...and what's good for the goose is good for the gander....a dazzlingly brilliant argument by Trump

~Refocus Notes

The Daily Caller

Mike Brest | Reporter

President Donald Trump argued that former President Barack Obama opened the door for ending birthright citizenship through executive order when he used the same method to get Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) approved.

The president was speaking to reporters before taking off for his rally in Fort Myers, Florida on Wednesday.

WATCH: 

 (RELATED: Fact Check: Is The US The Only Country With Birthright Citizenship?) 

 He continued, “You don’t need a constitutional amendment, birthright citizenship. I believe that you could have a simple vote in Congress, or it’s even possible in my opinion, this is after meeting with some very talented legal scholars, that you can do it through an executive order.” 

The president recently raised the issue during an interview with Axios’ Jonathan Swan on Monday night. In the interview, Trump explained that he doesn’t believe there is a need for a constitutional amendment to overturn birthright citizenship. 

“I’d rather do it through Congress because that’s permanent.

But we can certainly do it through, I really believe we can do it through executive order,” Trump added. “One other thing, if President Obama can get DACA approved, if you look at DACA where he actually said, well, this isn’t legal or this I can’t do but I’ll do it anyway, and then he gets a judge to approve it, and it’ll ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court, I hope quickly. But certainly, if he can do DACA we can do this by executive order.” 

On June 15, 2012, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano issued a memorandum creating DACA without having Congress’s approval.

 “With that being said, I think Congress will ultimately act. But I may very well do it by executive order. So you understand, a person comes in, was never in our country before, has a baby, and now all of a sudden the baby is a U.S. citizen and through chain migration and other things many other people come in through the baby,” he concluded.

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Here’s How Sen. Cruz Allegedly Responded To A Question About Beto O’Rourke And Diversity

nzherald.co.nz

At a small solar observatory tucked away in the woods of a national forest here, scientists and other personnel were commanded last week to leave at once.

A week later, the facility remains vacant, and no one is willing to say why.

The mysterious and lengthy evacuation, in a state known for secretive military testing and a suspected UFO crash, has spawned a wealth of speculation. Did the researchers spot something extraterrestrial? Was the solar telescope hacked by a foreign power and deployed to spy on, say, the state’s missile testing range? Or is there an innocuous explanation, suppressed only because of corporate and government resistance to transparency?

On Friday, the entrance to the National Solar Observatory was blocked by yellow crime scene tape and two security guards, who said even they had been kept in the dark. The guards, from Red Rock Security & Patrol in Las Cruces, New Mexico, didn’t give their names but said it was the first day the company was guarding the entrance and only the “director and an assistant” were allowed in. There was no obvious sign of law enforcement activity.

We don’t know anything. We’re just as curious as anyone else,” one guard said. A spokeswoman for the nonprofit group that runs the facility said the organization was addressing a “security issue,” but would offer no additional information, other than, “I can tell you it definitely wasn’t aliens.”

She said Friday the facility “will remain closed until further notice.” Neither the FBI - which was spotted on the premises around the time of the evacuation - nor those who worked at the facility would tell local law enforcement what had happened, said Otero County Sheriff Benny House.

They wouldn’t give us any details,” House said. “I’ve got ideas, but I don’t want to put them out there. That’s how bad press or rumors get started, and it’ll cause paranoia, or I might satisfy everybody’s mind and I might be totally off base."Unlike some of New Mexico’s other research facilities, the solar observatory in Sunspot is not usually shrouded in such secrecy.

The facility - in the Lincoln National Forest in the southern part of the state - is open to the public, and the scientists who work there offer guided tours of the site, said James McAteer, a professor at New Mexico State University and director of the Sunspot Solar Observatory consortium.

When they’re not doing that, they use a special telescope and other instruments to study the sun. There are homes on the site where staff members live.

The Sunspot observatory sits at more than 9,000 feet and is part of a larger astronomy research facility on the site. The adjacent Apache Point Observatory, a collection of telescopes about a half-mile away, was operating as normal on Friday, with about a dozen cars parked outside.

House, the sheriff, said that just before 10 a.m. on Sept. 6, the staff at the Sunspot facility called to report they were “evacuating the building,” and asked if deputies could assist. He said a sergeant and a deputy were dispatched and told upon arrival that the FBI had been there earlier. But neither staff nor the bureau would explain why the facility had to be vacated, House said. He said a volunteer fire chief claimed the FBI had told him there had been a “credible threat” but would provide no details. The sheriff’s office, House said, saw no evidence of a threat, and left after a few hours.

“We tried to find out the threat and what their concerns were,” House said. “They wouldn’t identify anything. They were pretty hush mouthed about it.”

McAteer said his consortium assigns four researchers to the facility, although the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), another consortium, manages the buildings and other infrastructure with another four or five people.

My people, we didn’t do the evacuation, and we do the science,” McAteer said.

The property manager also came into the post office on the facility and asked the woman working there to leave, but gave no indication why that was necessary, said Rod Spurgeon, a Postal Service spokesman. Spurgeon said post office operations have continued at the nearby Cloudcroft facility.

Kinsey Featherston, a spokeswoman for Rep. Stevan Pearce, R-N.M., said the congressman’s office had reached out to the FBI and were told “it is an ongoing investigation.”

“We will continue monitoring the situation, but at this time, we have no information,” she said. An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment, referring questions about the matter to the consortium that manages the buildings. Shari Lifson, an AURA spokeswoman, said in a statement that her group was “addressing a security issue” and had “decided to temporarily vacate the facility as a precautionary measure.”

She said they were “working with the proper authorities on this issue,” although she declined to specify who those authorities were. Lifson also declined to specify the security issue, other than to dispute the idea aliens were involved. The solar observatory is about a 2 1/2-hour drive from Roswell, New Mexico, the site of a now infamous crash in 1947 that the Air Force later claimed was an experiment designed to detect Soviet nuclear activity by monitoring sound waves. The incident sparked so much interest that there is now a UFO museum in the city.

House said his deputies spotted a Black Hawk helicopter in the area around the time the building was evacuated - although he noted that is not uncommon.

Sunspot and Apache Point offer scenic views of the Tularosa Basin, which includes two sensitive military sites, including Holloman Air Force Base and White Sands Missile Range. A public affairs officer at White Sands said there was no testing or other activity at the range that would have prompted the evacuation in Sunspot. As of Friday, the observatory was still shuttered, although McAteer said the researchers were ready to return “as soon as possible.”

The observatory even seemed to embrace the interest in the mysterious evacuation, writing on its website, “With the excitement this closure has generated, we hope you will come and visit us when we do reopen, and see for yourself the services we provide for science and public outreach in heliophysics.”

Funny how we never hear from the “UK Muslim Council” when it comes to the radical hate-mongering against Jews and Christians & the endless terrorist attacks in both the EU and the UK–and yet–they don’t believe that Preacher Graham should be able to deliver his message of hope against their earnest messages of hate.

And if it is, as they say, that both God and Allah are the same–then why do they fear Graham’s message? We already know the answer to that question. Moreover, the overall tone of this article, as written by the British establishment press, seems biased against Graham in favor of their Muslim masters.

Are they truly cowards?  

If the Brits do snub Graham in allegiance to their Muslim leaders-then almost all hope is lost for the Brits & their sovereignty…

~ Refocus Notes

UK Guardian

Harriet Sherwood Religion correspondent

Britain’s leading Muslim organization has called on the Home Office to refuse a UK visa to a prominent US evangelical preacher with links to Donald Trump and a track record of Islamophobic and homophobic statements.

Franklin Graham, the son of the evangelist Billy Graham, has been invited to preach at a Christian festival in Blackpool this month.

The preacher, who said Trump’s election victory was evidence that “God’s hand” was at work, has called Islam “evil” and “wicked”, claimed Barack Obama’s “problem is that he was born a Muslim” and said Satan was the architect of same-sex marriage and LGBT rights.

The Muslim Council of Britain has joined three MPs, including a government whip, in demanding the Home Office apply its criteria on hate speech to Graham’s visa request.

The MCB said: “In the past, the government has banned individuals whom they claim are ‘not conducive to the public good’. Mr. Graham’s remarks are on record and clearly, demonstrate a hatred for Muslims and other minorities.

“We would expect the government to apply its criteria here. If it does not, it will send a clear message that it is not consistent in challenging all forms of bigotry.”

Fiyaz Mughal, the founder of Tell Mama, which monitors Islamophobia in the UK, said it was shocking that Graham was being given a platform. His views were “regressive and need to be challenged,” he said.

Gordon Marsden, the Labour MP for Blackpool South, said he would write to Sajid Javid, the home secretary, this week to call for Graham to be denied a visa.

“It’s perfectly possible for the government not to admit someone whose presence is not conducive to the public good,” he said. “Graham’s visit to Blackpool is likely to cause considerable offense.”

Franklin Graham

Paul Maynard, the MP for Blackpool North and Cleveleys and a government whip, and Afzal Khan, the Labour MP for Manchester Gorton, have also opposed the visit.

Graham is scheduled to be the main speaker at the Festival of Hope, which opens at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens conference center on 21 September. The event has been organized by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and is backed by more than 30 local churches of various denominations.

Some churches in the area have objected to Graham’s appearance. Nina Parker, the pastor of Liberty church, which welcomes LGBT worshippers, described Graham’s presence as “extremely destructive” and said it was “causing division between churches and within churches”.

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The Blackpool Methodist Circuit said it “cannot support any preaching or teaching which promotes homophobia or is likely to be damaging to interfaith dialogue”. It declined to support the festival “in the light of various comments made by Franklin Graham in the past”.

The independent evangelical Crossgate church in Preston is one of several churches to have withdrawn support for the festival in recent months. “I believe Franklin Graham will come to teach the gospel, but many people are upset by his comments and I cannot stand by those comments,” pastor Ron Farrington said.

Three Blackpool churches are to hold services specifically welcoming LGBT worshippers over the weekend of Franklin’s visit, and a four-metre carnival model of Jesus wearing a rainbow sash will be paraded through the town centre.

In July, Blackpool Transport and Stagecoach scrapped adverts on their buses promoting Graham’s appearance at the festival. Blackpool Transport cited “heightened tensions” and Stagecoach told the Guardian the adverts were not “consistent with our company values”.

Blackpool Council said it would forward representations and material it had received from opponents of Graham’s visit to the Home Office.

“The council’s position on these matters is robust and clear. We want to tackle discrimination, promote equality and increase respect and understanding between people regardless of their race, religion or sexual orientation or any such matter that can be subject to prejudice in our society,” said councilor Maria Kirkland.

She said the council had a contractual obligation to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association over its booking at the Winter Gardens, but it would make the association aware of the need to comply with UK law.

“If matters are brought to our attention that could constitute incitement to hatred, we will forward these to the relevant public authorities and should this be proved we will not hesitate to terminate this booking,” Kirkland said.

‘Exvangelicals’: why more religious people are rejecting the evangelical label

 

 

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The Anglican bishop of Blackburn, Julian Henderson, whose diocese includes Blackpool, said he held a “neutral position” about Graham’s appearance at the festival, but neither he nor other members of his leadership team would attend the event.

He said: “I must be very clear … I do not support any kind of hate speech, including the language of Islamophobia, Christianophobia or homophobia. There is a difference between having a different point of view and expressing hate. Within the Christian ethic, there is no room for hate of another person and I do not defend the use of such language.”

The home secretary has the power to exclude an individual whose presence in the UK is not considered conducive to the public good or if their exclusion is justified on public policy grounds.

The Home Office declined to comment on Graham’s visa application. The Festival of Hope did not respond to a request for comment.

Zerohedge

By Tyler Durden

Mexican President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador intends to create a new border-police force to fight illegal immigration, drug trafficking, and illicit firearms trafficking from Central America, his incoming chief of public security Alfonso Durazo, told Bloomberg in an interview Monday.

Durazo indicated that the new border-police force would be part of a much larger regional effort to reduce poverty and violence that plagues so many Central American countries, which ultimately leads to a flood of families crossing into Mexico. He said the new police force will be sizeable and deployed to Mexico’s southern border. Durazo declined to offer more specifics to Bloomberg, but he noted that the police force would be used to secure the northern border as well.

“We’re going to create a border police force that will be highly specialized,” Durazo told Bloomberg.

“They need to apply the law,” against illegal immigration and human trafficking crossing into Mexico, which Durazo points out often occurs under the supervision of corrupt officials.

Lopez Obrador and the left-wing populist party he founded in 2014 won the presidential election in a landslide victory last week after voters disgusted with cartel violence, poverty-stricken communities, and vast amounts of corruption kicked the country’s established parties out of power. Obrador also got a boost from voters when he pledged to defend Mexicans against an immigrant crackdown by President Donald Trump.

Obrador’s next task will be securing the country’s southern border while avoiding the sharp criticism he has scrutinized Trump for.

The newfound emphasis on containing illegal immigration comes amid President Trump’s crusade to shift some of the blame on Mexican officials for the tidal wave of Central American immigrants passing through Mexico to the U.S. Interesting enough, President Trump said: “I think he’s [Mexico’s President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador] going to try and help us with border.”