[Link from DRJ]

RealDonaldTrump on Twitter:

Great cohesion inside the Republican Party, the best I have ever seen. Despite all of the Fake News, my Poll Numbers are great. New internal polls show them to be the strongest we’ve had so far! Think what they’d be if I got fair media coverage!

7:21 AM · Aug 19, 2019

Maybe he will win in 2020 or maybe he won’t, but I agree with Trump that the GOP is his Party for now.

— DRJ

[guest post by Dana]

A few days ago, I posted about Trump’s interest in purchasing Greenland. After reports came out that the president was giving it serious consideration, critics expressed concern that the Trump administration would lay waste to the territory as it went after its natural resources and minerals. Trump even retweeted an amusing post about it:

I promise not to do this to Greenland! pic.twitter.com/03DdyVU6HA

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 20, 2019

In spite of Trump’s interest in purchasing the territory, Greenland made it clear that it was not for sale:

“We have a good cooperation with USA, and we see it as an expression of greater interest in investing in our country and the possibilities we offer,” the island’s government said on its website. “Of course, Greenland is not for sale.”

The country’s foreign ministry insisted that it was “open for business, but not for sale.”

“Greenland is rich in valuable resources such as minerals, the purest water and ice, fish stocks, seafood, renewable energy and is a new frontier for adventure tourism,” the ministry said in a tweet Friday. “We’re open for business, not for sale.”

And Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen echoed Greenland’s response:

“Greenland is not for sale. Greenland is not Danish. Greenland belongs to Greenland. I strongly hope that this is not meant seriously [referring to Trump’s interest],” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told the newspaper Sermitsiaq during a visit to Greenland.

Trump had been invited by the Queen of Denmark on an official state business next month. The scheduled visit was set to include meetings with Prime Minister Frederiksen of Denmark and Prime Minister Kim Kielsen of Greenland to discuss the Arctic.

However, tonight we are learning that Trump has postponed the trip in response to the Danish prime minister’s remarks:

Denmark is a very special country with incredible people, but based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time,” Trump tweeted. “The Prime Minister was able to save a great deal of expense and effort for both the United States and Denmark by being so direct. I thank her for that and look forward to rescheduling sometime in the future!”

….The Prime Minister was able to save a great deal of expense and effort for both the United States and Denmark by being so direct. I thank her for that and look forward to rescheduling sometime in the future!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 20, 2019

All of which confirms two things: Trump was indeed serious about purchasing Greenland, and Trump doesn’t like to be told “no.”

–Dana

[guest post by Dana]

While we are discussing the situation with detained immigrants in ICE facilities, I read two reports today, and was left wondering how anyone could possibly object to simultaneously doing everything to tighten up security at the Southern border, come down on sanctuary cities, and most importantly, deport criminal aliens before anyone else. Does the open borders crowd believe that these criminal aliens shouldn’t be immediately deported? It seems like common sense that this specific group should be the priority of ICE deportations, not families who have been here for years, work hard, and already integrated into cities and towns across the nation.

First:

An illegal alien who was convicted in 2007 of sexually abusing a 7-year-old girl, who also had three convictions for driving under the influence, was removed from the country in 2013, but then reentered the United States in 2015 and was found in 2019—after a traffic stop—to be living near “a community swimming pool, elementary school, middle school, high school and nursery school.”

“Martin Mejia Ramos aka Ricardo Morales Rodriguez and Martin Jose Romes-Ramirez pleaded guilty May 10, 2019, to illegally re-entering the United States following an aggravated felony conviction,” said a statement from the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas.

“At the hearing, the court heard that in 2007, Ramos was convicted in Los Angeles, California, for continuous sexual abuse and lewd act upon a child,” said the statement. “He was ordered to serve six years in prison and required to register as a sex offender for life. He was removed from the country in 2013.

“In that case, Ramos had engaged in more than three sexual acts with a seven-year-old with whom he was residing,” the statement said. “The victim claimed Ramos had touched her vagina on multiple occasions and exposed himself to her. A physical examination revealed irritation in her vagina. His hair was also found in that area. Ramos had told her not to tell anyone and threatened to hit her if she did.

