University of Illinois Professor Tariq Khan (right) confronts student Joel Valdez.
An ongoing battle between the University of Illinois and an outspoken Trump-supporting student has reached new heights today.
“He’s lucky I didn’t flatten his ass out on the ground for talking
about my children,” said U of I professor and Ph.D candidate Tariq Khan
at a panel for leftist activist professors.
Khan was referring to conservative student Joel Valdez.
Valdez, a rising sophomore, has been embattled with the university
for nearly his entire time there. In November, he was assaulted and his
phone was destroyed by Khan when he and some conservative friends
counter-protested an on-campus Antifa rally led by Khan. Trending: Here’s Why Obama Clearly Ordered The Spying on Trump
Valdez, who did not know Khan at the time, questioned how Khan had
time to protest, asking if he “had anything better to do,” and if he
“had kids.” Khan took the question as a threat. The assault was captured
on video:
WATCH:
The university, though, sided with Khan. Valdez and his two
co-defendants were issued no-contact orders by the administration,
meaning that they had to avoid Khan or be disciplined.
In response, Valdez and two other students filed suit against the university.
“A few days ago, the university rejected a generous settlement offer
by us and we will be proceeding to federal court,” Joel Valdez told Big League Politics. “The university is buying as much time as they can to prevent acknowledging that they violated our constitutional rights.”
According to Valdez’s attorneys, Khan began taking advantage of the
no-contact orders, targeting the students for “violating the orders
whenever [Khan] or his wife was in the same place with one of [the
students] on campus.” This, Valdez’s lawyers say, amounts to depriving
Valdez of “journalistic and expressive liberties without notice or an
opportunity to be heard.”
Meanwhile Khan, who has now assaulted, destroyed the property of, and
threatened Valdez is registered to teach a class at U of I in the fall
semester. He will be teaching Global Capitalism in History.
“[The university has] enabled his unhinged behavior when they
disciplined us instead of him,” said Valdez. “No parent would feel
comfortable with their children in the same room with Tariq Khan, a man
that attacks freshman students.” Big League Politics reached out to the university for comment.
“This isn’t an official university statement, but I think the
university would say that free speech stands,” said a public affairs
employee at the university without a hint of irony.
The employee passed along BLP’s contact information for an
official spokesperson to reach out, but nobody from the university
reached out in time for publication.
This story broke before the long weekend, but because the corresponding news cycle was fraught screaming about NFL anthem kneeling regulations,
it largely got lost in the culture war cacophony. One of the
fundamental flaws of the Iran nuclear deal -- from which President Trump
has withdrawn the United States, correctly, in my view
-- is that the regime in Tehran simply is not a reliable partner. Even
if they were to technically abide by every one of the West's temporary
restrictions (it must be noted that they have not done so scrupulously, and provably lied
from the very beginning), the Iranians would emerge from their
decade-plus stay in the global penalty box as a cash-flush threshold
nuclear-armed power, thanks to the accord's extraordinary and lopsided
concessions.
President Obama has effectively admitted as much, just as he's allowed that the regime has almost certainly exploited its new financial windfall to finance terrorism, and has breached the "spirit"
of the agreement through its ongoing pursuit of technology to deliver
the nuclear weapons they continue to covet. And now we can add even more clandestine treachery to the rap sheet, via the New York Times:
When
an explosion nearly razed Iran’s long-range missile research facility
in 2011 — and killed the military scientist who ran it — many Western
intelligence analysts viewed it as devastating to Tehran’s technological
ambitions. Since then, there has been little indication of Iranian work
on a missile that could reach significantly beyond the Middle East, and
Iranian leaders have said they do not intend to build one. So, this
spring, when a team of California-based weapons researchers reviewed new
Iranian state TV programs glorifying the military scientist, they
expected a history lesson with, at most, new details on a long-dormant
program. Instead, they stumbled on a series of clues that led
them to a startling conclusion: Shortly before his death, the scientist,
Gen. Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, oversaw the development of a secret,
second facility in the remote Iranian desert that, they say, is
operating to this day...
For weeks, the researchers
picked through satellite photos of the facility. They found, they say,
that work on the site now appears to focus on advanced rocket engines
and rocket fuel, and is often conducted under cover of night. It
is possible that the facility is developing only medium-range missiles,
which Iran already possesses, or perhaps an unusually sophisticated
space program...But an analysis of structures and ground
markings at the facility strongly suggests, though does not prove, that
it is developing the technology for long-range missiles, the
researchers say...If completed, [an Iranian long range missile program]
could threaten Europe and potentially the United States...Five
outside experts who independently reviewed the findings agreed that
there was compelling evidence that Iran is developing long-range missile
technology.
The online version of the Times' story links to this 2017 report
in which Iranian leaders are quoted swearing up and down that they had
no interest in long-range missile technology: "Iranian Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said his country will not develop ballistic
missiles with a range exceeding 2,000 kilometers, reinforcing prior
statements by officials and military leaders about missile range
limitations," it reads. This regime does not tell the truth. More:
[United
Nations] Resolution 2231 only “called” on Iran to refrain from
ballistic missile activities, including development and testing, there
is a clear prohibition on transfers or exports of ballistic missiles
and related technologies without advance approval from the UN Security
Council. A similar process is required for a range of
armaments. Yet, a U.S. statement tying a missile fired on Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia, to Iran raises concerns that Iran may have violated the
restriction prohibiting transfers. The Saudi military intercepted a
missile from Yemen targeted at Riyadh’s international airport on Nov. 4.
Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigan, head of U.S. Air Force Central
Command in Qatar, said on Nov. 10 that there have been Iranian markings
on missiles used by the Houthis against Saudi and Saudi-backed forces in
the war in Yemen. He said the markings “connect the dots to Iran.” Other countries, including Saudi Arabia and France, also linked the missile to Iran in earlier statements.
Again,
Iran is either directly violating international law, or at least
thumbing its nose at the clear "spirit" of the international nuclear
pact to which it has ostensibly agreed. Defenders of that deal will
eagerly point to this detail:
"Such a program would not violate the international deal intended to
prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon." It's true: In a major eleventh-hour giveaway to Tehran, the Obama administration caved to Iranian demands that the West also
ease sanctions against its illicit ballistic missiles program, and lift
the existing international weapons embargo. The fact that the
discovery of a (growing) secret desert facility designed for the
development of long-range missiles (the pursuit of which Iranian leaders
have denied), largely operating in the dark of night, would not constitute a violation of the Iran deal is not a compelling defense of the Iran deal. It is a devastating indictment of it.
