Obama Adviser Axelrod: Migrant Busing ‘Very Effective’ at Getting Biden & Dems to Shift on Border Policies
Former Obama adviser David Axelrod claimed on CNN that the busing of migrants into sanctuary cities has “been very effective” at forcing Joe Biden and Democrats to shift positions on the issue of illegal immigration.
“[T]he change is that more and more Democrats are taking — voters — are taking a hard line. It looks as though the White House, the President is seeing that and kind of following their lead,” began Inside Politics host Dana Bash on Saturday.
Axelrod, now CNN Senior Political Commentator, commended Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R-Texas) strategy to bus migrants into “sanctuary cities” because it forced Democrats to address the issue they would have otherwise ignored.
Axelrod responded, “Yes. Two points on this: Whatever you think about what Gov. Abbott (R) has done, it was diabolically clever, because by shipping these migrants to cities that call themselves…sanctuary cities, he has created issue[s].”
“I come from Chicago,” he continued. “Chicago has been torn apart by this issue. New York has been torn apart by this issue. And suddenly, Democrats are engaged in this issue in a different way than they had been. So, that has been very effective.”
Axelrod went on with the talking point that it’s former President Donald Trump and Republicans who are holding up meaningful negotiations on border security.
“I think that the President has responded by engaging in these very difficult negotiations, agreeing to some of the most dramatic measures to deal with the border that we’ve seen in a very long time,” he said. “And now, what we see is Donald Trump telling his people, don’t agree to that. I don’t want Biden’s name on the bottom of that bill. That will help him.”
“And so, that gives the White House an offensive position, which is, we’re here to try and solve a problem. He wants to exploit it. He wants to weaponize the problem. We don’t have ten months to wait to deal with this problem. I think it’s an effective counterpoint,” he added.
What Axelrod failed to mention is that the Biden administration’s policy over the last three years has been to systematically open the border which allowed 10 million illegal migrants into the U.S.
Washington State Diverted $340M in Federal COVID Funds to Migrants via $1,000 Checks
The state of Washington doled out $1,000 checks to illegal migrants using funds earmarked for COVID response that totaled $340 million.
A report by the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) found that part of the $4.4 billion Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF), which was created by the American Rescue Plan Act and intended to help state and local governments with their COVID response and recovery, was sent to illegal immigrants instead.
“The $340 million project is categorized as a ‘cash transfer’ expenditure under the SLFRF, approved for the State of Washington. This means the Biden Administration directly subsidized ‘undocumented’ immigration under the guise of COVID-19 pandemic relief,” the EPIC report said.
From Fox News:
The report from the group, which calls for a smaller federal government, highlighted how $340 million in funding went to a program that sent $1,000 checks to illegal immigrants in the state. The funds, approved by the Washington state legislature in April 2021, provided “another round of funding for undocumented Washingtonians,” according to an impact report on the program said.
The Washington COVID-19 Immigrant Relief Fund was first set up in 2020 to grant checks to those ineligible for government assistance programs due to their immigration status. Treasury documents confirm that the state has since provided an extra $340 million in federal relief funds for the one-time cash grants, with 10% of the funding went to community-based organizations to administer the program.
The last of the fund’s payments went out in 2023.
State official defended the move, claiming the fund was an opportunity “to help people who may have been left out of other federal and state resources to address the economic impact of the pandemic.”
The report also highlighted several other projects where federal funds were used to support illegal aliens, including programs in Arizona for art, music and dance classes for migrants and expansion of shelters in Massachusetts.
Read the impact report:
Possible NATO Corps Deployment to Ukraine May Become ‘Suicide Mission for Those Troops’
No 10’s ostensible idea of sending NATO troops to Ukraine has nothing to do with reality, experts told Sputnik.
The UK has urged its NATO allies to consider sending the alliance’s expeditionary force to Ukraine, an informed source told Sputnik. According to the source, the alleged move came “in connection with the unfavorable developments in the Ukrainian theater of military operations for Kiev”.
The insider added that Britain also called on NATO to consider imposing a no-fly zone over the territory controlled by the Zelensky regime and to increase military aid to Ukraine.
”The UK’s reported plans about deploying NATO’s expeditionary corps to Ukraine is “a fantastical delusion on the part of the Brits and has no foundation in reality,” retired CIA intelligence officer and State Department official Larry Johnson told Sputnik.
“But just because the Brits are insane does not mean Russia can ignore them. It is a serious proposal,” he added.
Johnson was partly echoed by Matthew Gordon-Banks, an international relations consultant, former member of Parliament and retired senior research fellow at the UK Defence Academy, who said he didn’t think the rumors of a NATO force in Ukraine should be taken seriously.
“The suggestions I have heard are quite unrealistic at present,” Gordon-Banks stated.
Asked to comment on the “unfavorable development of events” for Kiev on the battlefield, he emphasized that “things are collapsing in Kiev quite quickly”.
“[Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky has not been able to fire his top general, and I think he is now very much a ‘lame duck’ president,” Gordon-Banks argued, referring to the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Valery Zaluzhny.
The same tone was struck by Earl Rasmussen, a retired US Army lieutenant colonel turned geopolitical and military affairs consultant, who warned that if the information about London’s plans is true, and “if this is somebody’s dream, it could quickly become a nightmare for British and NATO forces.
“But it is not a realistic solution or proposal. Russia has complete air dominance, escalatory dominance, logistical dominance, ammunition dominance. This would be catastrophic for any UK forces and definitely would show a symbol of direct NATO involvement, which could really be dangerous, as far as escalation goes,” Rasmussen emphasized, noting that “the British forces would probably be wiped out, fairly rapidly.”
The US Army veteran suggested that someone in the UK military might be having “some type of delusional experience” for even suggesting such a scenario. “It’s a suicide mission for those troops. And it definitely would pull NATO into a much more dangerous situation and direct confrontation [with Russia],” Rasmussen concluded.
American Leaders Sign WEF Treaty To Ration Meat, Electricity and Gas
Want to hear a Communist era joke from the Soviet Union? “Do you know what a Polish sandwich looks like?” the joke went. “Two slices of bread and a ration card for the meat in […]
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Tucker Carlson Spotted in Moscow
American journalist Tucker Carlson has spent several days in Russia, where he attended a ballet performance at the Bolshoi Theatre, Telegram channel Mash reported on Saturday, sharing several photos of the conservative commentator.
Carlson allegedly touched down at Vnukovo airport on a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul on Thursday after several hours’ delay, according to the channel. He was later spotted taking in the ballet Spartacus at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
The conservative commentator has yet to confirm the trip and it remains unclear what business he had in Russia. However, rumors of his intention to interview President Vladimir Putin have been circulating since last year.
BREAKING: Tucker Carlson reportedly spotted in Moscow, Russia as speculation swirls that he will be interviewing Vladimir Putin.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 3, 2024
Carlson said he previously planned on interviewing Putin until he found out the U.S. government was spying on him.
“The NSA broke into my signal… pic.twitter.com/MahlBIDEFa
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not rule out the possibility of Carlson interviewing Putin when asked about it in September, though he explained that the Russian leader would wait to sit down with any American journalist until the US population was no longer so “seriously stupefied by Russia-hating propaganda.”
Carlson himself told Swiss outlet Die Weltwoche that he had been prevented from setting up an interview with Putin by the White House. While he expressed dismay that he did not receive more support from his fellow journalists regarding his intention to sit down with the Russian president and questioned why Americans are “not allowed to hear” Putin’s voice, he declined to provide any further details regarding when the interview was supposed take place or how the presidential administration of Joe Biden intervened to stop it.
The former Fox News host claimed previous attempts to secure an interview with Putin had led to aggressive surveillance by the National Security Agency, alleging he was “unmasked” by the spooks and the contents of his emails were leaked to the media in 2021 in order to “paint [him] as a disloyal American” and force him off the cable news network. The NSA denied Carlson was an intelligence target and claimed it never sought to take him off the air.
Despite dominating prime-time ratings for years, Carlson was fired from Fox News in April for reasons that have never been made public. He subsequently launched his own talk show streaming on X (formerly Twitter).
While Carlson has been repeatedly demonized by the US media establishment as a “useful idiot” for Moscow – if not a Russian agent entirely – due to his skepticism regarding Washington’s foreign policy and particularly the conflict in Ukraine, the journalist has never previously visited Russia or worked with Russian media organizations.
Red Sea Crisis Spurring Demand for Rail Freight via Russia – Report
The Houthi rebel attacks on vessels in the Red Sea have spurred burgeoning interest in alternative routes such as the China-Europe rail route that runs through Russia’s Far East, CNBC reported on this week.
Companies that organize the shipment of goods have registered a sharp increase in enquiries and bookings for the route, according to the article. Transit via rail is attractive to shippers because it is cheaper than air freight and quicker than using ocean transportation.
RailGate Europe, which transports goods including furniture, toys, clothes, and automotive parts from China through Russia to European countries, told CNBC that the transit time is “significantly better” than via ocean. The journey takes between 14 and 25 days depending on its origin and destination, according to the company’s chief business development officer, Julija Sciglaite.
However, some firms have been raising concerns about sending goods via rail through Russia. “Since [the] war in Ukraine started, many companies were afraid to deliver their cargos via Russia as train passes [through] part of Russian territory,” Sciglaite told CNBC.
“Since [the] war started, [the] number of bookings decreased significantly via Russia, but within [the] last year, this route is recovering due to good transit time and prices,” she said, adding that demand for rail transit had spiked since the Houthis started attacking vessels in the Red Sea.
Bookings for the China-Europe rail route were up 37% over the past four weeks, according to Igor Tambaca, the managing director of the Dutch logistics company Rail Bridge Cargo. “The demand for rail exploded,” he told the outlet, adding this is due to the Red Sea disruption and the Lunar New Year.
According to the report, the EU permits sanctioned goods to be moved via rail through Russia, whereas road transport of sanctioned products is banned. Military goods cannot be transported through Russia at all, CNBC wrote.