“Ramos had six other convictions, three of which were driving under the influence of alcohol,” said the statement from the U.S. attorney. “In one instance, he caused a traffic accident with two other vehicles. His blood alcohol was more than twice the legal limit.

“Ramos illegally re-entered the United States Dec. 31, 2015,” said the statement. “On Jan. 30, 2019, authorities discovered Ramos in New Caney during a traffic stop, at which time he provided a false address. The investigation later revealed his residence was near a community swimming pool, elementary school, middle school, high school and nursery school.”

The second article is about a Maryland sanctuary city that released an illegal alien accused of rape despite an immigration detainer:

A suburban Maryland county with a notorious history as a sanctuary jurisdiction is facing criticism from federal authorities for releasing an illegal alien accused of rape despite an immigration detainer.

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged a detainer on Aug. 12 with the Montgomery County (Maryland) Detention Center on unlawfully present Salvadoran national Rodrigo Castro-Montejo following his arrest for rape and other related charges,” reads a statement from ICE’s Maryland office to Blaze Media. “On Aug. 13, the facility failed to honor the detainer, and released Castro from custody.”

According to local WJLA-TV, Montgomery County’s policy allows jail officials to contact ICE if the suspect has committed a “serious crime” and has had an ICE detainer filed previously. ICE says that local officials violated the policy in order to release the suspect.

The WJLA story details the factors that led to Castro-Montejo’s arrest. Castro-Montejo is a Salvadoran national residing in Florida. His accuser says that before he came to Maryland for a wedding last weekend, he had organized a meetup with her on social media. She claims the two went out drinking and dancing, she blacked out, then woke up to to him raping her.

Castro-Montejo was charged with second-degree rape and second-degree assault Saturday, August 10, and was later granted a $10,000 bail by a judge. He posted the 10 percent, $1,000 bond and walked out.

Neither of these criminals would have been here to commit the atrocious crimes for which they were charged, and do the unspeakable damage that they did had our Southern border not been so porous.

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

[Headline from DRJ]

President Trump and Kellyanne Conway recently offered reassurances about the economy. First, President Trump weighed in on Sunday:

President Donald Trump dismissed concerns of recession on Sunday and offered an optimistic outlook for the economy after last week’s steep drop in the financial markets.

“I don’t think we’re having a recession,” Trump told reporters as he returned to Washington from his New Jersey golf club. “We’re doing tremendously well. Our consumers are rich. I gave a tremendous tax cut and they’re loaded up with money.”

Today, counselor Kellyanne Conway added her economic analysis:

The “fundamentals” of the U.S. economy are solid, the White House asserted, invoking an ill-fated political declaration of a decade ago amid mounting concern that a recession could imperil President Donald Trump’s reelection.

Exhibiting no such concern, senior adviser Kellyanne Conway declared to reporters on Monday, “The fact is, the fundamentals of our economy are very strong.”

Do you believe them?

Did you believe Trump when he said tariffs hurt China and his trade adviser when he said tariffs don’t hurt America? If so:

Trump acknowledges China polices may mean US economic pain.

— DRJ

[guest post by Dana]

I would be shocked if she didn’t tried to make a buck off her aborted trip. It was baked in:

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) is fundraising off her aborted trip to Israel, just days after she refused an Israeli invitation permitting her to visit her ailing grandmother and, instead, shared an anti-Semitic cartoon about the Jewish state.

A fundraising email sent by Democracy for America, a far left political action committee, implores readers to “chip in whatever you can to stand with her and [Rep.] Ilhan [Omar (D., Minn.)] now as they continue to fight for justice for all.”

The fundraising plea, which includes a direct pitch from Tlaib, falsely states that the lawmakers “were banned from traveling to Israel and Palestine.” Israel granted Tlaib special permission to enter the country to visit her grandmother. Moreover, Palestine does not, in fact, exist.

