Mexico president ties shootout dead to drug consumption

Associated Press•February 26, 2020

AMLO IS A NOT A LIBERAL OR A LEFTIST 

HE IS A NEOLIBERAL

Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador waves during an event marking Army Day at the Zocalo, accompanied by first lady Beatriz Gutierrez Muller, in Mexico City, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)More

LEGALIZE ALL DRUGS

MEXICO CITY (AP) — President Andrés Manuel López Obrador suggested Wednesday without offering evidence that most of those who die in Mexico's cartel- and gang-fueled firefights are high on drugs or intoxicated, prompting criticism and questions about whether the claim was accurate.

Speaking to journalists in his morning news conference, López Obrador said rising drug consumption rates must be reversed if the country is to guarantee peace and security after years of rising, record-setting homicide statistics.

“Just so you have the number, 60% of those who lose their life each day, 60% of those killed in clashes, it is shown that they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but primarily drugs,” the president continued. “Because of that, these ruthless crimes that cause such sadness.”

The comments revived a debate seen during the 2006-2012 presidency of Felipe Calderón, who first launched Mexico's militarized anti-drug offensive. Calderón used to say that the majority of those killed during the drug war were tied to cartels, also without offering evidence, but eventually backed off such rhetoric after criticism from activists and relatives of some victim.

A federal government official clarified later Wednesday that the figure came from López Obrador's closed-door morning meetings with his security Cabinet and is based on analyses of those killed in clashes between criminal groups and/or with security forces. That suggests he was referring to presumed criminals and not murder victims more broadly speaking. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said documentation exists but is not publicly available.

But critics questioned whether there was any scientific basis for such an assertion. While it's true that sometimes cartel killers get high before doing their bloody business, they questioned whether it was fair to imply drug consumption is an underlying cause of gangland violence. And perhaps due to the ambiguity of López Obrador's words, many understood them to mean all homicides, leading to accusations of victim-blaming.

Security analyst Alejandro Hope wrote that usually drug consumption is used to characterize perpetrators of murders, not the dead, and that “there is zero evidence” for López Obrador’s assertion.

María Elena Morera, president of the NGO Causa en Comun, called the president’s comment “troubling” and said there is no data to back it up.

“So the president is confused, ill-informed or simply does it to reinforce his posture of revictimizing and not legalizing drugs,” Morera said.

López Obrador was asked at the news conference about possible legalization, for example the cultivation of opium poppies or the recreational use of marijuana, and suggested his administration is looking more at legalization for medicinal purposes.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that prohibition of personal use, possession and private cultivation of cannabis was unconstitutional, though lawmakers have not codified decriminalization into law.

Data Civica, a stats-driven NGO working in human rights and citizen empowerment, also said it was concerned by López Obrador’s assertion.

“On the one hand, because drugs and alcohol do not justify a murder, on the other hand because there is no way of knowing that information,” Data Civica said via Twitter thread. “In this sense, either the president has access to a database that nobody knows of (and should be public) or he is repeating prejudices.”

Mexico recorded 35,588 murders last year, the most since comparable records began to be kept in the 1990s and the latest of multiple consecutive annual highs dating to before he took office in December 2018. The rate of increase in 2019 did slow significantly from that of previous years.

Since Calderón launched the anti-drug offensive in 2006, yearly killings are up more than threefold.

López Obrador espouses a strategy of addressing root causes like poverty and joblessness to try to reduce violence in the country.

“We must make clear that drugs, above all the modern drugs, the chemical drugs, are destructive,” the president said Wednesday.

Bloomberg once said Social Security is a bigger Ponzi scheme than Bernie Madoff's
February 26, 2020


Billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg twice compared Social Security to a Ponzi scheme when he was in office, CNN reports, which is a far cry from his current stance as a Democratic presidential candidate.

Nowadays, Bloomberg has vowed to to strengthen entitlement programs, but he used to see them as a major hurdle in the effort to shrink the United States' deficit. During appearances on his old radio program "Live from City Hall," which were reviewed by CNN's KFile, Bloomberg made the Ponzi scheme comparison once in 2006 and again in 2009. The latter instance was in relation to Bernie Madoff, who was arrested in December 2008 and later pleaded guilty to a massive Ponzi scheme.