Speaking of which, one word that does not appear anywhere in the New York Times piece (which is worth a thorough read
for a summary of multiple incriminating details) is "inspections." It
may be too late by now, but shouldn't the West be able to gain virtually
instant access to this compound to determine its purpose and examine
its progress? Maybe not. For all of the "echo chamber's" bragging about robust inspections, military sites are off limits,
according to the Iranians. And as the deal makes clear, Iran is in the
driver's seat, happy to exploit the rest of the vaunted "international
community" desperation to maintain their precious agreement.
Fortunately, the Trump administration has not been nearly as enthralled
with this reckless legacy project. In case you missed it, I'll leave
you with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's forceful speech on Iran's path forward from last week -- with five key takeaways from the address enumerated in a Jerusalem Post column:
Editor's Note: The satellite image attached to this post is via the Center for Nonproliferation Studies.
According to court documents,
federal prosecutors working on behalf of Attorney General Eric Holder
and the Department of Justice misled U.S. District Court Judge Richard
Berman in the case against conservative filmmaker and author Dinesh
D’Souza during their pursuit of 10-to-16 months of prison time for a
federal felony charge.
In a reply sentencing memo submitted to
the Court on behalf of D'Souza last week, his counsel argues federal
prosecutors excluded and misrepresented the facts of “similar” cases in
the Government's sentencing proposal to Judge Berman, leaving out
crucial facts key to fair and equal sentencing for D’Souza compared to
other cases. The prosecution has a duty to present comparable cases and
crimes when arguing for a prison sentence. In their presentation of
“similar” cases to the Judge for consideration during his deliberation,
the prosecution ignored all truly similar cases without prison time but
did present cases that included prison time without a full set of facts
to justify sentencing.
“The Government, in this case, has chosen
to consciously omit from its submission critical facts from most of the
cases they cite which make it clear that those cases are substantially
distinguishable from the facts in D’Souza’s prosecution,” the memo
states.
D’Souza’s counsel provided the court with a
chart detailing “the 'limited’ facts from each case that the Government
highlights” and then provided the missing facts the Government failed to
include in order to avoid undermining their own argument against a
prison sentence. With all the facts in place, the Government doesn’t
have a case that adds up to a sentence that includes imprisonment.
In
the chart submitted to the Judge by D’Souza’s counsel, you’ll notice
the “facts” on the left submitted to the Judge by the Government to be
used for sentencing consideration. On the right, you’ll find the full
facts of the case the Government deliberately failed to include. Below
are three of eight examples provided. You can read the rest here.
The
prosecution's distortion of the facts in "similar cases" backs up long
held suspicions that D’Souza was selectively prosecuted by the
Department of Justice for political purposes and shows deceitful,
malicious tactics being used to impose an unjust sentence.
“To be
candid, counsel were surprised to see that in the Sentencing
Memorandum, the Government cavalierly treats and then distorts critical
issues so important to the Court’s decision. In doing so, to the
Government ironically provides further support for more vigorous
prosecution and now, for more severe punishment than virtually any other
defendant whose crime is ‘similar’ to that of Mr. D’Souza’s, especially
when his case is devoid of any element of corruption or personal greed
that is at the heart of every case the Government cites,” the memo
states. “Indeed, so determined is the Government in its effort to
convince your Honor to imprison Mr. D’Souza, that they supplied the
Court with a list of cases in support of their argument on sentence
parity, but did so in a manner that was disingenuous. When one carefully
examines the facts in each and every one of the case cited by the
government in support of their sentence parity argument, it soon becomes
clear that prison was imposed in each of those cases for a variety of
aggravating factors that have nothing whatsoever to do with the
prosecution of Mr. D’Souza."
The government failed to present any
case, all facts included, comparable to D’Souza’s which involved
illegally using two straw donors to donate a total of $20,000 to an
ill-fated campaign. Back in May,
D’Souza pled guilty to one count on federal charges detailed in an
indictment accusing him of violating campaign finance laws and making
false statements. D'Souza admitted in front of the Court that he did in
fact ask two people to make contributions in their name and later
reimbursed them, knowing it was not proper under the law. D'Souza
submitted a plea deal on May 19 and the charge of making false
statements was dropped. D’Souza’s defense team has argued that although
criminally culpable, their client should not be imprisoned.
“After
studying the chart and cases cited, we respectfully ask that the Court
completely reject the Government’s argument that sentence parity
supports a prison sentence for Mr. D’Souza. Simply put, their argument
on this issue must be rejected because it is not sound,” D’Souza’s
counsel argues in the document. “A good man who is 53 years old, with no
criminal record and a genuine scholar, should not be sent to prison for
a non-violent technical violation of the Federal Election Law where he
was not trying to obtain an advantage or any personal benefit and where
the case is devoid of any corruption whatsoever.”
D’Souza’s
counsel has asked for a sentence of probation and community service.
D'Souza is set for sentencing in the U.S. District Court, Southern
District of New York, today at 9 a.m. ET. Judge Berman said earlier this
year he will consider D'Souza's character and history in his
sentencing.
Former President Barack Obama’s national security adviser tried
on dozens of occasions to learn the identities of Trump transition
officials whose conversations with foreign officials were “incidentally”
collected by US intelligence, it was reported Monday.
The names Susan Rice asked to “unmask” were found in raw intelligence
documents with summaries of monitored conversations between Trump
associates and foreign officials discussing the then-president-elect’s
transition, Bloomberg News reported.
Normally, the names of American citizens collected in such a manner are redacted.
But after being “unmasked,” the identities of the Trump officials became known.
Top government officials can ask for the hidden names to be released
if they are of “foreign intelligence value,” Bloomberg reported.
Rice’s requests to identify Trump transition staffers were uncovered
in February during a National Security Council review and were reported
to the White House General Counsel’s Office.
The revelation adds insight to the actions of Rep. Devin Nunes
(R-Calif.), the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, who met with
sources on White House grounds to view documents related to surveillance
of Team Trump.
The Bloomberg report said it appears Nunes viewed NSC logs of Rice’s requests to unmask the names.
The next day, March 22, Nunes held a news conference to announce he
had received information that showed members of the Trump transition
team were caught up in “incidental collection” after the election.
The data included sensitive information about who the president’s
associates were meeting, their views on foreign policy issues and
further transition plans.
Nunes told reporters last month he briefed Trump on the documents
because of concerns that Americans who were caught on routine
surveillance were being “unmasked” for no reason.
The Obama administration shared the intelligence with officials
throughout government because it feared the information would be covered
up in a Trump White House.