“I’ve dealt with sexism, racism, and Islamophobia my entire life—so I knew that would continue if I pursued a high-profile public office and won. What I didn’t anticipate was for that discrimination to come from the President of the United States,” Tlaib writes in the fundraising email.

Benjamin Netanyahu also came under fire in the email:

It’s very telling when a so-called democratic ally bans elected members of Congress from visiting because of our political views and values,” the lawmaker writes. “It’s even more disturbing and completely unprecedented that our own president encouraged this undemocratic action. What is Netanyahu afraid that we will witness, that we will bring to light?”

“Not only am I heartbroken that I cannot meet the people of Israel and Palestine to witness their struggles firsthand, but I am heartbroken I can no longer visit my Palestinian grandmother [Ed. Liar! You could have gone, you chose not to go!], who just days ago was excited to decide which fig tree we’d pick from together,” Tlaib continues.

Leaving no stone unturned, she also recapped the recent events leading up to her fundraising, while conveniently neglecting to mention a few key points:

“The Israeli government ultimately decided they would let me visit, but under one condition: that I sign a letter restricting my freedom of speech in order to stop me from speaking out against the inhumane conditions Palestinians like my grandmother are forced to face by the Israeli military occupation,” she writes in another statement riddled with factual inaccuracies.

“No matter how badly I wish to see my grandmother, I know she would not want me to do so under such degrading circumstances that go against everything I believe in: fighting racism, oppression, and injustice,” she writes.

Let’s be accurate here since Tlaib is apparently unwilling to be: The congresswoman voluntarily signed a letter in which she promised not to promote boycotting Israel and to be respectful of their laws. But of course, she’s not interested in accuracy, she’s interested only in advocacy.

Further demonstrating her problems with telling the truth as well as an unattractive unwillingness to assume responsibility, Tlaib claimed ignorance about Miftah, the non-profit Palestinian, anti-Semitic advocacy group that was sponsoring the trip, and instead threw her colleagues under the bus:

Tlaib and Omar distanced themselves from Miftah, emphasizing that they weren’t aware of the group’s background when they decided to attend the trip, and adding that they implicitly trusted the group because other Democratic members of Congress participated in similar trip sponsored by it in 2016.

“Our colleagues that are senior members, some of whom have served multiple terms, actually told us about the organization. We’re not the ones who chose the organization. A U.S.-based sponsor organization chose it. But I think there were five members of Congress that actually went on a trip sponsored by the same organization,” Tlaib said when asked about criticisms of Miftah.

The freshman Michigan lawmaker went on to argue that, while she was unaware of Miftah’s background, recent criticisms of the group represent a cynical attempt to distract from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.

“We’re just as taken aback and learned from everybody else that there are some issues around the organization. I think these are just distractions into the fact that this had nothing to do really with the agenda or these other issues,” she continued. “I think the focus is the hiding of the truth and hiding that the occupation is happening. I think they knew that us setting foot there would basically bring attention to something that many of us feel is very much against international human rights.”

I’m taken aback that she thinks we’re stupid enough to believe her nonsense. Of course she knew about Miftah. As for those senior members who went on a trip to Irsrael in 2016 that was sponsored by the organization, they were: Luis Gutierrez of Illinois, Dan Kildee of Michigan, Hank Johnson of Georgia, Matt Cartwright of Pennsylvania and Mark Pocan of Wisconsin. Note: The five Democrats reportedly met with an alleged member of a Palestinian terrorist group during that trip.

David French has a great report on Miftah that you should read. In it, he notes that the group had: re-published neo-Nazi content and “actually published blood libel, posting an article that accused ‘the Jews [of using] the blood of Christians in the Jewish Passover.’”

–Dana

[Link from DRJ]

Planned Parenthood on Twitter:

Today, the Trump admin is forcing us out of the Title X program — our nation’s program focused on family planning, of which we serve 40% of patients. This is a *direct attack* on Planned Parenthood and on our health and rights, and we will not stand for it. #StandWithPP #ProtectX

Promise kept. Score one for Trump.