"I don't know if Bernie Madoff got his idea from there, but if there's ever a Ponzi Scheme, people say Madoff was the biggest? Wrong," Bloomberg said. "Social Security is, far and away."

Stu Loeser, a spokesman for Bloomberg, attempted to explain Bloomberg's comments to CNN. "The Social Security Administration itself gives out detailed actuarial tables on when and how payments will exceed income, and the issue needs attention because we're running the cushion between them down," he said. "Mike believes that between now and that time, we will need to boost receipts by raising contributions from those who can best afford it, which is what he'll do as president." Read more at CNN. Tim O'Donnell

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says it was 'horrifying' the debate didn't have any climate change questions. Bernie Sanders agrees.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) watched Tuesday night's Democratic debate, and one thing stood out to her.

"Not a single climate change question," she tweeted. "Horrifying." One of the participants, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), agreed, responding, "A disgrace." The Democratic candidates don't shy away from talking about climate change on the campaign trail; billionaire investor and environmentalist Tom Steyer told voters in South Carolina on Tuesday that climate change is his "No. 1 priority," and if elected, he will declare a climate emergency on his first day in office.

Poll after poll has shown that climate change is a key issue for voters; last week, the Pew Research Center released a survey showing that for the first time in two decades, a majority of Americans believe that tackling climate change should be a main priority for the president and Congress.

Another poll released last week by the nonpartisan nonprofit Climate Nexus found that for Democrats, climate change is one of the two most important issues facing the country right now. "This is the first time in American political history where climate change is not just a top-tier issue, it is the top-tier issue," Anthony Leiserowitz, a senior research scientist at Yale who helped conduct the poll, told The Atlantic.

ABC News suspends correspondent David Wright after comments about Trump coverage, socialism, in Project Veritas sting

ABC News suspended one of its veteran correspondents late Tuesday for unguarded remarks he made in a video by operatives of Project Veritas, the conservative group that records “undercover” footage of mainstream journalists to bolster its accusations of media bias. 

The network disciplined David Wright, who reports for ABC’s signature news programs, including “World News Tonight,” “Good Morning America” and “Nightline,” several people confirmed late Tuesday.

The choppy, poorly shot video, released Wednesday morning by Project Veritas, captured Wright on what appeared to be a hidden camera, seeming to complain in general terms about political coverage.

“I don’t think we’re terribly interested in voters,” he said, echoing gripes about the superficiality of some aspects of White House and campaign coverage that have been raised by journalists for decades. Also: “Commercial imperative is incompatible with news.”

 

© Jahi Chikwendiu/The Post James O'Keefe takes part in a book signing event at the Press Club in Washington in January 2018.

At one point he says, “We don’t hold him him to account. We also don’t give him credit for what things he does do.” In subtitles, Project Veritas indicated that “him” stood for President Trump. He refers to Trump at another point as “the f------ president.”

But ABC likely was also alarmed at Wright’s criticism of ABC News, which is owned by the Disney Co. At another point, he raises another longstanding critique of ABC News — that it blends news with promotion of Disney-owned movies and TV programs.

“Like now you can’t watch Good Morning America without there being a Disney princess or a Marvel Avenger appearing,” he says. “It’s all self-promotional.”

In a statement Wednesday, ABC News said, “Any action that damages our reputation for fairness and impartiality or gives the appearance of compromising it harms ABC News and the individuals involved. David Wright has been suspended, and to avoid any possible appearance of bias, he will be reassigned away from political coverage when he returns.”

In the video, which the group said was taken while Wright covered the New Hampshire primary, a voice asks the reporter if he considers himself “a Democratic socialist,” and Wright seems to reply, “more than that, I consider myself a socialist.”

Wright didn’t respond to several requests for comment Tuesday.

Project Veritas’s founder, James O’Keefe, teased the release of the video on Twitter on Tuesday with the hashtag #ExposeABC. He tweeted that his group “will expose ABC News’ agenda to mislead voters and push their own narratives” and said in response to the upcoming release that ABC News had suspended “the correspondent involved.” He didn’t identify Wright or provide details.

Wright, 56, is one of ABC’s most seasoned and versatile correspondents, having joined the network nearly 20 years ago. He has covered the White House and was “Nightline’s” lead political reporter during the 2016 presidential campaign. He has also periodically reported from the Middle East and Europe, including covering the Notre Dame cathedral fire in Paris last year. He shared a 2004 Emmy Award for his reporting from Iraq and shared a Peabody Award for reporting in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Project Veritas conducts undercover “stings” of journalists and others it considers allied with liberal causes or organizations. Its operatives often befriend the organization’s targets using aliases and lull them into casual conversations in bars or restaurants that are then surreptitiously recorded. The videos are edited and released publicly in an effort to show what O’Keefe calls liberal bias or allegedly corrupt practices.

Although O’Keefe has defended the organization’s methods as journalistically sound, mainstream news organizations have largely abandoned the practice of infiltrating businesses or organizations to record video without a subject’s knowledge or consent. News organizations generally consider the practice deceptive, and doing so can subject them to criminal trespass penalties.

O’Keefe’s group has targeted media organizations such as CNN, NPR and the New York Times, as well as Democratic political operatives.

The Washington Post was the target of a Project Veritas sting in 2017 when a woman, later identified as Jaime Phillips, approached a Post reporter with allegedly damaging information about Roy Moore, then a Senate candidate in Alabama. The Post discovered the woman’s apparent affiliation with Project Veritas and that her story was a hoax. The Post recorded video as she attempted to plant the false story.

ABC, coincidentally, was involved in perhaps the most famous case involving undercover video. The Food Lion supermarket chain sued ABC in 1996 after it aired a segment about unsanitary practices at the stores on “PrimeTime Live.” To get footage for the story, two ABC News producers obtained jobs at Food Lion stores using false references and altered work histories. An appeals court eventually rejected Food Lion’s fraud claims but upheld a jury’s $2 award for breach of loyalty and trespass.

This story, originally published early Wednesday, has been updated with details of the Project Veritas video and comment from ABC News.

paul.farhi@washpost.com

THE CORONA VIRUS SATIRE MEME

 BIOPHAGE A GOOD VIRUS THAT KILLS SUPERBUGS

SEE  

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=PHAGES

 https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=BIOPHAGES

 https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=PHAGE

 https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=BACTERIOPHAGE

Trump Bans Corona Beer To Stop Spread Of The Super Virus

THE TRUTH IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU

Rod Gozinya It's Satire, Political misinformation under the guise of proffering 'satire'

Now that the superbug, “coronavirus,” has landed in the USA, our medical practitioners and government employees are taking it very seriously in effort to prevent its further spread within our borders. President Trump is among those in government showing grave concern.

But while all others talk about the virus and how to handle this potential outbreak, President Trump is actually taking action. Quick and decisive, Trump made an announcement today on how he intends to prevent further infection.

“This is a bug. A super bug, actually, they call it. That means it’s bad. Really bad.

And I know what you’re thinking, but you’d be wrong. This isn’t like a caterpillar or a spider. It’s not that kind of bug. Nobody knew that. Nobody. But I’m here to tell you.

This is a virus. It’s a disease. Like a cold or a flu but it can kill you. I won’t let that happen though. I have a plan.

Effective immediately, Corona Beer will no longer be available for sale or consumption in the United States of America. It will be banned indefinitely.

I know, I know… You all love that stuff,  but this has to be done to protect all the good citizens of this country.”

President Trump is known for his quick action in times of danger. With this, he has proven to have more knowledge in the medical field than anybody at the CDC. We are lucky to have him.

Oil plunges deeper into bear market on coronavirus fallout


By Matt Egan, CNN Business

Jennifer Lopez and Hailey Bieber are making this swimsuit trend go viral

The spread of the coronavirus around the world is sending shockwaves through an oil market ill-prepared for a serious blow to energy demand.

© Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg/Getty Images Chemical and oil tanker Tina Theresa, right, sits docked near shipping cranes at the port of Hamburg in Hamburg, Germany, on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020. Germany's biggest bank has given the strongest warning yet that the nation is close to a recession as the coronavirus outbreak exacerbates its long-running industrial slump. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Oil prices plunged deeper into a bear market Wednesday, reflecting fears about the economic repercussions of the rapidly-spreading health crisis. Economists are warning the coronavirus could spark a severe economic slowdown or even recession in the United States and elsewhere.

The outbreak is the biggest shock to demand for oil since the 2008 financial crisis.

US crude dropped another 2.3% on Wednesday to $48.73 a barrel. That's the lowest price since January 2019 and it marks a 23% plunge from the recent peak of $63.27 a barrel on January 6.

"You're seeing the ripple effects of the coronavirus proliferate outside of China. That is what is turning investor sentiment on oil and other risk assets as well," said Michael Tran, director of global energy strategy at RBC Capital Markets.

Citing the coronavirus, on Wednesday, Goldman Sachs told clients it is cutting its 2020 oil demand forecast in half to just 600,000 barrels per day.

"If the coronavirus spreads further globally, then we expect further downside risk to our estimates," Goldman Sachs analyst Brian Singer wrote in a report.

The plunge in oil prices has clobbered energy stocks, which entered a bear market late last month. The ETF Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund, which tracks the sector, has lost a stunning 11% in the last three days and nearly 20% so far in 2020.

The oil patch suffered more selling Wednesday, even as the broader markets staged a fragile rebound. Devon Energy and Diamondback Energy fell more than 5% apiece, making them among the biggest losers on the S&P 500. Larger rivals ExxonMobil and Chevron also retreated.


Unlike recent oil bear markets caused by excess supply, this one is all about weakening demand. The shutdown of large parts of China's economy, combined with the spread of the coronavirus to South Korea and Italy, has caused a sharp decline in flight activity and vehicle traffic. That means there is less oil needed for jet fuel and motor gasoline.

For instance, United Airlines has suspended flights between the United States and four destinations in China. Near-term demand for flights to China has fallen to near zero and demand for flights to the rest of the trans-Pacific routes has plunged 75%.

Flight patterns from South Korea have dropped 25% to 30% below normal levels, Tran said, citing RBC's use of artificial intelligence to track real-time flight patterns.

"It's tough to suggest this a buy-the-dip opportunity," Tran said, "because there is very little evidence to suggest we're in for a v-shaped recovery in the near-term."

The weak demand outlook raises pressure on OPEC and its allies to take decisive action. The group is scheduled to meet next week in Vienna to decide whether further supply cuts are needed to balance the market.

"Historically during periods of demand shock, OPEC has come together to cut production to offset weakness in demand," Singer, the Goldman analyst, wrote.

POST MODERN PULP FICTION

RIP Clive Cussler, Best-Selling Author and Adventurer, Is Dead at 88
Clive Cussler, the author and maritime adventurer who captivated millions with his best-selling tales of suspense and who, between books, led scores of expeditions to find historic shipwrecks and lost treasures in the ocean depths, died on Monday at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was 88.  

© Denver Post, via Getty Images The author Clive Cussler with one of his best-known books in 1977. He had a second career scouring the oceans for shipwrecks.

His death was confirmed by a spokeswoman for his publisher, Penguin Random House. No specific cause was given.

Mayan jungles, undersea kingdoms, ghost ships, evil forces out to destroy the world, beautiful women, heroes modeled on himself — Mr. Cussler’s vivid literary fantasies and his larger-than-life exploits swirled together for four decades, spinning off some 70 books and locating almost as many shipwrecks.

A college dropout who once pumped gas and wrote advertising copy, Mr. Cussler resorted to a hoax to get his first book published. But his work — mostly action thrillers of the James Bond-Indiana Jones kind, plus nonfiction accounts of his marine quests and a few children’s books — made him a global celebrity.

His books sales have been staggering — more than 100 million copies, with vast numbers sold in paperback at airports. Translated into 40 or so languages, his books reached The New York Times’s best-seller lists more than 20 times, as he amassed a fortune estimated at $80 million.

Mr. Cussler looked like the hero of Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea.” You had to imagine the battered straw hat and the tired shoulders hunched over a gunwale, but after years of roaming oceans and diving for wrecks, he had that seafarer’s husky build and sunburned cheeks, and his face, more sea dog than bibliophile, was flecked with gray: the grizzled beard, the mustache, the eyes, the gray-white hair.

© Ron Semrod/Associated Press Mr. Cussler in 1997. 

His writing helped him amass a fortune of about $80 million.

Often compared to the thrillers churned out by Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum and Ian Fleming, the Cussler novels featured formulaic plots, one- or two-word titles (“Cyclops,” “Dragon,” “Inca Gold,” “Poseidon’s Arrow”) and frequently a recurring hero, Dirk Pitt, an undersea explorer who cheats death and saves the world as he foils the diabolical plots of megalomaniac villains, while satisfying his taste for exotic cars and lusty women.

Mr. Cussler was hardly a stylist. Critics called his characters wooden, his dialogue leaden and his prose clichéd (“the cold touch of fear,” “a narrow brush with death”), while praising his descriptions of marine hardware, underwater struggles and salvage operations. But readers were swept along on the page-turning tides, and after his commercial breakthrough, “Raise the Titanic!” (1976), his books were frequently on the best-seller lists for months.

Mr. Cussler also connected with readers by turning his love for scuba diving into an oceanic lifestyle that paralleled and validated his superhero.

He first created the National Underwater and Marine Agency as a fictional government organization that employed his hero in the Dirk Pitt books. Then, in 1979, he founded an actual National Underwater and Marine Agency as a private nonprofit group committed to “preserving maritime heritage through the discovery, archaeological survey and conservation of shipwreck artifacts.” It underwrote his maritime ventures.

With Mr. Cussler leading expeditions and joining dives, the organization eventually located some 60 wrecks. Among them were the Cunard steamship Carpathia, first to reach survivors of the lost Titanic on April 15, 1912, then itself sunk by German torpedoes off Ireland in 1918; Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt’s coastal steamer Lexington, which caught fire and went down in Long Island Sound in 1840; and Manassas, the Confederacy’s first Civil War ironclad, sunk in battle in the Lower Mississippi in 1862.

His first nonfiction book, “The Sea Hunters” (1996, with Craig Dirgo), was an account of his NUMA exploits, some of which were portrayed in television documentaries featuring Mr. Cussler as narrator. Valuable artifacts raised by his expeditions were given to museums or governments.

Mr. Cussler, who named his franchise hero after his son Dirk, acknowledged that Dirk Pitt’s character was his own alter ego. His later novels, many co-written by his son or others, often included himself as a character who saves the day. His son, a daughter and friends were also used as characters in his books.

“I’ve been doing Dirk Pitt for 30 years,” Mr. Cussler told The Times in 2000. “Maybe I can find another writer down the line to take him over. It’s not the money; it’s the fans.

“I’d like to retire,” he continued. “I’m toying with the idea of Pitt having a son who shows up. He’s getting a little long in the tooth. When we started out, we were both 36 years old. Now he’s a little over 40, and I’m pushing 70.”

But 20 years later, he was still churning out books, sometimes two a year. His “Journey of the Pharaohs: A Novel From the NUMA Files,” written with Graham Brown, is scheduled to be published in March.

Clive Eric Cussler was born in Aurora, Ill., on July 15, 1931, the only child of Eric and Amy Hunnewell Cussler. His father was an accountant. Clive grew up in Alhambra, Calif., a poor student but an avid reader of adventure stories.

“I detested school,” he told Publishers Weekly in 1994. “I was always the kid who was staring out the window. While the teacher was lecturing on algebra, I was on the deck of a pirate ship or in an airplane shooting down the Red Baron.”

He attended Pasadena City College briefly, but left to join the Air Force when the Korean War began in 1950. He became a mechanic, flew supply missions in the Pacific but never saw combat. While stationed in Hawaii, he learned scuba diving and explored underwater wrecks. He mustered out as a sergeant.

In 1955, he married Barbara Knight. They had three children, Teri, Dirk and Dayna. His wife died in 2003. He later married Janet Horvath, who survives him, along with his children, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

In California, Mr. Cussler pumped gas, wrote advertising copy and, from 1961 to 1965, co-owned Bestgen & Cussler Advertising in Newport Beach. Later, at the D’Arcy agency in Hollywood, he won several awards.

From 1967 to 1969 he was advertising director of Aquatic Marine Corporation in Newport Beach. In 1970, he joined Mefford, Wolff and Weir Advertising in Denver, where he became a vice president and creative director.

He began writing fiction at home in the late 60s, but his first two books, “Pacific Vortex” and “The Mediterranean Caper,” were repeatedly rejected. Unable even to get an agent, he staged a hoax. Using the letterhead of a fictitious writers’ agency, he wrote to the agent Peter Lampack, posing as an old colleague about to retire and overloaded with work. He enclosed copies of his manuscripts, citing their potential.

It worked. “Where can I sign Clive Cussler?” Mr. Lampack wrote back. In 1973, “The Mediterranean Caper” was published, followed by “Iceberg” (1975) and “Raise the Titanic!” (1976).

Despite an improbable plot and negative reviews, “Raise the Titanic!” sold 150,000 copies, was a Times best seller for six months and became a 1980 film starring Richard Jordan and Jason Robards Jr.

While Dirk Pitt books appeared throughout his career, Mr. Cussler also wrote other series: “The NUMA Files,” featuring the hero Kurt Austin and written with Graham Brown or Paul Kemprecos; “The Fargo Adventures,” about husband-and-wife treasure hunters, written with Grant Blackwood or Thomas Perry; “The Oregon Files,” set on a high-tech spy ship disguised as a freighter, written with Jack DuBrul or Mr. Dirgo; and “The Isaac Bell Adventures,” about an early-20th-century detective, written with Justin Scott.

His nonfiction included “Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed” (1998, with Mr. Dirgo) and “Built for Adventure: The Classic Automobiles of Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt” (2011). Mr. Cussler, who had homes in Arvada, Colo., and Paradise Valley, Ariz., restored vintage cars and had about 100 in his museum in Arvada, including a 1906 Stanley Steamer, a 1913 Marmon and a 1921 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost.

SURPRIZE !

Court sides with Trump in 'sanctuary cities' grant fight


By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press
3 hrs ago














Pakistan confirms first 2 cases of coronavirus

How these celebrity couples evolved over the years

NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump administration can withhold millions of dollars in law enforcement grants to force states to cooperate with U.S. immigration enforcement, a federal appeals court in New York ruled Wednesday in a decision that conflicted with three other federal appeals courts.

© 2018 Getty Images NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 11: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), officers gather for a debriefing after operations to arrest undocumented immigrants on April 11, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. New York is considered a 'sanctuary city' for undocumented immigrants, and ICE receives little or no cooperation from local law enforcement. ICE said that officers arrested 225 people for violation of immigration laws during the 6-day operation, the largest in New York City in recent years. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

The decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan overturned a lower court's decision ordering the administration to release funding to New York City and seven states — New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Washington, Massachusetts, Virginia and Rhode Island.


The states and city sued the U.S. government after the Justice Department announced in 2017 that it would withhold grant money from cities and states until they gave federal immigration authorities access to jails and provide advance notice when someone in the country illegally is about to be released.

Before the change, cities and states seeking grant money were required only to show they were not preventing local law enforcement from communicating with federal authorities about the immigration status of people who were detained.

At the time, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions said: “So-called ‘sanctuary’ policies make all of us less safe because they intentionally undermine our laws and protect illegal aliens who have committed crimes.”

The 2nd Circuit said the plain language of relevant laws make clear that the U.S. attorney general can impose conditions on states and municipalities receiving money.

And it noted that the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly observed that the federal government maintains broad power over states when it comes to immigration policies.

In the past two years, federal appeals courts in Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco have ruled against the federal government by upholding lower-court injunctions placed on the enforcement of some or all of the challenged conditions.

The appeals rulings pertain to the issuance of the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program.

Created in 2006, it is the vehicle through which Congress annually dispenses over $250 million in federal funding for state and local criminal justice efforts.

The Byrne Program was named for New York City Police Officer Edward Byrne, who at age 22 was shot to death while guarding the home of a Guyanese immigrant cooperating with authorities investigating drug trafficking.

ANOTHER TRUMPETTE IN THE SWAMP
 A new senior leader at the White House personnel office: A college senior
By Daniel Lippman and Meridith McGraw 

KAKISTOCRACY

The White House has hired a college senior to be one of the top officials in its powerful Presidential Personnel Office, according to three administration officials familiar with the matter. 

© Patrick Semansky/AP Photo The White House has not yet sent around any formal internal notice of James Bacon’s new role.

James Bacon, 23, is acting as one of the right-hand men to new PPO director John McEntee, according to the officials. Bacon, a senior at George Washington University pursuing a bachelor’s degree, comes from the Department of Transportation, where he briefly worked in the policy shop. Prior to that role, while still taking classes, he worked at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he was a White House liaison, according to two other officials. At HUD, he distinguished himself as Secretary Ben Carson’s confidential assistant, according to two other administration officials.

Bacon worked for McEntee on the Trump campaign’s earliest days and also did some work on the advance team. He later did operations on the Trump transition. Bacon would have graduated on time if he had not taken time off from school to work on the campaign, an official said.

Bacon will be PPO’s director of operations overseeing paperwork and will assist on vetting. The role was previously filled by Katja Bullock, who is in her late 70s and was a veteran of the office in both Bush administrations, as well as the Reagan administration.

The White House has not yet sent around any formal internal notice of Bacon’s new role. A White House spokesman declined to comment.

McEntee replaced Sean Doocey, who is heading to the State Department.

McEntee, 29, held a meeting in a conference room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building last Thursday with White House liaisons of Cabinet departments where he asked officials to find Trump appointees who may be anti-Trump, according to an administration official familiar with the meeting. McEntee also told them that PPO was going to take a look at all appointees at some point and re-vet them to see if they’ve been disloyal in any way.

More dramatic changes are likely to be delayed until after November but the agency liaisons have been told to stop moving around officials who are viewed as anti-Trump to other agencies. (Axios first reported the details of the meeting.)

© Drew Angerer/Getty Images WASHINGTON, DC JANUARY 9: (L-R) White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, personal aide to the President John McEntee, and White House senior advisor for policy Stephen Miller walk to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on January 9, 2020 in Washington, DC. President Trump is headed to a campaign rally in Toledo, Ohio on Thursday evening. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Another administration official described the meeting as “very positive” and McEntee reassured colleagues that there won’t be delays even though some PPO officials are leaving.

At least during his transition into the office, McEntee has for now kept on Michael Burley, who is associate director of presidential personnel and a special assistant to the president, but Burley is trying to figure out his next steps if he decides to leave.

After his acquittal, the president — emboldened and increasingly skeptical of anyone not a part of his original team — has relied on people like McEntee to act on his unofficial edict to fill the White House with loyalists and get rid of anyone feared to be part of the “deep state.”

McEntee worked on the Trump campaign in 2016 as the president’s body man, and in his role at the White House had constant access to the president, flying with him on Marine One and Air Force One, and at the president’s side to assist with any needs. He was fired from his role in 2018 by former chief of staff John Kelly because of security concerns tied to gambling allegations.

But McEntee wanted to return to the White House and is trusted by Trump, his family, and senior staff, was brought back earlier this year as the president is about to head into a reelection year and personnel changes are expected at the White House.

Despite having the trust of the president, McEntee’s lack of experience has raised concerns among some White House staff about his ability to run a critical White House office. One White House official pointed out that loyalty, in this case, trumped age and experience.

“He will do a great job because he has trust with POTUS,” said one former White House official.

The PPO office has been the subject of complaints and finger-pointing by some in the administration over its “frat-house” reputation, but serves an important function for vetting and hiring appointees. With McEntee at the helm of the office, however, it’s expected the president will take a more direct role than he has before.

“After three years of allowing others to control who would be around him and have power, he’s trying to take back some of the power and have a say in the staffing in the White House and administration,” a person close to the White House said. “A lot of the people in there weren’t actual allies of Trump, and didn’t actually support his agenda but had significant roles in his administration.”

Nancy Cook contributed to this report.

JAMES BACON'S GRANDMA SAYS HE IS A NICE GUY BUT THE WRONG GUY
"He wasn't just a gopher at HUD. He was doing just a lot of substantial stuff," she said of James Bacon. "He's just a really good person.", or anybody else in her family, hasn't worked as a paralegal or a baseball coach.

Insider could not find a contact for a firm under the name Schmitz & Secaris. The attorney Michael P. Socarras, who has worked with Republican politicians and runs the similarly named Virginia law firm Schmitz Socarras LLP, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

"There are a lot of James Bacons out there," Doris Bacon said.

Doris Bacon said that for anyone interested in politics, working in the White House today would be an interesting job.

"He wasn't just a gopher at HUD. He was doing just a lot of substantial stuff," she said of James Bacon. "He's just a really good person."