Once the information was widely distributed, “intelligence officials”
began leaking it and some of it appeared in media reports, including
conversations fired National Security Adviser Mike Flynn had with the
Russian ambassador to the United States.
Rice did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment, Bloomberg said.
But during an appearance on “PBS NewsHour” on March 22, she was asked about whether Trump transition officials were swept up in incidental eavesdropping.
“I know nothing about this,” she said at the time.
On Monday, Rice retweeted former Hillary Clinton aide Jennifer
Palmieri, who wrote: “Here’s what’s happening. Trump NSC staff cherry
picks intel which appears to back up Trump and leaks it to Fox so Trump
can tweet it.”
White House spokesman Sean Spicer declined to go into details of Rice’s behavior at his press briefing Monday.
“I will say . . . there’s a troubling direction some of this is going in, but we’re going to let this review go on,” he said.
“I am not going to comment on this any further until [congressional] committees have come to a conclusion.”
Besides Nunes’ House committee, the Senate Intelligence Committee is also looking into Russia’s involvement in the US election and whether Trump associates had any contact with the Kremlin during that time.
The FBI also is investigating Russia’s interference.
Trump set off the controversy on March 4 when he claimed in a tweet that Obama “had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower,” but did not offer proof.
Rice has stirred controversy before. As the US ambassador to the
United Nations, she appeared on Sunday news shows to defend the
administration’s claim that the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on the US
consulate in Benghazi, Libya, were triggered by an Internet video. That
claim was later widely debunked.
Rice also told ABC in 2014 that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl “served the
United States with honor and distinction” and that he “wasn’t simply a
hostage; he was an American prisoner of war captured on the
battlefield.”
Bergdahl is currently facing court-martial on charges of desertion
and misbehavior before the enemy for allegedly walking off his post in
Afghanistan.
Do you suspect that the noise over Trump campaign contacts with
the Russians is just a political hit arranged by Obama insiders before
they left? You got fresh evidence of that Monday, with news that then-national security adviser Susan Rice was behind the “unmasking” of Trumpites in transcripts of calls with Russian officials.
Again, nothing on the public record so far shows that anyone on Team Trump said anything improper on those calls.
It’s no surprise that US spooks intercept foreign officials’ calls.
But intelligence community reports don’t disclose the names of US
citizens on the other end. To get that info, a high official must (but
rarely does) push to “unmask” the Americans’ names.
Bloomberg’s Eli Lake now reports that Rice started doing just that last year.
That was perfectly legal. But we also know that the Obama
administration later changed the classification of the “unmasked”
transcripts, and other similar material, in order to spread the
information as widely as possible within the government.
The motive for that was (supposedly) to prevent Team Trump from
burying it all once it took over. But the result was that it made it
relatively safe for someone (or someones) to leak the info to the press.
Which made it likely somebody would leak. So Team Obama’s “spread the info” initiative certainly broke the spirit of the laws.
Those leaks have produced a nagging political sore for the new
administration — leading to the ouster of national security adviser
Michael Flynn, helping to drive down President Trump’s approval ratings
and making it harder for him to push his program through.
Rice certainly wasn’t politically naive about the political uses of
intelligence information. She was, after all, the Obama official who
famously made the rounds spouting the false “Our intel says it was about
the video” line on the Benghazi attack back during the 2012 campaign.
All of this puts the actions of House Intelligence Committee Chairman
Devin Nunes in clearer perspective. After viewing the Rice requests at
the White House, he disclosed that Trump officials had been caught up in
incidental surveillance.
All of which is a reminder that two issues are in play here: Russian
meddling in the election, about which the nation already knows plenty —
and the Obama team’s efforts to sabotage Team Trump.
This is a message that began being
forwarded via email in the mid-1990s of various Bill and Hillary Clinton
associates alleged to have died under mysterious circumstances. This
conspiracy theory continued to resurrect itself during Hillary Clinton’s
2008 and 2016 presidential bids.
THE CLINTON DEAD POOL
1- James McDougal – Clintons convicted Whitewater
partner died of an apparent heart attack, while in solitary confinement.
He was a key witness in Ken Starr’s investigation.
2 – Mary Mahoney – A former White House intern was
murdered July 1997 at a Starbucks Coffee Shop in Georgetown .. The
murder …happened just after she was to go public w:th her story of
sexual harassment in the White House.
3 – Vince Foster – Former White House counselor, and
colleague of Hillary Clinton at Little Rock’s Rose Law firm. Died of a
gunshot wound to the head, ruled a suicide.
4 – Ron Brown – Secretary of Commerce and former DNC
Chairman. Reported to have died by impact in a plane crash. A
pathologist close to the investigation reported that there was a hole in
the top of Brown’s skull resembling a gunshot wound. At the time of his
death Brown was being investigated, and spoke publicly of his
willingness to cut a deal with prosecutors. The rest of the people on
the plane also died. A few days later the Air Traffic controller
commited suicide.
5 – C. Victor Raiser, II – Raiser, a major player in the Clinton fund raising organization died in a private plane crash in July 1992.
6 – Paul Tulley – Democratic National Committee
Political Director found dead in a hotel room in Little Rock , September
1992. Described by Clinton as a “dear friend and trusted advisor”.
7 – Ed Willey – Clinton fundraiser, found dead
November 1993 deep in the woods in VA of a gunshot wound to the head.
Ruled a suicide. Ed Willey died on the same day his wife Kathleen Willey
claimed Bill Clinton groped her in the oval office in the White House.
Ed Willey was involved in several Clinton fund raising events.
8 – Jerry Parks – Head of Clinton’s gubernatorial
security team in Little Rock .. Gunned down in his car at a deserted
intersection outside Little Rock Park’s son said his father was building
a dossier on Clinton He allegedly threatened to reveal this
information. After he died the files were mysteriously removed from his
house.
9 – James Bunch – Died from a gunshot suicide. It
was reported that he had a “Black Book” of people which contained names
of influential people who visited prostitutes in Texas and Arkansas
10 – James Wilson – Was found dead in May 1993 from an apparent hanging suicide. He was reported to have ties to Whitewater..
11 – Kathy Ferguson – Ex-wife of Arkansas Trooper
Danny Ferguson, was found dead in May 1994, in her living room with a
gunshot to her head. It was ruled a suicide even though there were
several packed suitcases, as if she were going somewhere. Danny Ferguson
was a co-defendant along with Bill Clinton in the Paula Jones lawsuit
Kathy Ferguson was a possible corroborating witness for Paula Jones.