— DRJ

[guest post by Dana]

The lawsuit has been filed on behalf of 15 detainees from Sudan, Mexico, as well as non-profits:

Immigrants held in U.S. detention facilities filed a lawsuit Monday decrying what they called shoddy medical care and a failure by authorities to provide accommodations for disabilities.

In the suit filed by disability and civil rights advocates in U.S. District Court, immigrants said they’re placed in isolation as punishment and denied recommended medical treatment and surgery. Some said they’ve been denied wheelchairs and a deaf detainee who communicates in American Sign Language said he has not been provided an interpreter.

The problems harm disabled immigrants and threaten anyone in one of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s more than 50,000 detention beds who winds up getting sick or isolated from other detainees, said Monica Porter, staff attorney at Disability Rights Advocates, one of the organizations that filed the suit.

The agency clarified its position on medical care to detainees:

An agency official said comprehensive medical care is provided to all detainees including dental and 24-hour emergency care and studies have shown about 1 percent of detainees are held in segregated housing at a given time.

On top of concerns about infectious diseases, including outbreaks of mumps and chickenpox, which increase in the overcrowded facilities, here are some of the more specific medical concerns mentioned. These are indeed awful:

*Faour Abdullah Fraihat, has been detained in Adelanto for more than two years and lost vision in his left eye. While an off-site doctor recommended surgery in April, immigration authorities didn’t provide it and he was told last month his vision couldn’t be restored, according to the lawsuit. Fraihat, 57, who has back and knee pain, said he was given a wheelchair but it was taken away after a month. For more than a year, he relied on officers to bring him food, the suit said. He said he fears returning to Jordan because he was threatened after converting to Christianity.

*Another detainee at the facility about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles said he was placed in segregation for a week after filing a grievance against an officer, the suit said.

*Luis Manuel Delgadillo, a 29-year-old who has lived most of his life in the United States, was on medication for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder but his treatment shifted after he was detained in May. Since then, his mental health has suffered, prompting him to miss two court dates, according to the lawsuit.

Additionally:

*[O]ne plaintiff with a brain parasite has received no treatment for over a year.

*Another has not received surgery for a torn rotator cuff during three years in detention.

*[O]ne lost vision in his left eye due to lack of timely care in custody.

The suit argues that: ICE deliberately and systematically denies care to approximately 55,000 illegal immigrants currently in custody at county jails, and privately and publicly run detention centers.

There is the belief that privately contracted facilities and county jails are unable to provide the same level of care as ICE facilities, and are unable to be closely monitored.

Meanwhile, the government is facing push back over the possibility of building a new ICE detention facility for unaccompanied minors in Southern California:

The Inland Empire is being considered for a federal facility that could hold up to 430 unaccompanied minors who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border.

The proposal has prompted objections from House Democrats who represent the region and concern from an advocate for the local immigrant community.

On Aug. 5, the General Services Administration, which oversees the leasing and construction of federal buildings, posted a notice indicating a desire to lease space for 15 to 17 years in the Inland region.
[…]

In an emailed statement, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said its Office of Refugee Resettlement is exploring “vacant properties in Virginia, Central Florida, and Los Angeles to lease for potential future use as state-licensed permanent shelter locations for unaccompanied alien children.”

“The search for an addition of permanent licensed facilities is being pursued to reduce the potential need for unlicensed temporary flux shelters in the future.”

Here are the particulars:

Documents call for a 74,000- to 91,000-square-foot facility in the Inland Empire to house “Unaccompanied Alien Children,” defined by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 as anyone under 18 who has no lawful immigration status in the United States and lacks a parent or legal guardian in this country to provide care and physical custody…children to be housed in 215 bedrooms – two children per bedroom – and space for 72 bathrooms with showers, classrooms, medical exams, a kitchen/dining area and 43,560 square feet – five youth soccer fields – of playgrounds…As many as 430 staff members working eight-hour shifts would provide around-the-clock care for the children.

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana