors that mean that, in general, the country’s democratic institutional system is seriously flawed. … there are still serious instances of interference with the Legislature and obstacles to the exercise of its constitutional function…the Commission calls upon the State to adopt immediate and resolute measures to restore the constitutional order, and guarantee the separation of powers and appropriate exercise of the constitutionally established functions of the AN, including the lifting of the measures referred to above…

“The interferences of the Judiciary and the Executive in the Legislature have been accompanied by a lack of independence and inadequate exercise of the functions of constitutional bodies that are vital for democracy, such as the National Electoral Council (CNE), the Public Prosecutors’ Office (Ministerio Público -MP), and the Ombudsperson’s Office (Defensoría del Pueblo – DP). That being so, the Commission considers it essential to take decisive steps to ensure that these bodies function without interference or improper political pressures and comply fully with their constitutional mandate, which is vital for the democratic rule of law in Venezuela.
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“The IACHR points out that the complaints about high levels of corruption in the country further undermine already weak government institutions, given that impunity encourages and perpetuates acts of corruption, steps need to be taken to ensure that acts reported are investigated independently, impartially, and promptly, without pressures or discrimination based on membership of certain political parties or on the positions held by those under investigation. Preventive measures are also needed. They include governance imbued with the principles of openness, transparency, and effective public accountability.

“The problems associated with the weakness of democratic institutions referred to earlier have resulted in widespread impunity and have had a profound impact on the exercise of rights that are fundamental for democracy, such as political rights. The IACHR is particularly concerned about the situation of these rights in Venezuela, Their exercise has been severely curtailed by a series of obstacles. Among the most recent are: the suspension of the Presidential recall referendum process; the putting off for a long time of municipal and regional elections; and serious recent allegations of unfair advantages and fraud in the regional election of October 15, 2017.

“In Venezuela those who dissent from the Government are victims of serious reprisals, as seen in the frequent detention and destitution of mayors, governors, members of parliament, and opposition figures in general. As emblematic cases, the IACHR points to the worrying acts committed against Henrique Capriles, Antonio Ledezma, and Leopoldo López. In light of the above, the Commission reiterates the need to guarantee, as a matter of priority, full exercise of the political rights of every authority and inhabitant of Venezuela, irrespective of their political sympathies; and the need to refrain from any act of harassment, intimidation, or criminalization of political dissent…

“As regards freedom of expression, severe curtailments to that right have been documented, including censorship and the closing down of media, attacks on journalists, and, in general, harassment and criminalization of those who express political views or dissemination that the State does not approve of. Such measures are not part of any regulatory framework compatible with Venezuela’s international obligations in this regard and, in practice, they are geared to silencing critics of the current Government. The harm they are doing to Venezuelan democracy is obvious and requires priority attention.”

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Quick Analysis

Venezuela: Tragedy and Danger, Part 2

U.S. State Department map

 

As western nations react to the dictatorship and poverty resulting from the leadership first of Chavez and then Maduro, the Venezuelan dictatorship has turned to Iran, Russia and China.

Alexander Martinez, in a Center for Security Policy/London Center for Policy Center report  “Politico uncovered a story with serious and far-reaching implications. The Obama Administration undermined and blocked a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) program in its eagerness to secure a nuclear deal with Iran…cocaine trafficking originated… specifically through Venezuela and Mexico…The story reported by Politico …follows a larger trend that has serious security implications for the entire Western Hemisphere. ‘Iran has had a presence in Latin America for decades. … its role in the region expanded and intensified after Hugo Chavez took the reins of the Venezuelan state in 1999. Chavez based his rule on a revolutionary transnational agenda that included a quasi-socialist authoritarian revolution at home, and an aggressive, expansionist foreign policy aimed at spreading his revolution throughout the region…. Chavez began to funnel money to candidates in different countries in the region who held views akin to his ideology and proceeded to establish alliances with regional guerilla movements to organize subversion across Latin America… Chavez saw groups such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) as a necessary force that could create subversion abroad and expand his so-called ‘Bolivarian Revolution.’ Likewise, they strengthened relations with the Shining Path guerrilla Maoist movement in Peru and other subversive groups in the region. They also trainedmembers of the Paraguayan Popular Army (EPP) … the alliance between Venezuela and Iran has strong foundations. They both are anti-American and seek to reduce U.S. power in their respective regions and, if possible, in the world. Chavez defined the Islamic and the Bolivarian revolutions as ‘sister revolutions.’ Venezuela needed Iran’s subversive capabilities and its ‘valuable’ experience in building a totalitarian-revolutionary regime…Hezbollah and Iran’s IslamicRevolutionary GuardsCorps (IRGC) have also established a presence in the region, training ‘soldiers of the revolution’ in Venezuelan camps…For its part, Iran needed Venezuela to expand its presence in Latin America… It also sought a strategic position in the region to increase deterring capabilities against the U.S.”

In an el-Nacional newspaper article first reported by Fox News, Vladimir Medrano Regifo, former director general of the Office of Identification, Migration and Immigration of Venezuela, revealed that the Venezuelan government may have distributed about 10,000 passports to Syrians, Iranians, and nationals of other Middle Eastern nations. “Nowadays, they do not know where these people are or what they are doing. They can be anywhere in the world, traveling with Venezuelan documentation… Around 173 individuals from the Middle East have been detected with Venezuelan passports. Likewise, the majority of Iraqis who tried to enter Canada first arrived in Caracas, detailed a study by the Center for a Free and Secure Society (SFS) of 2014.”

You can order valsonindia.com viagra no prescription india to your desired viagra from online Pharmacies located offshore — most of the time people had to dedicate a whole Saturday at a local junior college. If you have been soft cialis diagnosed for any disease, you must find a reliable Thyroid doctor in Kolkata for fast recovery. This is all thanks to what I call Yes’s ‘maximum glideability.” Trudy Hannington – Psychosexual and relationship therapist, The Leger Clinic, Doncaster Of all the lubricants I have been living abroad for almost a year now, and sometimes I still feel awkward to interact with different people, with different sale viagra cultures, particularly getting along with the locals. It is tadalafil cheapest online that serves customers from any nation and country worldwide. Antonio Mora, writing for The Hill  reports that Russia has an “insidious, increasing influence in Venezuela… Chavez turned to Russia for investment in the country’s energy and mining sectors and as a supplier of weaponry, with Venezuela becoming a major purchaser of Russian military hardware, including fighter jets.

The U.S.-China Economic & Security Review Commission reports that Venezuela maintains strong ties to the Chinese military “through a high number of official visits, military officer exchanges, port calls, and limited arms sales.”  Venezuela has purchased Chinese arms and military equipment, including radar and aircraft.

A Council of the America’s study  found that “Running a cash-strapped country didn’t stop Maduro from announcing his plans to “modernize” the Venezuelan Armed Forces with new military equipment, marking another aspect of Venezuela’s relationship with China and Russia.

That Venezuela turns to China and Russia for military equipment is partly out of necessity. In 2005, while trying to upgrade an aging F-16 fleet, the United States blocked Israel from selling replacement parts to Venezuela. So Venezuela turned to Russia, from which it bought 24 Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets, along with 53 military helicopters and 100,000 AK-47 assault rifles, over the next two years.

In his annual state of the union address in 2011, Chávez said that Venezuela had doubled its military capacities in one year, thanks to equipment from Russia and China.”

The Report Concludes Monday.

Categories
Quick Analysis

Venezuela: Tragedy and Danger

Venezuelan Govt. photo

The disastrous decline of Venezuela, despite its vast oil wealth, since hard-core socialists took over the government in 1999 has both been tragic for the people of that once-prosperous nation, and dangerous for the entire western hemisphere, as the administration of Nicolás Maduro expands relations with Iran, China, and Russia.

Testifying before Congress on February 15, Admiral Kurt W. Tidd, who runs the U.S. Southern Command told the Senate Armed Service Committee “…the political, economic, and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela worsens by the day. Its citizens (especially the most vulnerable) are suffering. The health care system has nearly collapsed. Child malnutrition rates are past the crisis threshold and infant mortality rates have risen sharply. Some reports suggest that 93% of Venezuelans claim they cannot afford the food they need. The government is on the brink of total default as a result of the Maduro regime’s mismanagement of the economy. Venezuela has long provided a permissive environment for narco-terrorist groups and Lebanese Hezbollah supporters, and is a transit country for the smuggling of illicit drugs and SIAs. The continued assault on democratic institutions provides increased space for illicit actors to operate with impunity, and for Russia, China, and Cuba to expand their influence over the corrupt Maduro regime.”

Venezuelans Rafael Acevedo and Luis B. Cirocco, of the Mises Institute, writing for Business Insider highlight how far Venezuela descended from prosperity to poverty. “[Previously] The oil wells were privately owned, and in many cases were owned by private international companies that operated in Venezuela…during this period, tax rates in the country were relatively low. Over time, the destruction of economic freedom led to more and more impoverishment and crisis. This in turn set the stage for the rise of a political outsider with a populist message. This, of course, was Hugo Chávez. He was elected in 1998 and promised to replace light socialism with radical socialism. This only accelerated the problems we had been facing for decades. Nevertheless, he was able to pass through an even more anti-private-property constitution. Since Chávez’s death in 2013, the attacks on private property have continued, and Chávez’s successor, Nicolás Maduro, promises only more of the same…the government is turning toward outright authoritarian socialism, and Maduro is seeking a new constitution in which private property is almost totally abolished, and Maduro will be allowed to remain in power for life…So, what are the results of socialism in Venezuela? Well, we have experienced hyperinflation. We have people eating garbage, schools that do not teach, hospitals that do not heal, long and humiliating lines to buy flour, bread, and basic medicines. We endure the militarization of practically every aspect of life. The cost of living has skyrocketed in recent years.”

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Aside from purely political and international matters, the stunning downfall of a nation that has abundant oil resources illustrates the problem.  According to the International Monetary Funds’ projections, Venezuela’s economy will continue to be in freefall during 2018. It’s economy is expected to shrink by 6%, while consumer prices escalate by an enormous 2,349.3%.

A France 24 review notes that: “Venezuela’s money, the bolivar, is sinking faster and faster under an intensifying political and economic crisis that has left citizens destitute and increasingly desperate.Its depreciation accelerated this week, after a disputed vote electing an all-powerful “Constituent Assembly” filled with allies of President Nicolas Maduro, which the opposition and dozens of countries have called illegitimate…In a year, the currency has lost 94 percent.”

Michael Shifter, writing in Foreign Affairs during 2017,  noted that Nicolás Madur “…presides over a broken nation of some 30 million people, most of whom are barely scraping by, desperate for food and medicine, fearful for their safety, and angered by their government’s erosion of democratic safeguards. On March 29, a Supreme Court ruling effectively closed down the opposition-dominated National Assembly, triggering massive street protests. Since then, more than 35 Venezuelans have been killed in violent clashes, many with government-backed militias—and there is no end in sight… Over the course of the last year, Venezuela was suspended from MERCOSUR, a regional trade bloc, and many Latin American officials—particularly in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Peru—began to forcefully criticize Maduro for the first time.” On April 26, after a majority of OAS states called a special meeting to discuss Venezuela’s crisis, Caracas declared that it would leave the organization.”

The Report Continues Tomorrow.