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       #Post#: 2164--------------------------------------------------
       Refugees Welcome
       By: 90sRetroFan Date: November 12, 2020, 11:35 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       OLD CONTENT
       news.gallup.com/poll/245255/750-million-worldwide-migrate.aspx
       [quote]Gallup's surveys throughout this period found 15% of the
       world's adults -- or more than 750 million people -- saying they
       would like to move to another country if they had the
       opportunity.
       ...
       The countries where potential migrants say they would like to
       move -- if they could -- have generally been the same for the
       past 10 years. In fact, roughly 18 countries attract two-thirds
       of all potential migrants worldwide.
       Although the image of U.S. leadership took a beating between
       2016 and 2017, the U.S. continues to be the most desired
       destination country for potential migrants, as it has since
       Gallup started tracking these patterns a decade ago.
       One in five potential migrants (21%) -- or about 158 million
       adults worldwide -- name the U.S. as their desired future
       residence. Canada, Germany, France, Australia and the United
       Kingdom each appeal to more than 30 million adults.[/quote]
       In other words, the only problem is that many people who
       currently want to migrate are being violently prohibited from
       doing so by closed borders which they never chose to be born on
       the wrong side of.
       Note also that emigration from autocratic countries is also
       likely to reduce the chances of those autocracies being
       overthrown, as people who like the idea of voting can immigrate
       to existing democracies and vote there instead of trying to
       transform existing autocracies into democracies (as our enemies
       have been encouraging them to do by making migration difficult).
       Thus ending violence against migrants also helps the continued
       existence of autocracy as a system of governance, which is of
       course also in line with our aims.
       It is crucial that we at all times talk about the issue in terms
       of ending violence. Rightists (and even some False Leftists)
       have made it sound like we are doing migrants a positive favour
       by letting them migrate. This is nonsense. Letting people move
       around as they choose is simply refraining from violence against
       them. (This used to be so obvious that no one even needed to
       explain it, yet for this very reason a new generation has never
       had it properly explained to them.)
  HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2ys5rsZPuU
       ---
       www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/un-general-assembly-endorses
       -global-migration-accord/2018/12/19/88ab3944-03b0-11e9-958c-0a60
       1226ff6b_story.html
       [quote]The U.N. General Assembly endorsed a sweeping accord to
       ensure safe and orderly migration Wednesday over opposition from
       five countries, including the United States and Hungary.
       The Global Compact for Migration, the first international
       document dealing with the issue, is not legally binding. But the
       escalating debate over people leaving their home countries for
       new ones has sparked increasing opposition and reservations
       among the U.N.’s 193 member states.
       The General Assembly resolution endorsing the compact was
       approved by a vote of 152-5, with Israel, the Czech Republic and
       Poland also voting “no” and 12 countries abstaining.
       ...
       The drafting process for the global compact was launched after
       all 193 U.N. member states, including the United States under
       President Barack Obama, adopted a declaration in 2016 saying no
       country can manage international migration on its own and agreed
       to work on a pact.
       But the United States under President Donald Trump pulled out a
       year ago, claiming that numerous provisions in the compact were
       “inconsistent with U.S. immigration and refugee
       policies.”[/quote]
       Further information:
       en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Compact_for_Migration
       One good thing about this: you know how rightists are always
       like: "We just want to be like Japan in terms of attitude
       towards migration!" Well, it's now official: Japan approved the
       compact. Israel didn't, though.
  HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASEt-mpCrGA
       ---
       Finally a pro-immigration opinion column!
       www.nytimes.com/2019/01/16/opinion/open-borders-immigration.html
       [quote]There’s Nothing Wrong With Open Borders
       Why a brave Democrat should make the case for vastly expanding
       immigration.
       The internet expands the bounds of acceptable discourse, so
       ideas considered out of bounds not long ago now rocket toward
       widespread acceptability. See: cannabis legalization,
       government-run health care, white nationalism and, of course,
       the flat-earthers.
       Yet there’s one political shore that remains stubbornly beyond
       the horizon. It’s an idea almost nobody in mainstream politics
       will address, other than to hurl the label as a bloody cudgel.
       I’m talking about opening up America’s borders to everyone who
       wants to move here.
       Imagine not just opposing President Trump’s wall but also
       opposing the nation’s cruel and expensive immigration and
       border-security apparatus in its entirety. Imagine radically
       shifting our stance toward outsiders from one of suspicion to
       one of warm embrace. Imagine that if you passed a minimal
       background check, you’d be free to live, work, pay taxes and die
       in the United States. Imagine moving from Nigeria to Nebraska as
       freely as one might move from Massachusetts to Maine.
       There’s a witheringly obvious moral, economic, strategic and
       cultural case for open borders, and we have a political
       opportunity to push it. As Democrats jockey for the presidency,
       there’s room for a brave politician to oppose President Trump’s
       racist immigration rhetoric not just by fighting his wall and
       calling for the abolishment of I.C.E. but also by making a
       proactive and affirmative case for the vast expansion of
       immigration.
       It would be a change from the stale politics of the modern era,
       in which both parties agreed on the supposed wisdom of “border
       security” and assumed that immigrants were to be feared.[/quote]
       Exactly. The very vocabulary of "border security" (also
       nonchalantly used by the unthinking False Left) is absurd. A
       border is simply a line that marks where one set of institutions
       (currency, language, etc.) stop applying and another set of
       institutions start applying. As such, there is no issue of
       security to speak of. People crossing a border need to be made
       aware that they are crossing a border, so that they know what
       rules they now have to follow, and the state for administrative
       purposes needs to know how many people are crossing in and out,
       but other than that a border should be as convenient to cross as
       possible. The very notion of prohibiting people who want to
       cross a border from doing so is violent, and as such demands
       retaliatory violence in response.
       People migrate because they see opportunity in their destination
       of choice. What "border security" actually means is using
       violence to suppress opportunism. It is no different than
       crippling someone in order to prevent them from pursuing their
       dreams. It is not enough to verbally condemn or even
       economically sanction states which do this; such states must be
       militarily invaded and overthrown.
       [quote]As an immigrant, this idea confounds me. My family came
       to the United States from our native South Africa in the late
       1980s. After jumping through lots of expensive and confusing
       legal hoops, we became citizens in 2000. Obviously, it was a
       blessing: In rescuing me from a society in which people of my
       color were systematically oppressed, America has given me a
       chance at liberty.
       But why had I deserved that chance, while so many others back
       home — because their parents lacked certain skills, money or
       luck — were denied it?
       When you see the immigration system up close, you’re confronted
       with its bottomless unfairness. The system assumes that people
       born outside our borders are less deserving of basic rights than
       those inside. My native-born American friends did not seem to me
       to warrant any more dignity than my South African ones;
       according to this nation’s founding documents, we were all
       created equal. Yet by mere accident of geography, some were
       given freedom, and others were denied it.
       “When you start to think about it, a system of closed borders
       begins to feel very much like a system of feudal privilege,”
       said Reece Jones, a professor of geography at the University of
       Hawaii who argues that Democrats should take up the mantle of
       open borders. “It’s the same idea that there’s some sort of
       hereditary rights to privilege based on where you were
       born.”[/quote]
       This is basically the same point I have been emphasizing all
       along: no one chooses where they are born, so everyone should be
       allowed to choose where to live. It's good to see this argument
       being adopted at last.
       [quote]I admit the politics here are perilous. Although
       America’s borders were open for much of its history — if your
       ancestors came here voluntarily, there’s a good chance it was
       thanks to open borders — restrictions on immigration are now
       baked so deeply into our political culture that any talk of
       loosening them sparks anger.
       People worry that immigrants will bring crime, even though stats
       show immigrants are no more dangerous than natives. People worry
       they’ll take jobs away from native workers, even though most
       studies suggests that immigration is a profound benefit to the
       economy, and there’s little evidence it hurts native workers.
       And if we worry that they’ll hoover up welfare benefits, we can
       impose residency requirements for them.[/quote]
       Another point is that freedom to migrate applies to everyone.
       For those who dislike immigrants, the best thing they can do
       both for themselves and for everyone else is to themselves
       migrate elsewhere. We need to stop wasting time trying to
       persuade the prejudiced to drop their prejudices and instead
       just tell them that they are most welcome to leave if they don't
       like it, but not welcome to bully others into leaving.
       [quote]But these are all defensive arguments, and when you’re on
       defense, you’re losing. For opponents of the president’s
       xenophobic policies, a better plan is to make the affirmative
       case for a lot more immigrants.
       Economically and strategically, open borders isn’t just a good
       plan — it’s the only chance we’ve got. America is an aging
       nation with a stagnant population. We have ample land to house
       lots more people, but we are increasingly short of workers. And
       on the global stage, we face two colossi — India and China —
       which, with their billions, are projected to outstrip American
       economic hegemony within two decades.