12 – Bill Shelton – Arkansas State Trooper and
fiancee of Kathy Ferguson. Critical of the suicide ruling of his
fiancee, he was found dead in June, 1994 of a gunshot wound also ruled a
suicide at the grave site of his fiancee.
13 – Gandy Baugh – Attorney for Clinton’s friend Dan
Lassater, died by jumping out a window of a tall building January,
1994. His client was a convicted drug distributor.
14 – Florence Martin – Accountant &
sub-contractor for the CIA, was related to the Barry Seal, Mena,
Arkansas, airport drug smuggling case. He died of three gunshot wounds.
15 – Suzanne Coleman – Reportedly had an affair with
Clinton when he was Arkansas Attorney General. Died of a gunshot wound
to the back of the head, ruled a suicide. Was pregnant at the time of
her death.
16 – Paula Grober – Clinton’s speech interpreter for the deaf from 1978 until her death December 9, 1992. She died in a one car accident.
17 – Danny Casolaro – Investigative reporter,
investigating Mena Airport and Arkansas Development Finance Authority.
He slit his wrists, apparently, in the middle of his investigation.
18 – Paul Wilcher – Attorney investigating
corruption at Mena Airport with Casolaro and the 1980 “October Surprise”
was found dead on a toilet June 22, 1993, in his Washington DC
apartment had delivered a report to Janet Reno 3 weeks before his death.
19 – Jon Parnell Walker – Whitewater investigator
for Resolution Trust Corp. Jumped to his death from his Arlington
,Virginia apartment balcony August 15, 1993. He was investigating the
Morgan Guaranty scandal.
20 – Barbara Wise – Commerce Department staffer.
Worked closely with Ron Brown and John Huang. Cause of death: Unknown.
Died November 29, 1996. Her bruised, naked body was found locked in her
office at the Department of Commerce.
21 – Charles Meissner – Assistant Secretary of
Commerce who gave John Huang special security clearance, died shortly
thereafter in a small plane crash.
22 – Dr. Stanley Heard – Chairman of the National
Chiropractic Health Care Advisory Committee died with his attorney Steve
Dickson in a small plane crash. Dr. Heard, in addition to serving on
Clinton ‘s advisory council personally treated Clinton’s mother,
stepfather and brother.
23 – Barry Seal – Drug running TWA pilot out of Mena Arkansas, death was no accident.
24 – Johnny Lawhorn, Jr. – Mechanic, found a check
made out to Bill Clinton in the trunk of a car left at his repair shop.
He was found dead after his car had hit a utility pole.
25 – Stanley Huggins – Investigated Madison Guaranty. His death was a purported suicide and his report was never released.
26 – Hershell Friday – Attorney and Clinton fundraiser died March 1, 1994, when his plane exploded.
27 – Kevin Ives & Don Henry – Known as “The boys
on the track” case. Reports say the boys may have stumbled upon the
Mena Arkansas airport drug operation. A controversial case, the initial
report of death said, due to falling asleep on railroad tracks. Later
reports claim the 2 boys had been slain before being placed on the
tracks. Many linked to the case died before their testimony could come
before a Grand Jury. THE FOLLOWING PERSONS HAD INFORMATION ON THE IVES/HENRY CASE:
28 – Keith Coney – Died when his motorcycle slammed into the back of a truck, 7/88.
29 – Keith McMaskle – Died, stabbed 113 times, Nov, 1988
30 – Gregory Collins – Died from a gunshot wound January 1989.
31 – Jeff Rhodes – He was shot, mutilated and found burned in a trash dump in April 1989.
32 – James Milan – Found decapitated. However, the Coroner ruled his death was due to natural causes”.
34 – Richard Winters – A suspect in the Ives/Henry deaths. He was killed in a set-up robbery July 1989. THE FOLLOWING CLINTON BODYGUARDS ARE ALSO DEAD
35 – Major William S. Barkley, Jr.
36 – Captain Scott J . Reynolds
37 – Sgt. Brian Hanley
38 – Sgt. Tim Sabel
39 – Major General William Robertson
40 – Col. William Densberger
41 – Col. Robert Kelly
42 – Spec. Gary Rhodes
43 – Steve Willis
44 – Robert Williams
45 – Conway LeBleu
46 – Todd McKeehan And the most recent, Seth Rich, the DC staffer
murdered and “robbed” (of nothing) on July 10. Wikileaks found Assange
claims he had info on the DNC email scandal.
Not Included in this list are the 4 men killed in Benghazi.
Not the kind of person I want in charge of my country.
GOD BLESS THE USA.
Cigna released their U.S. Loneliness Survey
this month and reported that loneliness among Americans has reached
"epidemic levels." Their survey of over 20,000 Americans found that
nearly half reported sometimes or always feeling alone (46 percent) or
left out (47 percent). The survey used a 20-item questionnaire that
assesses subjective feelings of loneliness and social isolation.
The potential effects of loneliness
on health are well established. A 2013 study on loneliness showed
elevated levels of stress hormones and inflammation, which can increase
the risk of heart disease, dementia, and Type 2 diabetes and suicide
attempts.
Loneliness is prevalent in society. The rising numbers
of single adults, the breakdown of the family and the loss of
neighborhood and community have all contributed to an immense sense of
loneliness in many people's lives.
Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, professor of psychology at
Brigham Young University reports loneliness peaks in adolescents and
young adults, then again in older adults. She says, “Older adults should
not be the sole focus of the effects of loneliness. We need to address
this for all ages.”
Tom Wolfe the great American novelist who just recently
passed away wrote, "Loneliness, far from being a rare and curious
phenomenon, peculiar to myself and a few solitary men, is a central and
inevitable fact of human existence."
If you feel lonely remember God cares for you. He knows
about loneliness. Jesus experienced the greatest loneliness of all when
the Father forsook him on the cross. God knows and cares.
The response to loneliness may be to take up a new
hobby, make more time for friends or get a pet. Loneliness is seen as
something bad and we must take action to overcome it. But God can help
transform it into something beneficial for us. Loneliness can cause us to seek God in a deeper way
We are so busy we often leave little time for God. When
we are alone God has the opportunity to speak to us and receive our
undivided attention. Nine times in the gospels we are told that Jesus
went away to a lonely place to be with the father. Jesus sought out
solitude so he could seek the father's will for his life.
Many of the early church fathers were called desert
fathers because they sought out the desert as a lonely place to find
God. In fact, the Hebrew word for lonely can also be translated as
solitude or desert.
When we are alone and seek after God we will be
rewarded. He will give us increased discernment so desperately needed
today. This kind of guidance and wisdom does not come without setting
apart time to be with God.
Sometimes God causes us to seek him by driving us to
him through the loneliness we experience. We can get angry, depressed or
we can see it as a gift. Loneliness is a great benefit if we have drawn
closer to Christ. Loneliness can be used by God to develop our character
In loneliness God reveals our weaknesses and works on
changing them. God will test and even increase our patience while we
wait in our loneliness. Our deficiencies, insecurities and defense
mechanisms are revealed in our aloneness, which God can then use to
strengthen our character.
Paul knew the power of weaknesses becoming strengths
when he said, "When I am weak then I am strong." When we are alone our
commitment is tested and our true character shines through. Being
faithful alone gives us confidence we can be faithful in community.
Amy Carmichael knew about loneliness. She was a
missionary to India for 55 years and twice because of accidents had to
spend months alone. In her solitude she wrote many books.
In one of her books, “Gold By Midnight,” there is a boy
who takes a walk in the woods and in the deepest, darkest place finds a
patch of lovely orchids. In that lonely place God brought forth great
beauty. And God can cultivate beauty in your character through
loneliness. Loneliness can inspire us to greater creativity
Carl Sandburg wrote, "Shakespeare, Leonardo de Vinci,
Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln never saw a movie, heard a radio
or looked at a TV. They had loneliness and knew what to do with it. They
were not afraid of being lonely because they knew that then the
creative mood in them would work."
Creative problem solvers are needed in our world.
Imagine the great things God would do if we could tap into His
creativity for us. I recently spent five days alone writing. I had so
many insights and got so much more done alone than I could when I am
around people.
In "Life Together" Dietrich Bonheoffer wrote about the
need for community and solitude. He said, "If you refuse to be alone you
are rejecting Christ's call to you and you can have no part in the
community of those who are called." He wrote such strong words because
he knew the importance of time alone with God.
God wants to give us dreams and visions of what can be
done through us and that can come through aloneness. Your greatest
achievement may be birthed out of your loneliness. Loneliness can create in us a desire to serve
When we are away from people we can come to appreciate
humanity more. What we learn in our loneliness can give us a heightened
sensitivity to others. There is a time apart and there is also a time to
be in community.
True community involves our serving one another in
love. Sometimes the very fact of our loneliness results from our sitting
instead of serving.
A boy once asked a lonely old man, "What is life's
heaviest burden?" The man responded by saying, "To have nothing to
carry." We are needed to do a work no one else but us can do.
In our loneliness we can see what needs there are and
then determine how God can use us to meet them. There is so much to be
done and God may have to put us in a lonely place for a season so that
we can get a greater burden to serve.
God makes a home for the lonely. It is a place where he
can work in us it is a place that can be very beneficial for us. It is
not a place to avoid for we are never alone. God will never forsake us,
but he will transform us.
Robert Mueller leaving after a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, in June 2017.
(AP, File)
The current Robert Mueller-Justice
Department-Russia mess is almost impossible to understand because it is
made up of five parallel scandals.
For months, as I wrote my new book, “Trump’s America,”
I tried to better understand news as it emerged from the Justice
Department – and I still am trying. There are so many moving parts,
personalities and dates that it is difficult to track. However, as a
trained historian, I began creating an orderly outline for people, dates
and events.
I realized that the scandal is so big, so complex, and involves
so many people with power that codifying it really required me to draw
from my experience writing novels. There are so many egos and there is
so much manipulative behavior, dishonesty (and dishonesty about the
dishonesty) that it is very difficult to explain it as a straightforward
history. It could be more easily explained as a narrative of ambition,
illegality and criminal plotting.
Finally, it hit me that the real problem is that there are five parallel and often interlocked scandals going on in concert:
1. The Clintons have been breaking the law and getting away with it at least since Hillary Clinton made nearly $100,000 from a $1,000 investment
in cattle futures in 1978-1979. For 40 years the Clintons have acted as
though there were no laws that applied to them. They have surrounded
themselves with lawyers and simply muscled their way through every
scandal. The scale of Clinton illegal activity is so large and so
widespread that no one has been able to fully describe it – although
Peter Schweizer made a pretty good start with his book “Clinton Cash.”
2. The extraordinary deep state defense of Hillary
Clinton, combined with the systematic avoidance of exposing and dealing
with her illegal behaviors while protecting her staff members when they
support and participate in her illegality, is beyond anything we have
seen in American history.
The reason for this deep state
resistance is simple. Transparency is going to get a lot of people in
trouble – and it goes to the very top.
3. The calculated effort to undermine and
discredit then-candidate and now-President Donald Trump is actually a
continuation of a deep anti-Republican bias in the Justice Department.
This Justice Department tradition is well catalogued in Sidney Powell’s
stunning book, “Licensed to Lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice.”
If you have any illusions about the Justice Department’s objectivity, keep in mind that employees of this department gave 97 percent of their 2016 campaign donations to Hillary
Clinton – while the department was supposedly investigating her for
illegally using a private email server to send and receive classified
information as secretary of state. With each passing week, we are
learning more about the extraordinary abuses of power designed to
undermine President Trump and punish his supporters (a direct contrast
to the treatment of Clinton and her staff). The aggressive abuse of
power has led both Alan Dershowitz and former Clinton adviser Mark Penn to warn that limitless police power is a danger to all of us.
4. The scandal of the deep state resistance to
accountability and transparency has also been astounding. As a career
deep state member, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has
consistently resisted inquiries by Congress. Documents requested by the
Senate Judiciary Committee were heavily redacted
for supposed national security reasons – which turned out to have
nothing to do with national security (including the fact that the FBI
had spent $70,000 on a conference table).
Meanwhile, more than 1 million documents were withheld from the House Judiciary Committee for so long that the committee had to issue a subpoena.
The reason for this deep state resistance is simple. Transparency is
going to get a lot of people in trouble – and it goes to the very top.
When Lisa Page wrote Peter Strzok in September 2016, “POTUS wants to know everything,”
there is good reason to believe President Obama was the one she was
referring to as POTUS. If President Obama wanted to know everything,
given the way his White House worked, it is very likely his senior
adviser Valerie Jarrett knew everything. The more we learn, the bigger
the scandal web gets.
5. Panic is breaking out among senior people who
engaged in illegal activities because they thought President Hillary
Clinton would protect them. Suddenly, they find themselves in danger of
criminal charges. That is why people like former Director of National
Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan grow
increasingly hysterical in their TV appearances.
I did my best to succinctly capture this moment in American history in “Trump’s America,”
but each one of these five scandals is worthy of its own detailed book.
Taken together, they are a mound of illegalities, abuses, dishonesty,
and manipulation – on a scale that has never before occurred in America.
I suspect when all these scandals are unraveled, a political and cultural reckoning in Washington will follow.
Strange but true: You can learn a lot about Earth’s
climate by watching a lunar eclipse. This week at the 46th Global
Monitoring Annual Conference (GMAC) in Boulder, CO, climate scientist
Richard Keen of the University of Colorado announced new results from
decades of lunar eclipse monitoring.
“Based on the color and brightness of recent eclipses, we can say
that Earth’s stratosphere is as clear as it has been in decades. There
are very few volcanic aerosols up there,” he explains. This is
important, climatologically, because a clear stratosphere “lets the
sunshine in” to warm the Earth below.
To illustrate the effect that volcanic
aerosols have on eclipses, Keen prepared a side-by-side comparison
(above) of a lunar eclipse observed in 1992 after the Philippine volcano
Pinatubo spewed millions of tons of gas and ash into the atmosphere vs.
the latest “all-clear” eclipse in January 2018.
“Compared to the murky decades of the el Chichon and Pinatubo,
the clear stratosphere since 1995 has allowed the intensity of sunlight
reaching the ground to increase by about 0.6 Watts per square meter,”
says Keen. “That’s equivalent to a warming of 1 or 2 tenths of a degree C
(0.1 C to 0.2 C).”
“In other words,” he adds, “over the past 40 years, the decrease of
volcanic aerosols and the increase of greenhouse gases have contributed
equally to the total warming (~0.3 C) observed in global satellite
temperature records.”
Total lunar eclipses happen somewhere on Earth typically once or
twice a year. Keen is looking forward to the next one on July 27, 2018,
which will be the longest lunar eclipse of the century.
The Moon will pass almost directly through the middle of Earth’s
shadow, remaining inside for 1 hour and 43 minutes. That’s just a few
minutes shy of the theoretical maximum.
“This will give us plenty of time to measure the color and brightness
of Earth’s shadow and, thus, the aerosol content of the stratosphere,”
says Keen.
For more information about lunar eclipses and climate change, check out Keen’s poster from the GMAC.
Read more at www.spaceweather.com
Climate Fraud Exposed: CO2 doesn’t rise up, trap and retain heat
Published on
Written by John O'Sullivan
We have been lied to: Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an alleged ‘well-mixed
gas’ also alleged to reside in sufficient quantities high in the
atmosphere to cause global warming (via the so-called greenhouse gas
effect). But as President Trump looks to help dismantle the hoax there
is much inconvenient science at hand to help his administration
discredit this ‘theory’ beloved by climate alarmists.
The first damaging fact to the theory: CO2 is actually a heavy gas.
It is not ‘well mixed’ in the air as per the glib claim. Just check out
the NASA image (above) showing widely varying carbon dioxide
concentrations. Indeed, schoolchildren are shown just how heavy CO2 is
by way of a simple school lab experiment.
This heavy gas thus struggles to rise and soon falls back to earth due
to its Specific Gravity (SG). Real scientists rely on the SG measure
which gives standard air a value of 1.0 where the measured SG of CO2 is
1.5 (considerably heavier). Thus, in the real world the warming theory
barely gets off the ground.
As shown in Carbon Dioxide Not a Well Mixed Gas and Can’t Cause Global Warming the same
principle applies to heat transfer: the Specific Heat (SH) of air is
1.0 and the SH of CO2 is 0.8 (thus CO2 heats and cools faster).
Combining these properties allows for thermal mixing. Heavy CO2 warms
faster and rises, as in a hot air balloon. It then rapidly cools and
falls. Once it falls it loses any claimed climate impact.
You see, so much of what we have been told about the greenhouse gas
mechanism is false. James Moodey wrote an excellent debunk of CO2
pseudo-science. He tells us:
“Proponents [of the greenhouse gas theory] point to
scientist John Tyndall for postulating what we now call global warming
in his 1861 paper published in “Philosophical Transactions.” Tyndall’s
experiments methodically measured with an electronic galvanometer, the
relative heat absorption of various gases, gas vapors and even a few
solids. He proved that they absorb heat in the order listed.
Generally, the larger the gas molecule (compound gases), the more
heat they absorb with the most heat absorbed by olefiant gas (ethylene).
Although he does not mention carbon dioxide, it might absorb about a
third of that amount. He discovered that that these gases absorb less
heat as their pressure rises, so he measured at extreme low pressures.
At one point, he generalizes that gas vapors, such as aqueous vapor,
absorb roughly 13 times more than dry gases. Solids absorb even more
heat. He notes that gases cool in proportion to the absorption with
large molecule gases taking longer to cool. Tyndall leaps a bit with
this concept when he hypothesizes the affect on our atmosphere by
stating, “to account for different amounts of heat being preserved to
the earth at different times” – which we attribute to global warming.”
There is no doubt what he measured exists, but nowhere in John
Tyndall’s paper does he add the element of time. Yes, some gases absorb
heat, but for how long? If you ask any climate ‘scientist’ how long CO2
traps heat they are unable to tell you. They certainly can’t claim
Tyndall “settled” it. Instead you will find airy-fairy, hand-waving
pronouncements like this peach:
“As humans emit greenhouse gases like CO2, the air warms
and holds more water vapor, which then traps more heat and accelerates
warming.”
You see, they want to convince you that CO2 is trapping heat (like a
greenhouse) but then don’t tell you how much and for how long. In fact,
the only scientist to test CO2 absorption/emission in the open
atmosphere is Professor Nasif Nahle (Monterrey, Mexico) in his peer-reviewed paper, ‘Determining the Total Emissivity of a Mixture of Gases Containing Overlapping Absorption Bands.’ [1]
By performing his experiments in the open atmosphere Professor Nahle found:
“Applying the physics laws of atmospheric heat transfer, the Carbon Dioxide behaves as a coolant
of the Earth’s surface and the Earth’s atmosphere by its effect of
diminishing the total absorptivity and total emissivity of the mixture
of atmospheric gases.” [emphasis added]
So much for that ‘greenhouse effect’! Unlike academics playing with
computers, applied scientists like Nahle and measurement engineers, who
must be correct or buildings would catch fire, use four aspects of
physics to measure gases: Pressure (Boyles Law), Temperature (Charles Law), Super-compressibility and Specific Gravity. Charles Law and Specific Gravity should be at the center of any analysis of Global Warming.
But take a look at any climate ‘science’ publication explaining how
they quantify and explain their mechanism of carbon dioxide’s ‘heat
trapping’ in the climate and you will only read about radiation effects,
nothing at all on those essential laws that chemical science experts
rely on. Anyway, a greenhouse works by blocking out cooling convection,
not by trapping radiation.
And the greenhouse gas theory is all about radiation. But radiation
is not the principle method of heat transport in a gaseous environment
like earth’s atmosphere. Here. it is convection and conduction that
carry heat around the system. No wonder climate computer models fail.
So, does carbon dioxide trap and retain heat? No, although it cools
more slowly than some other gases, it absorbs some amount of heat and
quickly cools the same amount when the heat source is removed. Does it
rise up in the atmosphere? No, it does the opposite. It sinks.
It is well known that CO2 pools in the lower atmosphere – it is heavy
and sinks to the ground where it forms large concentrations (e.g as
carboniferous limestone). Geologists know this all too well. They can
point us to innumerable examples e.g. those prehistoric limestone
deposits on ocean beds which gave the south coast of Britain it’s
marvelous white cliffs of Dover (see image).
As Moodey goes on to tell us:
Charles Law precisely quantifies the volume expansion of
gas when heated at each degree of temperature. Likewise, as gas cools
its volume shrinks precisely the same. Our modern instruments measure
instantaneous changes in volume and temperature. This does the same as
John Tyndall’s instrument, except we can measure a slight change in
volume with each degree of temperature. By my experience with this, I
estimate that gases lose the absorbed temperature very rapidly when the
heat source is removed.
Specific gravity is the weight of a gas compared with air. Carbon
Dioxide has a specific gravity of 1.52. It is about one and a half times
heavier than air. It is the same weight as propane and anyone who uses
propane knows it to be very heavy. Carbon dioxide sinks into our storm
drains and into the ground like a puddle of water.
Now back to some Geology:
And we know carbon dioxide forms into insoluble carbonates that will eventually be washed into the ocean and settle on the ocean
floor. Just as well it does. A high carbonate content in the ocean has
been a godsend to life. Dissolved carbonates in seawater provide an
efficient chemical buffer to various processes that change the
properties of seawater. For instance, the addition of a strong acid such
as hydrochloric acid (naturally added to the ocean by volcanism), is
strongly buffered by the seawater carbonate system. Marine biologists
and oceanographers, unlike most climate ‘scientists’, know
that Phytoplankton have always sucked CO2 out of the sky, then dumps to ocean floor. [2]
This is the carbon cycle in operation – heavier organic carbon settling down to intermediate and deep waters. Earth’s oceans and rains serve as a go-between to transport the carbon back … and free the CO2 gas which makes its way back up to the surface through volcanoes. [3]
It is sensible to see dispersion of CO2 via volcanic eruptions (and
the very tiny human emissions of CO2) as fertilization of the land fauna
and flora. The inconvenient truth for global warming alarmists is that NASA finds that the rise in atmospheric CO2 over the last 35 years “represents an increase in leaves on plants and trees equivalent in area to two times the continental United States.” [4]
If NASA is correct, then we need more carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere, not less. Check the graph below and follow the blue line to
see that life on earth has thrived on CO2 concentrations at 3,000 ppm,
far higher than today’s levels of about 400 ppm (circled):
And if you think like a geologist and not like a climate ‘scientists’
and look back in the history of time you see the atmosphere had very
large amounts of carbon dioxide in it. Today we have got less than 0.4%.
So where did that carbon dioxide go to? It went into limestone, chalk,
shells and life. All land-based lifeforms have been sequestering carbon
for ONLY two and a half billion years. And all that CO2 that is supposed
to turn the oceans more acidic? Pure nonsense because even NOAA scientists admit in private that they can’t name any place affected by ocean acidification. And more than 99% of earth’s FREE CO2 is already in the ocean waters.
If only those self-absorbed climate ‘scientists’ would speak to
chemical scientists. All that Calcium Carbonate comes from the
precipitation reaction of Calcium Hydroxide in the ocean with CO2 using
the reaction Ca(OH)2 + CO2 -> CaCO3 + H20. For example, shellfish
need CO2 from the ocean to make their shells and control the conditions
for PH, Temperature and Ion Concentration and they bind the crystals
that form in a protein matrix for strength. Shellfish are utterly
unaffected by the piddling change in the ocean from being a base of 8.3
to being a base of PH 8.29 that might happen due to manmade CO2
Our planet has been degassing carbon dioxide since it first formed
four and a half billion years ago and now we are at a dangerously low
level. The dumbest thing nations can do is permit scrubbing CO2 from
the air (carbon sequestration).
As Professor Nahle found with his open air experiments:
“The general conclusion is that by adding any gas with
total emissivity/absorptivity lower than the total
emissivity/absorptivity of the main absorber/emitter in the mixture of
gases makes that the total emissivity/absorptivity of the mixture of
gases decreases. In consequence, the carbon dioxide and the oxygen at
the overlapping absorption spectral bands act as mitigating factors of
the warming of the atmosphere, not as intensifier factors of the total
absorptivity/emissivity of the atmosphere.”
Indeed, even with some slight cooling observed, the affect of carbon
dioxide on the temperature of our atmosphere is not even measurable as
the content is so tiny. Note that during our most dramatic industrial
growth from 1950 to 1980, our atmosphere cooled. In fact putting co2
into the air is saving the planet. If the industrial age did not occur
for another 100 million years, what would the co2 ppm in air be then?
The danger is without humans taking steps to put more carbon dioxide
into the air then life as we know it could end.
*****
[1] Nahle, N., ‘Determining the Total Emissivity of a Mixture of
Gases Containing Overlapping Absorption
Bands,’ http://www.biocab.org/Overlapping_Absorption_Bands.pdf
[2] Lionel Guidi, et al x 64 names (2015) Plankton networks driving carbon export in the oligotrophic ocean. Nature, 2016; DOI: 10.1038/nature16942
[3] ‘Marine barite: Recorder of variations in ocean export productivity‘ page 698, Fig 6).
[4] Samson Reiny, ‘Carbon Dioxide Fertilization Greening Earth, Study
Finds,’ https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/carbon-dioxide-fertilization-greening-earth
(accessed online: January 30, 2017)
This Could Be The Real Reason Why North Korea Stopped Its Nuclear Missile Tests
Trevor Nace
, Contributor
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.
Shutterstock
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un
North Korean president Kim Jong-un
recently announced his country has halted its nuclear testing program.
While it is unclear whether this is a political move in preparation for
meeting with the United States president Donald Trump, recent evidence
suggests the country may have been forced to halt testing.
A recent study by a group of geologists
discovered that the mountain used by North Korea for its nuclear bomb
testing has collapsed as a result of the explosions. The collapsed
mountain is raising concerns about radioactive fallout, which could make
its way into China.
Scientists from the University of Science and Technology of China
believe this could be the true reason North Korean President Kim Jong-un
announced the halt of their nuclear testing program.
The collapse of Mount Mantap was a result of five recent nuclear
blasts at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in northwest North Korea. The
recent nuclear tests tore open a hole in the mountain, causing it to
collapse and creating a pathway for radioactivity to escape from the mountain.
A man watches a TV
news program reporting North Korea's nuclear test at Seoul Railway
Station in Seoul, South Korea. North Korea has conducted five nuclear
tests, the first in 2006. All were conducted in the depths of Mount
Mantap, a nondescript granite peak in the remote and heavily forested
Hamgyong mountain range about 80 kilometers (50 miles) as the crow flies
from Chongjin, the nearest big city. Since North Korea is the only
country in the world that still conducts nuclear weapons tests, its
Punggye-ri site on - or mostly under - Mount Mantap is also the world’s
only active nuclear testing site. The letters on the screen read:
"Hydrogen bomb test." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)
The team of Chinese geologists believes the collapse was a result of
the detonation of North Korea's most powerful nuclear warhead last fall.
The nuclear bomb was detonated about 2,300 feet beneath the mountain's
peak, causing aftershock earthquakes and collapse of the mountain.
The research, which will be published next month in the peer-reviewed journal Geophysical Research Letters,
examines satellite imagery before and after the nuclear tests. There is
ongoing concern that the collapse ejected radioactive dust, which could
make its way into China and other neighboring countries.
The first four underground nuclear tests last year did not produce
visible structural damage to the mountain as detected through satellite
imagery. However, the 5th nuclear test, a 100-kilotonne nuclear bomb
that was detonated on September 3rd caused significant structural damage
to the mountain.
The bomb likely vaporized the surrounding rock and blew a hole in the
side of the mountain according to Wen Lianxing, the lead geologists on
the project from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
After analyzing satellite imagery and the response from seismic
stations, the research team concluded that the blast caused a large
section of the mountain to collapse on itself.
The United States Geological Survey reported a magnitude 6.3
earthquake, followed by a second 4.6 magnitude earthquake shortly
afterward coinciding with the detonation of the September nuclear test.
Evidence of the collapse of Mount Mantap
suggests it could be the underlying cause of North Korea halting its
nuclear tests. Time will show whether the recluse country will develop a
new nuclear test site or whether this marks the end of nuclear testing
by North Korea.
Colorado sues Trump administration over census citizenship question
Governor says every person must be counted, regardless of citizenship status
By Joey Bunch As originally reported by Colorado Politics
Wednesday, May 2, 2018 10:48 AM
Colorado is suing the Trump administration to keep census takers in 2020 from asking about citizenship.
Gov.
John Hickenlooper said Tuesday afternoon that Colorado will join the
lawsuit by a coalition of 18 states and Washington, D.C., as well as
nine cities, four counties and the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
“We
have a responsibility to Colorado to see that every person is counted,”
Hickenlooper said in a statement. “Our action seeks to ensure the census
is being used for its intended purpose under the Constitution. An
accurate census count protects federal funding and our representation in
Congress.”
Colorado is joining the lawsuit even though Attorney
General Cynthia Coffman, a Republican, came out in support of asking the
citizenship question on April 10.
“The goal of the census is to
produce as accurate a picture as possible of the makeup of our vast and
diverse country so that all people that live within our borders can be
appropriately represented,” she said then, days before she was
eliminated from the governor’s race at the state GOP assembly.
“Colorado’s next redistricting and reapportionment will be based on its
2020 Census data. We need the most complete information possible to
assure fair political representation of the entire state. In fact, it is
so important to be able to obtain this information that federal law
provides strong privacy protections for the information that is
collected, which should help overcome any reluctance to participate.”
Coffman’s office has designated Jacki Cooper Melmed, the
governor’s chief legal counsel, as a special assistant AG to handle the
case, said Jacque Montgomery, Hickenlooper’s spokeswoman. The amended
lawsuit notes the substitution.
In March, U.S. Commerce Secretary
Wilbur Ross ordered the Census Bureau to ask every resident about his or
her citizenship status. Ross and the Census Bureau are named as
plaintiffs in the suit.
Plaintiffs argue that Trump’s crackdown on
immigration will scare undocumented residents from participating in the
official count, for fear of attracting attention from federal
authorities.
Officials with the city of Denver already have said
they won’t participate in enforcing federal immigration laws. Critics
call Denver, Boulder and Aurora “sanctuary cities,” spurring efforts to
withhold federal grants and other repercussions on the state and federal
level.
The census lawsuit was originally filed on April 3 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Besides
Colorado, the other states in the complaint are Connecticut, Delaware,
Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New
Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,
Virginia, Vermont and Washington.
The cities that originally
joined the lawsuits are New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Providence, San
Francisco and Seattle; and the bipartisan U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Others
joining the case Tuesday were Central Falls, Rhode Island; Columbus,
Ohio; Pittsburgh; Cameron and El Paso counties in Texas; and Monterey
County in California.
Critics of the Trump proposal say states and
cities with large immigrant populations could pay an unfair price
because of a miscount in the census, as well as lose representation in
the Electoral College if undocumented residents and family members who
are citizens are frightened away from being counted.
The Colorado
governor’s office said Tuesday that 20.9 percent of households in the
state did not mail back their 2010 Census questionnaire, which required
census-takers to make a personal visit. Also, Hickenlooper’s office also
said immigrants make up 9.8 percent of the state’s population.
The
count affects federal tax dollars for transportation, education,
Medicaid and child care programs, which would have an impact on all
Coloradans who use those services.
The state also notes that the Census Bureau has resisted adding a citizenship question since 1990, noting:
“Any
effort to ascertain citizenship will inevitably jeopardize the overall
accuracy of the population count. Obtaining the cooperation of a
suspicious and fearful population would be impossible if the group being
counted perceived any possibility of the information being used against
them. Questions as to citizenship are particularly sensitive in
minority communities and would inevitably trigger hostility, resentment,
and refusal to cooperate.”
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