       How will we ever compete with such giants? The same way we
       always have: by inviting the world’s most enthusiastic and
       creative people — including the people willing to walk here, to
       risk disease and degradation and death to land here — to live
       out their best life under liberty.
       A new migrant caravan is forming in Honduras, and the president
       is itching for the resulting political fight.
       Here’s hoping Democrats respond with creativity and verve. Not
       just “No wall.” Not just “Abolish ICE.”
       Instead: “Let them in.”[/quote]
       Exactly. In an economically sane world, states would be
       competing to attract immigrants to their own countries. In a
       sane world, it wouldn't even just be "Let them in" but moreover
       "How can we make sure they keep choosing us over all the other
       countries available?" And the answer would be: by treating
       fairly and kindly those who arrive, so as to build up a positive
       reputation for hospitality. This is what constructive
       immigration policy discussion should be about. In the same way
       that a company attracts recruits by establishing a reputation
       for treating its staff well, it should be the duty of a state to
       attract its folk by establishing a reputation for treating
       newcomers well. And yes, this includes zero tolerance for the
       bullies who deliberately try to make life miserable for
       newcomers so that they stop coming.
       #Post#: 2165--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Refugees Welcome
       By: 90sRetroFan Date: November 12, 2020, 11:41 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       OLD CONTENT contd.
       Here is another moral inversion which annoys me, the Trump
       administration trying to make it look like the country it wants
       to deport people to is in the wrong for refusing to take these
       people:
       www.dhs.gov/news/2019/01/31/dhs-announces-implementation-visa-sa
       nctions-ghana
       [quote]The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today
       announced, in coordination with the Department of State, the
       implementation of visa sanctions on Ghana due to lack of
       cooperation in accepting their nationals ordered removed from
       the United States.
       Pursuant to her authority under Section 243(d) of the
       Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), Secretary of Homeland
       Security Kirstjen Nielsen notified Secretary of State Mike
       Pompeo that the Government of Ghana has denied or unreasonably
       delayed accepting their nationals ordered removed from the
       United States. As a result, Secretary of State Pompeo has
       ordered consular officers in Ghana to implement visa
       restrictions on certain categories of visa applicants. Without
       an appropriate response from Ghana, the scope of these sanctions
       may be expanded to a wider population. The sanctions will remain
       in place until the Secretary of Homeland Security notifies
       Secretary Pompeo that cooperation on removals has improved to an
       acceptable level.
       “Ghana has failed to live up to its obligations under
       international law to accept the return of its nationals ordered
       removed from the United States,” said Secretary of Homeland
       Security Kirstjen Nielsen. “The United States routinely
       cooperates with foreign governments in documenting and accepting
       U.S. citizens when asked, as appropriate, as do the majority of
       countries in the world, but Ghana has failed to do so in this
       case. We hope the Ghanaian government will work with us to
       reconcile these deficiencies quickly.”[/quote]
       If the people involved wanted to go to Ghana, they would surely
       go by themselves. Deporting them means forcing them to go there
       despite they themselves not wanting to go. It is violence. Were
       Ghana to accept the deportees, Ghana would be passively
       complicit in this violence. By refusing to accept them, Ghana is
       honourably rejecting this violence. Ghana is setting an example
       of what every country should do if demanded to accept deportees.
       And the response of the Trump administration is to initiate even
       more violence by prohibiting other people(!) who want to travel
       to the US from Ghana from doing so, in order to pressure Ghana
       to accept its violence against the deportees!
       "International law?" According to whom? Western civilization, of
       course.
       en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_of_Westphalia
       [quote]The Peace of Westphalia established the precedent of
       peace established by diplomatic congress. A new system of
       political order arose in central Europe, based upon peaceful
       coexistence among sovereign states. Inter-state aggression was
       to be held in check by a balance of power, and a norm was
       established against interference in another state's domestic
       affairs. As European influence spread across the globe, these
       Westphalian principles, especially the concept of sovereign
       states, became central to international law and to the
       prevailing world order.[2][/quote]
       Fuck your Eurocentrism!
       REFUGEES WELCOME! DEPORTEES NOT WELCOME!
       ---
       Refusing to take deportees works, as I said it would:
       www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/9c4b9c4a-8c7d-47f2-a5af-6d06377fbb21
       [quote]Finland has suspended the deportation of all Iraqis whose
       asylum requests have been rejected in a stalemate with the
       federal government of Iraq, which refuses to accept the forced
       return of its nationals, a local newspaper reported.
       ...
       Finnish police in 2018 so far have deported 150 Iraqi citizens,
       128 of which were returned to Iraq, according to the newspaper.
       Nearly all these deportations were forced returns, meaning the
       person being deported does not voluntarily leave the country and
       are escorted by police back to their country of origin.
       ...
       The federal government of Iraq has repeatedly refused to sign an
       agreement with Finland on forced returns of rejected asylum
       seekers.
       “Iraq has said that it will not accept anyone who has not
       voluntarily returned. For this reason, we are not deporting
       Iraqi nationals for the time being,” said police inspector Ari
       Jokinen, quoted by Finland’s Yle television channel.[/quote]
       Good for Iraq! Why isn't every country being asked to accept
       deportees refusing for the same reason? Rejecting refugees is
       violence. Accepting deportees is also violence.
       ---
  HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM3XZu_ubwI
       ---
       An encouraging development:
       www.foxnews.com/politics/tear-down-that-border-wall-the-new-dem-
       litmus-test
       [quote]Beto O’Rourke may have inadvertently got the ball rolling
       this week on an emerging litmus test for Democrats eyeing the
       White House in 2020 when he said he “absolutely” supports
       tearing down the existing barriers along the southern border
       with Mexico.
       Since then, the other Democrats eyeing the 2020 Democratic
       nomination are facing calls to say whether they agree. And some
       are now expressing an openness to it, as they work to appeal to
       a liberal base that argues the wall is immoral.[/quote]
       Hopefully one day this can lead to bombing countries which
       refuse to tear down their walls, such as Israel and Hungary.
       ---
       LOL:
       www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/immigration-court-
       backlog-up-300-system-on-brink-of-collapse
       [quote]In a new 176-page report that repeatedly raps the Trump
       administration’s policies, the ABA said that the backlog in
       immigration courts is over 1 million.
       “Crucially, the number of cases pending before the immigration
       courts (which were about 262,000 cases at the time of the 2010
       Report) has increased to unprecedented levels. There were more
       than 760,000 pending cases at the end of FY 2018 and an
       additional 330,000 cases that could be returned to active
       dockets in short order,” it said in revealing the latest
       accurate numbers.
       Without fast changes, the lawyer’s group added, the immigration
       court system will collapse. President Trump has sought to
       increase the corps of immigration court judges.[/quote]
       How about (*gasp*) simply letting people migrate as they choose?
       ---
       europe.infowars.com/sweden-calls-for-sanctions-against-countries
       -that-refuse-migrants/
       [quote]Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven has indicated that
       he would like to see sanctions levied against European countries
       that do not participate in migrant 'resettlement.'
       Speaking with Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, PM Löfven was
       asked about economic penalties for countries that refuse
       'refugees' but receive European Union funding, such as Hungary.
       ...
       "Hungary is one of the countries that gets the most," Löfven
       continued. "It is unacceptable that the country that received
       the most support from the EU said, 'No, we do not take
       responsibility for immigration.'"[/quote]
       I agree it is unacceptable. I disagree (and find ludicrous the
       notion) that mere economic sanctions will persuade Hungary to
       change its mind about accepting refugees, which Hungary
       considers to be a mortal threat. WMDs would be more effective.
       The only thing that can change someone's mind about a perceived
       mortal threat is a more vivid mortal threat. Refugees or
       airstrikes? That should be the choice we give Hungary.
       ---
       At least some people's hearts are on our side:
       www.thestranger.com/slog/2019/05/02/40087675/boeing-field-contra
       ctors-agree-to-stop-flying-ice-detainees
       [quote]Thousands of immigrants detained by Immigrations and
       Customs Enforcement (ICE) are shuttled out of Seattle every year
       through our county-owned airport. But that may soon be coming to
       an end after the private company facilitating these flights
       through Boeing Field announced Thursday that they would no
       longer work with the company running these flights.
       Modern Aviation, a private company that has a permit from the
       county to operate flight services like refueling and hangar
       space for airlines, said Thursday that they will no longer
       facilitate ICE flights flown by Swift Air, the airline believed
       to be facilitating these flights. Two other companies that also
       provide these services at Boeing Field will also no longer work
       with ICE flights, according to a press release from County
       Executive Dow Constantine.
       ...
       Constantine first mentioned these ICE flights at a press
       conference back in June of 2018. With Gov. Jay Inslee and
       Attorney General Bob Ferguson at his side, Constantine pledged
       to use “everything in my power” to make sure Boeing Field “is
       not being used to perpetuate this brutality against people.”
       ...
       The county wants to put a requirement in these contracts that
       would stop them from working with ICE, but the county was unable
       to say exactly when they would be able to renegotiate these
       contracts, making it unclear if that route was even possible.
       Now it looks like the county has avoided forcing these companies
       into blocking ICE flights by getting all three of the airport’s
       fixed base operators to voluntarily say no to any flights that
       are transporting ICE detainees. Airlines need a fixed base
       operator to run a flight and Parrott told me it was unlikely
       that a fourth fixed base operator could quickly set up based on
       size constraints and permitting requirements.[/quote]
       But still, this is only a slowdown, not a solution. ICE will
       find a way around this given enough time. So long as ICE agents
       exist, they will continue doing what they are doing. Any true
       solution must focus on ending the existence of ICE agents.
       ---
       cis.org/Sussis/How-Many-Would-Really-Come-if-Borders-Were-Open
       [quote]A recent global Gallup poll found that 158 million adults
       around the world said they would migrate to the United States if
       they could.[/quote]
       We certainly don't have to worry about a shortage of people
       wanting to immigrate. The only problem is that rightists are
       willing to initiate violence to stop them:
       slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/05/trump-rally-audience-suggest
       ion-shoot-migrants.html
       So are we ready to shoot those who shoot migrants? Because if
       not, then no matter how many people want to immigrate, they will
       either be shot trying, or decline to immigrate in order to avoid
       being shot. Migration is not (as the delusional False Left
       claims) "inevitable". Whoever is willing to initiate violence
       can very much stop it, absent others willing to use retaliatory
       violence to defend it.
       Every day this is going on:
       dailycaller.com/2019/05/09/self-deportation-spikes-trump/
       This would not be going on if they saw ICE agents being shot
       dead every day. It would tell them that there are people
       fighting for them, and thus give them the courage to stay on.
       ---
       Nice!
       www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7049815/Hundreds-migrants-occup
       y-Frances-Charles-Gaulle-airport-call-end-deportations.html
       [quote]Hundreds of undocumented migrants occupied a terminal at
       Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris yesterday to protest against
       Air France carrying out deportations and demanding they be given
       permanent residency.
       Footage uploaded to Twitter shows some 500 members of the
       migrant support group La Chapelle Debout gathered in Terminal 2
       of France's largest airport.
       The protesters called on Air France to 'stop any financial,
       logistical or political participation in deportations' and
       demanded a meeting with its leaders, as well as French Prime
       Minister Edouard Philippe.
       ...
       Members of the organisation, which describes itself as the
       biggest union of undocumented immigrants in France, also call
       themselves GiletsNoirs - or black vests.[/quote]
       Black Vests >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Yellow Vests
       My advice: every Black Vest must own a firearm ASAP.
       #Post#: 2167--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Refugees Welcome
       By: 90sRetroFan Date: November 12, 2020, 11:47 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       OLD CONTENT contd.
       The decisions of every individual make a difference, from aid
       workers to attorneys to jury members:
       www.courthousenews.com/jury-deadlocks-in-case-of-arizonan-who-he
       lped-immigrants/
       [quote]TUCSON, Ariz. (CN) – Humanitarian aid worker Scott Warren
       walked out of court to cheers from supporters today after a jury
       deadlocked on charges that he helped two undocumented immigrants
       get into the United States and hid them from border agents.
       Warren, 36, thanked his family, friends, lawyers and community
       for their support since his arrest Jan. 17, 2018. The volunteer
       for the nonprofit aid group No More Deaths was charged with one
       count of conspiracy to harbor or transport and two counts of
       harboring illegal aliens. His seven-day trial before U.S.
       District Judge Raner Collins went to jurors this past Friday.
       In a brief statement outside the courthouse, Warren immediately
       highlighted the reason he helps immigrants.
       “Since my arrest in January of 2018, at least 88 bodies were
       recovered from the Ajo corridor of the Arizona desert. We know
       that’s a minimum and many more are out there that have not been
       found,” Warren said. He noted the government’s response, which
       includes criminalizing humanitarian aid and planning a wall.
       “Today it remains as necessary as ever for humanitarian aid
       volunteers to stand in solidarity with migrants and refugees,”
       he said.
       Prosecutors claimed Warren conspired with Mexican aid worker
       Irineo Mujica and No More Deaths nurse Susannah Brown to help
       two undocumented migrants – Kristian Gerardo Perez-Villanueva
       from El Salvador and Jose Arnaldo Sacaria-Godoy from Guatemala –
       into the tiny town of Ajo, Arizona, about 30 miles north of
       Mexico where No More Deaths maintains a permanent aid station
       they call the “barn.”
       Mujica, prosecutors said, was in contact with Warren in the days
       before the men climbed the border fence outside Sonoyta, Mexico,
       across the border from Lukeville, Arizona. The men hiked two
       nights, eventually getting to Ajo and finding a man who
       prosecutors say was Mujica, who gave them a ride to the barn.
       The jury deliberated two days before coming back deadlocked.
       Also in a brief statement outside the courthouse, Warren’s
       attorney Greg Kuykendall said the U.S. government has long
       demonized and “otherized” marginalized people, at times
       excluding them from the nation entirely, but there is another
       minority in the U.S. that counters the government efforts.
       “People who love, honor and respect all people regardless of
       race or status, people who put to use in order to help the
       dispossessed, their own birth privilege or their own education
       privilege or simply their own privilege of being able to make
       themselves heard,” he said. “Ultimately they do that to change
       this county.”
       Kuykendall declined to guess if prosecutors will retry Warren.
       He also declined to directly address claims that the prosecution
       was in retaliation for a No More Deaths report just days before
       Warren’s arrest that included video of Border Patrol agents
       destroying water left by volunteers in the desert, where
       temperatures routinely exceed 110 degrees and water can save
       lives.[/quote]
       ---
       We may have more allies than we thought we had:
       www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-06-23/acting-dhs-chief-sabotaged-ice
       -raids-leaking-plan-washington-post
       [quote]Since the Washington Post spoiled the surprise and
       published a report about the Trump Administration's plan to
       arrest thousands of migrant families who have been denied asylum
       - prompting the administration to cancel the raids - many have
       probably been wondering why somebody inside would break
       President Trump's longstanding policy of not telegraphing your
       moves in advance.
       Well, now that question appears to have been answered by the
       Washington Examiner: The acting head of DHS, Kevin McAleenan,
       reportedly leaked the details of the operation (he traveled
       alongside the WaPo reporter who broke the story earlier this
       week) in what sources described as a deliberate attempt to
       sabotage the raids.
       According to several sources who spoke with the Examiner,
       McAleenan had opposed the raids for months. The acting DHS head,
       who has been credited with pushing the policy of sending more
       agents to Guatemala, is said to be more concerned with what
       Congressional Democrats and the 'Never Trumpers' think of his
       performance than most other members of the administration.
       ...
       The White House said it had called off the operation to allow
       more time for lawmakers to work on a plan to fix legal
       "loopholes" that have helped to entice migrants to come to the
       US. In reality, McAleenan successfully stymied the operation by
       exposing the broad strokes. McAleenan allegedly told WaPo that
       the mass roundups would take place in 10 cities, including
       Chicago, Miami and Houston. The mayor of Chicago ordered Chicago
       Police not to grant ICE access to its databases, and refuse to
       cooperate in any way with the raids.
       One officials said that, by leaking the details of the raid,
       McAleenan might have been trying to "be the martyr" in the face
       of blowback against Trump's immigration policies. That is, he
       was trying to distance himself from the administration's
       decision making.
       ...
       ICE advised the administration to cancel the raids after the
       leaks not only because targets might have been tipped off by the
       news and fled wherever they had been staying, but because the
       leaks could put agents in danger.[/quote]
       As I have been saying the whole time, the most effective way to
       oppose ICE is to make its agents feel unsafe carrying out their
       operations. What McAleenan did is nothing compared to what just
       a few dedicated snipers could do.
       ---
       A soft start to Ahimsa?
       nbcpalmsprings.com/2019/06/25/border-patrol-agent-struck-with-la
       rge-rock-in-calexico/
       [quote]A U.S. Border Patrol agent assigned to the Calexico
       Border Patrol station was assaulted while patrolling near the
       border wall, Saturday morning.
       The incident occurred at around 11:55 a.m., near the
       intersection of 1 st. Street and Dool Avenue. The agent
       responded to the area in his patrol vehicle in order to effect
       the arrest of a man who illegally entered the United States
       through a breach in an old dilapidated section of wall.
       At that time, a second individual threw a soft-ball sized
       concrete rock through the breach in the wall, which went through
       the driver side window and struck the agent’s face. Shortly
       thereafter, the rock thrower absconded.
       The rock thrown at the agent caused a serious laceration above
       the eye which required medical attention. The agent was
       transported to a local hospital for medical treatment and
       further evaluation.[/quote]
       Hopefully a sign of more Ahimsa to come.
       ---
       Black Vests again:
       www.dw.com/en/undocumented-migrants-occupy-paris-pantheon-for-ri
       ght-to-remain/a-49573802
       [quote]"We will remain here until the last one of us has been
       given documents," the text on a leaflet being handed out at the
       demonstration declared while young men chanted "black vests" in
       reference to the recent "yellow vest" protests against high fuel
       charges, and subsequently against the government.
       ...
       Migrant support group "La Chapelle Debout" (Standing Chapel)
       whose activists were also inside the Pantheon said 700 migrants
       and their supporters had gained entry to the building at the
       start of the afternoon and were surrounded by police. The
       atmosphere was "good-natured," a spokeswoman for the group told
       AFP. Tourists had been cleared from the building.
       ...
       In a statement, the group said they wanted papers and housing
       for everyone. "We do not want to have to negotiate any more with
       the interior minister and the prefectures," the group stated.
       "We want to talk to Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, now!"
       ...
       Far-right leader Marine Le Pen condemned the occupation, calling
       it unacceptable. "In France, the only future for an illegal
       immigrant should be expulsion, because that's the law," she
       wrote on Twitter.[/quote]
       The only people obliged to abide by any given law of any country
       are those who receive protection from the same law in return.
       For example, we are obliged to not steal because in return the
       state will protect our property. We are obliged to not run red
       lights because in return we get to use the safer roads that
       result from traffic lights. And so on. This principle breaks
       down when it comes to immigration, because those who abide by a
       so-called “law” that prohibits them from entering are not in any
       way protected by this same so-called “law”. On the contrary,
       they are simply left outside where the state need not care about
       them at all (and can even bomb them)! Thus so-called “laws”
       prohibiting immigration are not really laws at all, but tyranny.
       In other good news:
       www.vox.com/2019/6/29/19927682/border-wall-judge-blocks-us-mexic
       o-california-arizona
       #Post#: 2168--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Hungary & V4 (& others)
       By: guest5 Date: November 12, 2020, 11:54 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Baby, six months, dies hours after being saved from
       Mediterranean
       [quote]‘The Med is a cemetery with no gravestones,’ refugee
       rescue organisation says as it announces infant’s tragic
       death.[/quote]
  HTML https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/11/12/baby-six-months-dies-hours-after-being-saved-from-mediterranean
       #Post#: 2169--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Refugees Welcome
       By: 90sRetroFan Date: November 12, 2020, 11:56 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       OLD CONTENT contd.
       www.dailysabah.com/americas/2019/07/09/peruvian-writer-mario-var
       gas-llosa-nominates-capt-carola-rackete-for-nobel-for-migrant-re
       scues
       [quote]Nobel laureate Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa on
       Monday called for the Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded to German
       ship captain Carola Rackete, who was arrested in June for
       docking a migrant rescue ship without authorization in the
       Italian port of Lampedusa.
       Vargas Llosa made his nomination in an article published in the
       Argentine daily La Nacion (The Nation) entitled "The captain
       Rackete, my candidate for the Nobel."
       On June 12, Rackete, who works for the German rescue
       organization Sea-Watch, picked up 53 migrants in the
       Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya. Rackete rejected an
       offer to dock the "Sea-Watch 3" in Tripoli, which is considered
       an unsafe port due to the ongoing conflict in the city.
       The 31-year-old captain headed the Dutch-flagged ship – which
       was carrying children, pregnant women and sick migrants – toward
       the nearest port of Lampedusa. But, on June 14, Italy closed its
       ports to rescue ships. Italian Deputy Prime Minister and
       Interior Minister Matteo Salvini refused to authorize docking,
       except for 10 migrants in critical need of medical care, until
       other European countries agreed to take the rest of the
       migrants.
       A desperate Rackete and her crew made inquiries with Malta,
       France and Germany. They tried petitioning the European Court of
       Human Rights, which rejected the appeal on grounds that
       Sea-Watch 3 should have taken the migrants to the nearest
       country of Tunisia instead.
       Two weeks later on June 28, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg
       and Portugal agreed to take in the other 43 migrants.
       On June 29, still awaiting authorization, Rackete decided to
       dock the ship, stating that the migrants aboard were exhausted.
       Rackete was arrested after docking the ship and placed under
       house arrest until July 2, when she was released after a court
       ruled she had broken no laws and acted to protect the safety of
       her passengers.
       She faces a second hearing on Tuesday on charges of aiding and
       abetting illegal entry by the migrants and illegal entry into
       territorial waters.
       "When laws, such as those invoked by Matteo Salvini, are
       irrational and inhuman, it is a moral duty to disobey them, as
       Carola Rackete did," Vargas Llosa wrote, underscoring that the
       alternative of letting the migrants die of exhaustion at sea was
       morally untenable.
       "The young German has violated a stupid and cruel law," Vargas
       Llosa said, adding that Italy's League party and its leader
       Salvini represent "not respect for legality, but a prejudiced
       and racist caricature of the Rule of Law."
       "And it is precisely he and his followers (too numerous, indeed,
       and not only in Italy, but in almost all of Europe) who embody
       the savagery and barbarism of which they accuse immigrants," he
       continued.
       "Thanks to the courage and decency of Carola Rackete, at least
       these 40 unfortunates will be saved, since there are already
       five European countries that have offered to receive them,"
       Vargas Llosa added.
       Vargas Llosa called for Rackete's trial in Italy to be closely
       followed, calling on the public to "demand that the judges save
       the honor and good traditions of Italy trampled today by Salvini
       and the League."
       "I am sure that I will not be the only one asking for that young
       captain (to receive) the Nobel Peace Prize when the time comes,"
       Vargas Llosa concluded.[/quote]
       I support this. However, gestures like these do not lessen the
       need to assassinate Salvini ASAP.
       ---
       Better than nothing, but will not stop the raids:
       www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/hotel-chains-vow-to-block-ice-fr
       om-using-rooms-as-backup-detention-centers-during-raids
       ---
       Captain Rackete speaks:
       www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/07/16/migrant-ngo-captain-demands-
       europe-500000-migrants/
       [quote]Migrant transport NGO Captain Carola Rackete has demanded
       that Europe take in all asylum seekers from Libya, a number
       believed to be over half a million people.
       The Seas Watch captain told German media that she wanted to see
       Europe take in all of the migrants currently in Libya, according
       to German tabloid Bild, saying: “We hear of half a million
       people in the hands of smugglers or in Libyan refugee camps we
       need to get out.”
       Rackete, who is currently under investigation in connection with
       aiding illegal migration in Italy, was arrested late last month
       and then released after forcing her vessel, the Sea Watch-3,
       into Italian territorial waters without permission and ramming a
       patrol boat in the process.
       “As far as the accident goes, nobody was in mortal danger, that
       was a minor technical collision. But even politicians should not
       judge that, but experts alone. In general, all the excitement
       could have been prevented if Italy had supported us,” Rackete
       said.
       She went on to say that Europe should also take in so-called
       “climate refugees” arguing that “asylum has no limit!” and went
       on to say: “The collapse of the climate system causes climate
       refugees, which we naturally have to absorb. In some African
       countries, caused by industrialised countries in Europe, the
       food base is being destroyed.”
       According to Rackete, European states like Germany have a
       “historical responsibility” to Africa because of their colonial
       past. “There is a historical responsibility to accept refugees
       who can no longer live in their countries due to the balance of
       power or the climate situation,” she said.[/quote]
       I agree with all the above. There are going to be more climate
       refugees in future, whom we need to start preparing to take in
       now. However:
       [quote]Rackete launched a lawsuit for slander against the League
       party leader earlier this month and has demanded Salvini have
       his social media platforms on Facebook and Twitter taken away.
       Rackete briefly commented on the lawsuit in her interview with
       Bild saying: “I think you can not put up with everything. He has
       spread falsehoods and I want him to erase these untruths on
       Twitter and Facebook. And also that a judge tells him: ‘You can
       never say that again!'”[/quote]
       Salvini needs to have his life taken away, not his Facebook and
       Twitter. Salvini is not someone who will let a judge tell him
       what he can say, or do. He will keep pushing refugees back out
       to drown until he dies. Therefore his death must be hastened.
       ---
       www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7275255/ICE-agents-forced-retre
       at-activists-link-arms-prevent-man-son-taken.html
       [quote]A group of neighbors and activists in Tennessee formed a
       human chain Monday after Immigration and Customs Enforcement
       agents tried to detain a man who was with his 12-year-old son.
       Cellphone video captured the controversial moment that friends
       and activists joined hands to allow the father and son to escape
       into their Forest Ridge home in Nashville, Tennessee's Hermitage
       neighborhood.
       ...
       'They were saying, "if you don’t come out, we’re going to arrest
       you, we’re going to arrest your 12-year-old son," local attorney
       Daniel Ayoadeyoon told WFTF. 'That’s just not legal, it’s not
       the right law.'
       ...
       'They don't bother nobody and this is illegal,' one bystander
       said during the encounter.
       'I've been knowing these people for 14 years,' added another
       neighbor, Felishadae Young. 'It's sad to see these children
       being ripped away from their parents.'
       ...
       'I could see if these people were bad criminals, but they’re
       not, they’re just trying to provide for their kids,' neighbor
       Stacey Farley told reporters after the incident. 'They work
       every day, they come home, the kids jump on their trampoline,
       it’s just a community.'
       Sanctuary cities are banned in Tennessee under a state law that
       went into effect on January 1, according to Think Progress, but
       Nashville police chief Steve Anderson has resisted calls for his
       department to help round up immigrants, saying doing so would
       make them fear cooperating with police in the city that has the
       state's largest foreign-born population.[/quote]
       Good work, but ICE will be back. If you do not want ICE back,
       you need to use firearms. You seem to have a sympathetic police
       chief, so if every person in the neighbourhood put one bullet
       each into the ICE agents, is the police going to arrest the
       entire neighbourhood?
       ---
       New subreddit:
       www.reddit.com/r/WhereAreTheChildren/
       ---
       www.technologyreview.com/f/614146/whole-foods-amazon-palantir-ic
       e-rekognition-technology-backlash/
       [quote]A group of anonymous Whole Foods employees is calling out
       Amazon (which bought the supermarket chain in 2017) for working
       with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). An open letter,
       posted via the group’s Twitter account, criticizes Amazon for
       providing cloud computing services to Palantir, a data analytics
       company that works for ICE, which has been cracking down on
       undocumented immigrants. The group, called Whole Worker, also
       asks Amazon to stop selling its facial-recognition technology,
       Rekognition, to law enforcement and demands that it stop
       business with “any other company involved in the continued
       oppression of marginalized groups.”
       ...
       Elsewhere in the company, employees have been protesting
       Amazon’s relationship with ICE for over a year, though momentum
       has grown recently because of anti-ICE protests. Last month,
       employees of Amazon Web Services circulated a letter that also
       demanded the company stop working with ICE.[/quote]
       Whole Foods > Amazon
       news.yahoo.com/migrant-ship-150-board-arrives-123108197.html
       [quote]A migrant rescue ship with nearly 150 people on board has
       docked near an Italian island after a judge in Rome overruled
       the interior minister Matteo Salvini’s ban on the boat entering
       the country’s waters.
       The Open Arms was stranded in the Mediterranean Sea for nearly
       two weeks after Mr Salvini said the ship should not be allowed
       to dock.
       ...
       The court ruled that the ban violated international laws and
       called for “immediate assistance to the to the rescued people
       most in need”.
       Following the ruling, Mr Salvini issued a fresh decree banning
       the ship from docking at the island of Lampedusa to disembark
       the passengers.
       But the Italian defence minister Elisabetta Trenta, a member of
       the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, refused to
       countersign it and said she was “listening to my
       conscience”.[/quote]
       But when are we going to start seriously punishing those states
       which violate international law? Because if there is no
       punishment for violation, there is no pragmatic incentive for
       following international law. Trenta may have a conscience, but
       Salvini clearly does not. The very reason law exists is because
       many people lack conscience and need to be threatened with death
       in order to be persuaded to not initiate violence.
       ---
       Nitpick time: Does it make sense to criticize pretentious and
       arrogant politicians in the UN for declaring certain
       "international laws" to be legit in all nations, including ones
       that do not consent to said laws ~~~ and then to cite the
       violation of one of those laws as a reason for action against a
       nation that has done so, even if the law being violated is
       perfectly moral?
       It's better to just say "to Hell with these guys for doing evil
       ****" rather than "to Hell with these guys for violating a law".
       ---
       "politicians in the UN declaring certain "international laws" to
       be legit in all nations, including ones that do not consent to
       said laws"
       Politicians in the UN speak to UN member states. UN membership
       is not compulsory. You would think that states disagreeing with
       UN legal standards would voluntarily leave the UN. In reality,
       however, they shamelessly want the privileges of UN membership
       but not the burdens. What I am criticizing is the fact that they
       are allowed to get away with this by the UN, which instead
       merely issues impotent "warnings" over and over again that carry
       no practical consequences with them:
       www.euractiv.com/section/justice-home-affairs/news/un-warns-ital
       y-over-tough-law-on-migrant-rescue-boats/
       "It's better to just say "to Hell with these guys for doing evil
       ****""
       Sure, but that's for us to say. UN politicians speak within
       their capacity as UN politicians.
       Everyone has to contribute in their own capacity:
       www.worldreligionnews.com/religion-news/elca-americas-first-sanc
       tuary-church-body
       ---
       Judges are not going be able to help us much longer:
       www.nytimes.com/2019/08/10/us/immigration-judges-union-justice-d
       epartment.html
       [quote]The Justice Department has moved to decertify the union
       of immigration judges, a maneuver that could muffle an
       organization whose members have sometimes been openly critical
       of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda.
       ...
       “This is a misguided effort to minimize our impact,” said Judge
       Amiena Khan, vice president of the judges’ union, which has
       publicly criticized the use of a quota system in immigration
       court and other attempts to speed up proceedings.
       ...
       “We serve as a check and balance on management prerogatives and
       that’s why they are doing this to us,” said Judge Khan.
       ...
       Both Judge Khan and the union president, Judge Ashley Tabaddor,
       have spoken out repeatedly against what they say is an attempt
       to turn immigration judges from neutral arbiters of the law to
       law enforcement agents enacting the White House’s policies. They
       have called for immigration judges to be independent of the
       Justice Department.
       Last year, the union criticized the department’s quota system,
       which required immigration judges to complete 700 cases per
       year, as well as a move to bar judges from an administrative
       tool they had previously used to reduce their caseloads. The
       union says the focus on efficiency impedes judges’ ability to
       work through complicated cases and could affect the due process
       rights of immigrants in court.[/quote]
       A day will come when due process will no longer exist at all, at
       which point firearms will be the only alternative to
       capitulation.
       ---
       Judges with conscience act while they still can (see previous
       post):
       news.yahoo.com/judge-hurries-u-naturalization-pregnant-193453132
       .html
       [quote]LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A judge in California had to
       speed up the naturalization of a pregnant immigrant on Thursday
       when the woman, anxious to become a U.S. citizen because of
       President Donald Trump's immigration policies, started
       experiencing contractions.
       ...
       She refused to leave until she was sworn in as a U.S. citizen,
       said U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney, who performed an
       impromptu naturalization ceremony before the official event
       began for immigrants from 114 different countries.
       ...
       "I sped up this process because of the fact of the current
       president, because the immigration laws are under attack," said
       Tatev, a former California high school history teacher, adding
       she was fearful her green card, which makes her a legal
       permanent U.S. resident, would be taken from her.
       Trump said on Wednesday his administration was seriously looking
       at ending the right of citizenship for U.S.-born children of
       non-citizens and people who immigrated to the United States
       illegally.
       ...
       "I don't want my kid to face these issues growing up in this
       country and having this be his home and not legally being part
       of this country," said Tatev, who stays home to care for her
       2-year-old daughter.
       Tatev said in a phone interview that she arrived in the United
       States from Armenia when she was 14 and it took her 17 years to
       first get a green card and then citizenship.
       "If he (Trump) doesn't like what's happening, why don't we pass
       better policies that make it a little easier for people to go
       through this process instead of having to sneak into this
       country and go through so many horrible experiences?" she
       said.[/quote]
       Because Trump is a Westerner. Putting us through horrible
       experiences gives him a feeling of importance. This is called
       Western civilization. As a history teacher, surely you know
       something about this?
       And I predicted long ago that our enemies would be going after
       the Fourteenth Amendment.
       ---
       news.yahoo.com/italian-doctor-fights-shed-light-mediterraneans-m
       igrant-dead-035822027.html
       [quote]Paris (AFP) - For Cristina Cattaneo, the thousands of
       migrants who have died trying to reach Europe's shores in recent
       years deserve the same as any other disaster victims: a
       concerted effort to find out who they were and let their
       families know the painful truth about their fate.
       "The dead need to be identified -- not for the dead, they are
       lost, but for the living. People need to bury and identify and
       grieve their dead," Cattaneo, an Italian forensic pathologist,
       told AFP in an interview.
       Since 2013, the laboratory she heads at the University of Milan
       has been waging a lonely fight to piece together a life from the
       photos or love letters, school reports and bits of clothing
       carried by migrants, who have drowned trying to cross the
       Mediterranean to Europe.
       Many younger victims from Eritrea and Sub-Saharan Africa, in
       particular, she said, also tuck away small pouches of soil from
       their homelands -- just like the leaves and flowers that
       Cattaneo herself stashed away on summer trips back to Italy
       after moving to Canada as a child.
       "I was putting them in my pocket to remind me of the place I
       loved," she said.
       "If people could see what these adolescents had in their
       pockets, they would understand that they are actually
       us."[/quote]
       Fine, so why are we letting rightists drown us by the thousands
       and not ensuring rightists die in greater numbers? These are not
       "disaster victims", these are victims of artificial barriers
       knowingly and purposefully set up by rightists to be lethal on a
       mass scale to those who happened to be born on the wrong side
       through no fault of their own. We should be talking about what
       rightists deserve. The unjustly dead need not to be buried,
       identified or grieved, but before all else to be avenged.
       #Post#: 2171--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Refugees Welcome
       By: 90sRetroFan Date: November 13, 2020, 12:04 am
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       OLD CONTENT contd.
       More from the Captain:
       news.yahoo.com/captain-broke-italys-migrant-ban-162920782.html
       [quote]BARCELONA, Sept 10 (Reuters) - A German captain who
       defied Italy's ban on boats bringing migrants ashore said on
       Tuesday she was determined to carry on rescuing migrants from
       the Mediterranean, even though her ship Sea-Watch 3 remains
       impounded in an Italian port.
       Carola Rackete, in Barcelona to receive an award from the
       Catalan parliament for her rescue missions, also urged the
       European Union to agree on a policy for redistributing migrants
       around the bloc to help relieve the pressure on Italy.[/quote]
       I told you Catalonia was on our side. Imagine if Catalonia had
       become independent a few years ago (which we supported back
       then); refugees could be landing there now!
       [quote]"We are definitely willing (to continue rescuing
       migrants) and there's a full crew on board ready to sail at any
       point ... I think it’s a very, very important duty to rescue
       people in maritime distress," Rackete, 31, told Reuters.
       Sea-Watch 3 is currently detained in the Italian port of Lucata.
       In June, Rackete piloted the vessel into port on the Italian
       island of Lampedusa with 41 migrants aboard despite efforts by
       the then-interior minister Matteo Salvini, leader of the
       far-right League, to stop her.
       Rackete was arrested in Lampedusa and accused of endangering
       lives by barging into port but a judge threw out the accusations
       and freed her from house arrest. She still faces possible
       charges of aiding illegal immigration and defying official
       orders.
       "We are very hopeful that even if it comes to a court case our
       state of necessity will justify our entering the port," she
       said, speaking in English.
       Unknown numbers of mostly African illegal migrants have drowned
       in recent years while attempting to cross the Mediterranean by
       boat from Libya to Italy in search of a better life in Europe.
       Italy welcomed in almost all of the migrants rescued by
       humanitarian groups at sea until a populist coalition government
       took office in 2018 and immediately sought to close the nation's
       ports to the charity ships.
       Rackete called for a European solution to the problem.
       "I would hope that there's an agreement of the European Union to
       transfer all the people that arrive in Italian ports" to EU
       countries, she said. "I hope then the Italian state would open
       the ports and allow people to disembark."
       Europe is "responsible in many ways for what is happening in
       these countries" after centuries of colonialism, Rackete said,
       adding that naval vessels should again be used to rescue
       migrants adrift on the Mediterranean.
       Asked whether charity boats would no longer be needed with an
       EU-wide policy in place, she said: "Definitely that would be
       what we are aiming for."[/quote]
       Exactly.
       Nevertheless, what if Salvini comes back and the ports close
       again? At what point do we finally say we have had enough and
       will use firearms to keep the ports open?
       Also, an article praising Rackete:
       www.tellerreport.com/news/2019-07-05---carola-rackete--an-antigo
       ne-of-our-time-.rkr49RhxS.html
       The most important thing to remember is that such articles
       should not even be necessary (and would indeed not have been
       necessary during the Counterculture era). Anyone who needs
       convincing that Rackete is the good guy and Salvini is the bad
       guy is already beyond saving.
       ---
       Some good news:
       news.yahoo.com/italian-government-reaches-eu-deal-163111284.html
       [quote]ROME (Reuters) - Italy said on Thursday it had done a
       deal with EU countries to share out migrants aboard a charity
       ship at sea in the Mediterranean, resolving the first of what
       may be repeated episodes that will test the new government in
       Rome.
       The Ocean Viking, run by French charities SOS Mediterranee and
       Doctors Without Borders, is carrying 82 people that it rescued
       in various operations off Libya this week, and has requested a
       safe port.
       The government, which was sworn in last week, has promised a
       change of tack compared with the previous administration in
       which far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini closed Italy's
       ports to migrant rescue boats.
       Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said after a meeting of his top
       ministers on Thursday that "several EU countries" had agreed to
       take in the migrants aboard the Ocean Viking, "which will ensure
       a rapid and suitable solution" for them.
       Nicola Zingaretti, head of the center-left Democratic Party
       (PD), which now governs with the anti-establishment 5-Star
       Movement, tweeted that a "positive solution" had been found
       thanks to the involvement of other EU countries.
       However no details were given and a spokeswoman for SOS
       Mediterranee told Reuters they had not received any indication
       that their boat could dock at an Italian port.[/quote]
       Update:
       news.yahoo.com/break-past-rome-lets-charity-085203994.html
       [quote]LAMPEDUSA, Italy, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Italy's new
       government allowed a French charity ship to head to the island
       of Lampedusa on Saturday and bring ashore some 82 migrants,
       reversing the uncompromising, closed-door policy of the previous
       administration.
       The Ocean Viking, run by French charities SOS Mediterranee and
       Doctors Without Borders (MSF), said on Twitter it had received
       the green light to sail to Lampedusa, six days after it carried
       out its first rescue off the coast of Libya.
       "The Italian authorities have just offered Ocean Viking a place
       of safety," MSF said. Local officials confirmed the news.
       Italy's government formally took office on Tuesday, promising a
       new approach to migration following the hardline clampdown on
       rescue ships introduced by former interior minister, Matteo
       Salvini, who heads the far-right League.[/quote]
       Also:
       www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/12/california-private-priso
       n-ban-immigration-ice
       [quote]The private prison industry is set to be upended after
       California lawmakers passed a bill on Wednesday banning the
       facilities from operating in the state. The move will probably
       also close down four large immigration detention facilities that
       can hold up to 4,500 people at a time.
       ...
       The private prison industry is set to be upended after
       California lawmakers passed a bill on Wednesday banning the
       facilities from operating in the state. The move will probably
       also close down four large immigration detention facilities that
       can hold up to 4,500 people at a time.
       ...
       Immigration advocates still worry that Ice and its contractors
       could find a way to circumvent the ban.
       “This legislation is the most powerful we’ve had. It’s a very
       big step,” said Abeln about AB32. “But we know Geo Group and Ice
       work in secrecy, and they work to circumvent contract laws, so
       we’re still monitoring things.”
       Servin said that while the new law was a significant victory,
       there was one other thing immigrants rights groups were
       concerned about. When several sheriffs’ departments canceled
       their contracts to house Ice detainees last year, instead of
       freeing the detainees, Ice moved many of them to prisons in
       Colorado and Hawaii.
       “We have to worry about all the people who are detained right
       now,” said Servine. “Where will they end up?”[/quote]
       What really matters is turning refugees into voters ASAP. Even
       some mainstream journalists are finally catching on:
       www.counterpunch.org/2019/09/06/migrants-should-automatically-be
       -offered-care-education-housing-food-and-the-right-to-vote/
       Refugees also need to own and know how to use firearms. This
       could be fairly easily achieved by drafting them into military
       service. Mainstream journalists have not caught on to this point
       yet, however.
       ---
       news.yahoo.com/asian-american-groups-oppose-cambodian-131654567.
       html
       [quote]LOWELL, Mass. (AP) — Asian American groups are objecting
       to the Trump administration's efforts to step up deportations of
       Cambodians with criminal records.
       The Southeast Asia Resource Action Center and other groups say
       more than 50 Cambodian nationals living in Massachusetts,
       California and elsewhere have been ordered to report to U.S.
       Immigration and Customs Enforcement next week for removal.
       Demonstrations are planned in San Francisco, Sacramento, and
       Boston next week against the orders.
       Kevin Lam, of the Asian American Resource Workshop, says many of
       those facing deportation served criminal sentences decades ago
       but are now valuable members of their communities.
       U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say Cambodian
       deportations rose about 280% from fiscal year 2017 to 2018.
       The agency says it respects the groups' rights to demonstrate,
       but remains committed to enforcing the nation's immigration
       laws.[/quote]
       The last sentence is the key. How many of the demonstrators are
       willing to use firearms against ICE? That is the only question
       that will affect whether the deportations will proceed.
       ---
       This is your Captain speaking:
  HTML https://peoplesdispatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Sea-rescue-is-not-crime_Sea-Watch_Carola-Rackete.png
       news.yahoo.com/aid-ship-captain-slams-eu-122143883.html
       [quote]The comments by Sea Watch 3 captain Carola Rackete came
       as EU lawmakers were debating Mediterranean search and rescue
       methods amid the increasing criminalization by member countries
       of non-governmental organizations, activists and volunteers who
       help people attempting the perilous Mediterranean Sea crossing.
       “The EU member states have engaged in a policy of
       externalization of their responsibilities and a practice of
       pushbacks and omissions of rescue, delegating interventions to a
       country at war, Libya, in breach of international law,” Rackete
       said to applause and occasional harangues from far-right
       lawmakers.
       ...
       Rackete said she hoped the EU’s new focus on search and rescue
       methods will result in “some real improvement and not just a
       mixed bag making it even more difficult for people like me and
       many, many organizations to carry out solidarity and to help
       people who are in danger.”
       ...
       “Society in general is encouraged to view humanitarians as
       criminal suspects and individuals and groups are discouraged
       from providing assistance to vulnerable asylum seekers and
       migrants,”
       ...
       Asked if she would still defy EU authorities in similar
       circumstances, Rackete _ whose charity vessel remains impounded
       in Italy _ said: “There is a huge need for ships to be out
       there. People are dying every day so I would do it again... I
       was in compliance with the international maritime law.”[/quote]
       This is an understatement. As I have been saying since 2015,
       every EU member state with a navy should be deploying its ships
       by the hundreds to ferry refugees across the Mediterranean 24/7.
       It is absurd to leave such large-scale rescue work to charities
       alone. Navy vessels could open up dozens more
       trans-Mediterranean routes, allowing refugees to cross from any
       part of the South Mediterranean coastline instead having to
       congregate in only a few spots and wait ridiculous lengths of
       time for passage as they currently do, thereby in turn trivially
       solving the problem of overcrowding (and all consequent
       logistical problems) at the current few waiting spots.
       ---
       Good news:
       www.nytimes.com/2019/10/04/world/asia/jacinda-ardern-refugees-ne
       w-zealand.html
       [quote]After months of growing pressure, the government of Prime
       Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand abolished on Friday a
       policy restricting refugees from Middle Eastern and African
       countries, a curb imposed by the previous government that
       refugee advocates called discriminatory and racist.
       The reversal of the decade-old rule set New Zealand in
       opposition to the increasingly restrictive refugee policies of
       allies like Australia and the United States. Last week, the
       Trump administration announced a sharp cut to the number of
       refugees it will accept, and Australia’s system of offshore
       detention of refugees arriving by sea continues to draw
       international condemnation.
       The move also lifts a political millstone from around the neck
       of Ms. Ardern, who has been perceived globally after the
       Christchurch mosque attacks in March as a champion of migrants
       and refugees. For months, she had been forced to deny that the
       policy amounted to discrimination because one of her key
       political allies supported it.
       The restriction, introduced by the center-right government that
       preceded Ms. Ardern’s center-left government, which has been in
       power for nearly two years, allowed refugees from Middle Eastern
       or African nations to resettle in New Zealand only if they could
       prove they already had relatives there.
       The rule was ostensibly meant to prioritize refugees closer to
       home in the Asia-Pacific region. But government documents also
       revealed a desire to save money on resettlement costs, as well
       as “broad security concerns” about refugees from Africa and the
       Middle East.
       ...
       Under the now-discarded policy, refugees from the Middle East
       and Africa were each allocated 14 percent of New Zealand’s
       annual refugee quota of 1,000 people. But the requirement that
       they have family links in the country meant officials had
       struggled to fill the quota, said Murdoch Stephens, a lecturer
       at Massey University in Wellington and a campaigner against the
       rule.
       ...
       The immigration minister, Iain Lees-Galloway, said on Friday
       that the Middle East and Africa quotas would each be increased
       from 14 percent to 15 percent. Fifty percent will continue to be
       drawn from the Asia-Pacific region, and 20 percent from the
       Americas.[/quote]
       Earlier, I was worried that Ardern was all talk, but this latest
       development is encouraging. I think Ardern can be pushed further
       left if we are skillful about it.
       With all this said, let's put things back in perspective:
       [quote]New Zealand, a country of about 4.8 million people, will
       increase its overall quota from 1,000 people annually to 1,500
       in 2020. By contrast, the United States, with nearly 330 million
       people, will accept only 18,000 refugees over the next 12
       months.[/quote]
       1500 per year is still utterly pathetic.
       ---
       www.yahoo.com/entertainment/21-savage-calls-automatic-citizenshi
       p-151855385.html
       21 Savage — the rapper who endured his own immigration saga
       earlier this year — was honored Thursday by the National
       Immigration Law Center (NILC), where he stated that children who
       live illegally in America should automatically become citizens.
       “When you’re a child, you don’t know what’s going on,” 21 Savage
       told the Associated Press. “Now, you grow up and got to figure
       it out. Can’t get a job. Can’t get a license. I’m one of the
       lucky ones who became successful. It’s a lot of people who
       can’t.”
       The rapper born She’yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph — who moved to
       America from the U.K. when he was seven years old — added of
       immigrant children living in America: “I feel like we should be
       exempt. I feel like we should automatically become citizens.”
       #Post#: 2172--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Refugees Welcome
       By: 90sRetroFan Date: November 13, 2020, 12:16 am
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       OLD CONTENT contd.
       news.yahoo.com/least-13-dead-migrant-boat-143813658.html
       [quote]MILAN (AP) — The deaths of at least 13 people early
       Monday on an overloaded migrant boat that capsized near the
       Italian island of Lampedusa have galvanized calls to shut down
       smuggler routes and revamp search-and-rescue efforts in the
       deadly central Mediterranean Sea.
       The Italian coast guard said one of its vessels was about to
       begin the rescue about six nautical miles Italy's southernmost
       island when the boat capsized. Survivors told the U.N. refugee
       agency that the migrants moved to one side of their unseaworthy
       vessel when they saw the rescue ship, capsizing it.
       Twenty-two people were plucked from the sea and brought to
       safety. But 13, all women, were pulled dead from the water, and
       the search was continuing for 15 still missing, including an
       unknown number of children.
       The boat had departed Tunisia, with about 50 people on board,
       mostly west Africans and Tunisians.
       The incident brings to more than 1,000 the number of people who
       have died in the Mediterranean Sea this year.
       "Enough massacres in the sea," Lampedusa Mayor Toto Martello
       said. "We cannot continue to watch bodies being unloaded of poor
       people who are following a dream to better their lives.
       Politicians must react."
       ...
       The U.N. refugee agency said that Monday's deadly shipwreck
       "highlights once again that urgent action is needed to address
       the situation on the Mediterranean." It called for the European
       Union to resume its search and rescue operation in the
       Mediterranean Sea, especially along the dangerous route from
       Libya.
       ...
       In the absence of an EU search and rescue operation, the job of
       patrolling the Mediterranean has largely been left to
       humanitarian rescue ships.
       But there are fewer of those than a year ago because of
       sanctions they face under measures adopted when hard-liner
       Matteo Salvini was interior minister. And once a rescue has been
       carried out, both Italy and Malta have closed their ports to the
       NGO ships, leading to days or weeks of haggling with the EU to
       find a safe harbor.
       One of those, Spanish NGO Open Arms, said Monday it rescued 44
       people, including one toddler and a months-old baby, on a wooden
       boat trying to reach European shores.
       Gerard Canals, chief of mission of the Open Arms rescue boat,
       said the boat was found late Sunday in Malta's rescue zone,
       about 50 nautical miles from Lampedusa.
       Canals said that Malta's rescue coordination center told the
       group not to offer the migrants any assistance, saying that
       Italy would probably send a patrol boat from Lampedusa, about an
       hour away. But Open Arms decided to rescue them anyway after
       waiting five hours because the boat wouldn't have made it to
       land without fuel and faced adverse weather.
       All 44 rescued — 38 men, four women, a 4-year-old boy, and a
       baby around 6 to 9 months old — were in good condition.
       "The surprise was to hear Malta's instructions -- who told us to
       let them continue to sail. We are evidently talking about a
       vessel in distress, an overcrowded boat without any type of
       guarantee that it can reach anywhere, and evidently without
       enough fuel to reach the island of Lampedusa," Open Arms Founder
       Oscar Camps told a news conference near Barcelona.
       Malta's government declined to comment.
       Camps said that had the Open Arms been cleared to rescue the 44
       earlier -- instead of waiting five hours -- the ship could have
       been available to sail to Lampedusa and aid in that rescue --
       perhaps saving lives. But he said they were not called in any
       case, an indication of authorities' reluctance to coordinate
       with them.
       "Once again we denounce that these boats are in distress. They
       are by themselves, vessels in danger, because of the dimensions,
       the overweight (overcrowded) and the lack of navigation capacity
       and little security guarantees they can offer," Camps said.
       "They must be intervened immediately they cannot be left to
       their own luck."[/quote]
       Which is what I have been saying.
       (Also, people like Martello and Camps are examples of authentic
       populism. Unfortunately almost no one these days remembers the
       correct definition of populism.)
       ---
       townhall.com/tipsheet/timothymeads/2019/10/08/dc-city-council-vo
       tes-unanimously-to-end-working-with-ice-n2554377
       [quote]Yesterday, Townhall reported that the Washington D.C.
       City Council would be considering "emergency" legislation on
       Tuesday that would order all D.C. government agencies and
       facilities from cooperating with Immigration and Customs
       Enforcement as well as other federal immigration authorities
       unless given an explicit court order. On Tuesday, the D.C. City
       Council voted unanimously to pass this bill, officially known as
       the "Sanctuary Values Act."[/quote]
       Good but not good enough. ICE can and will work effectively even
       without third-party cooperation. Only when ICE is too afraid to
       even enter a given territory in the first place can that
       territory truly call itself a sanctuary. This requires
       willingness by locals  to use firearms to shoot ICE agents on
       sight RoboCop 3 style:
  HTML https://swordofelysium.wordpress.com/2017/09/22/robocop-3-duty-vs-power/
       ---
       news.yahoo.com/italy-lets-french-migrant-ship-131850952.html
       [quote]ROME, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Charity rescue ship Ocean Viking
       headed towards the southern Italian port of Taranto on Tuesday
       after the government gave it authorisation to bring 176 migrants
       ashore in a decision that angered the far-right League.
       ...
       Salvini denounced on Tuesday the decision to let the Ocean
       Viking dock immediately.
       "The Ocean Viking is a French NGO and is Norwegian-flagged. Can
       you tell me why it has to come to Italy?? Either go to France,
       or go to Norway," he wrote on Twitter.[/quote]
       Yes, I can tell you why, Salvini. Because Italy is (*gasp*)
       closer. If the Ocean Viking drops off refugees in Italy, it can
       return to the Libyan coast sooner and hence pick up the next
       round of refugees sooner, while the refugees it has just dropped
       off can (if they wish) travel to France or Norway more
       efficiently overland. On the other hand, if the Ocean Viking has
       to sail all the way to France or especially Norway, it will have
       to take considerably longer getting back to the Libyan coast,
       during which time the refugees it could have saved might be
       drowned.
       Can you tell me what it says about your supporters that you are
       so popular while being such an utter moron?
       ---
       This would not have happened if no one has to fear being
       deported:
       www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7606715/How-39-desperate-stowaw
       ay-migrants-locked-metal-coffin-left-die.html
       [quote]The 39 migrants, locked inside a bitterly cold and
       airless shipping container, never stood a chance – their cries
       for help fading away with no one to hear them.
       The stowaways – 38 adults and one teenager – slowly froze to
       death in 'absolutely horrendous' conditions after they tried to
       reach the UK on a cargo ferry from Belgium, it is feared.
       Experts yesterday said the temperature inside the refrigerated
       trailer unit, which is said to usually carry biscuits, might
       have been as low as -25C (-13F).
       The migrants were huddled inside for at least 15 hours by the
       time the door was opened on an industrial estate in Essex at
       1.40am yesterday.
       ...
       Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also reflected on the tragedy,
       branding it 'unbelievable'.
       He said: 'Can we just think for a moment of what it must have
       been like for those 39 people, obviously in a desperate and
       dangerous situation, for their lives to end, suffocated to death
       in a container?'
       ...
       the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants has already
       blamed the British government.
       The charity's chief executive Satbir Singh said: 'Nobody should
       be in any doubt that the ultimate responsibility for these
       deaths lies with government policy which has deliberately closed
       down safe and legal routes into Britain.'[/quote]
       ---
       www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7642387/Smugglers-Mexico-SAWING
       -sections-Trumps-virtually-impenetrable-border-wall.html
       [quote]Smugglers in Mexico are SAWING through sections of
       Trump's 'virtually impenetrable' border wall using popular power
       tools that cost less than $100[/quote]
       Well done! Next, our side needs to shoot through CBP/ICE agents.
       Practically effective firearms can cost only a few times as much
       as power tools:
       www.cheaperthandirt.com/firearms/rifles/
       Whereas the cost of rehiring CBP/ICE agents to replace the dead
       will go up far faster than the cost of repairing the wall.
       Again, much of strategy is just elementary number-crunching.
       ---
       Support Scott Warren:
       news.yahoo.com/second-trial-against-activist-helped-044814624.ht
       ml
       [quote]TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Jury selection started Tuesday in
       the second trial against an Arizona border activist accused of
       harboring migrants who sneaked across the U.S.-Mexico border.
       Scott Warren, 37, contends he was fulfilling his mission as a
       humanitarian when he helped two Central American men at a camp
       run by the border group No More Deaths, which also drops off
       water jugs in the desert. But prosecutors have said the men were
       not injured and that Warren conspired to help them evade
       authorities.
       ...
       While Warren has said he was performing a humanitarian mission
       to help migrants in need, prosecutors contend they were never in
       distress. They say Warren gave them directions on how to avoid a
       Border Patrol checkpoint when they left the No More Deaths camp
       in Ajo in January 2018.
       Warren is one of nine No More Deaths members who have been
       charged with crimes related to their work, although he's the
       only facing felony charges.
       Warren's arrest came months after Border Patrol agents began an
       investigation into the No More Deaths camp, according to
       documents released after news organizations sued to get them.
       The documents show that in April 2017, an anonymous Ajo resident
       told Border Patrol officials that he suspected members of the
       group were harboring immigrants in their building, known as "The
       Barn."
       ...
       Thousands of immigrants have died crossing the border since the
       mid-1990s, when increased enforcement pushed many to Arizona's
       scorching desert.[/quote]
       nomoredeaths.org/
       Water jugs are not enough, though. Will the water jug protect
       refugee from being captured by CBP/ICE? What they need most now
       are firearms.
       ---
       I warned long ago that any country stupid enough to accept
       deportees would be rapidly overloaded (why do you think those
       people left in the first place?):
       qz.com/africa/1751948/returning-migrants-from-europe-cause-probl
       ems-for-the-gambia/
       [quote]Roughly 38,500 Gambians left the country through
       ‘irregular’ means between 2013 and 2017.
       ...
       As a result, a large number of citizens, mostly young men,
       sought asylum in Europe. But very few have been allowed to stay.
       Even more were turned away when Jammeh was toppled after
       elections in 2017 and the country returned to democracy. More
       recently, there has been a big push from European Union (EU)
       member states to return failed asylum seekers back home to The
       Gambia.
       ...
       Despite initial cooperation with the EU on returns, in March
       2019 Barrow’s government imposed a moratorium on any further
       deportations of its nationals from the EU. After a standoff of
       several months, the moratorium has now been lifted.
       ...
       Before the moratorium was imposed in March 2019, the government
       had started to tentatively cooperate with the EU on return
       matters. For example, it sent regular missions to Europe to
       issue nationals with identification documents to facilitate
       their return.
       Relations began to sour when European governments increased
       returns in a way that authorities in The Gambia viewed as
       inconsistent with the ‘good practice’ agreement. The agreement
       stipulates that return numbers should not overstretch the
       country’s capacity to receive returnees. It also states that
       adequate notice must be given before asylum seekers are
       returned. Both of these provisions were allegedly breached.
       ...
       The moratorium can be linked to diplomatic and technical
       inefficiencies, but it is also based on a more fundamental
       problem for Barrow’s government. By cooperating with the EU on
       returns, they risk their domestic legitimacy because by and
       large, most Gambians in Europe do not want to return home.
       ...
       Allowing more deportations from the EU is perceived as betrayal
       by many migrants and their families.
       ...
       In these politically tense times, pressing a pause button on
       returns fulfilled a symbolic function by defending Gambians
       against foreign national interests. The recent lifting of the
       moratorium is politically very risky. It paves the way for more
       of the deeply unpopular chartered return operations.
       ...
       In the alternative, the EU could take a more cooperative stance
       by working on more holistic, development-oriented solutions. A
       starting point would be to move away from plans to return high
       numbers of failed asylum seekers. Sending back large numbers of
       migrants has never been feasible.
       The Gambian government will be more honest about its migration
       dealings with the EU if the agreements are fair and practical.
       Most importantly, if Gambians had access to fair and practical
       migration pathways this would lessen cases of irregular
       migration, which continue to remain high.[/quote]
       If any of the refugees themselves wanted to return to Gambia,
       they would do so on their own initiative. Therefore deportees
       are victims of initiated violence. To accept deportees is to be
       complicit in the violence initiated against them. Another way to
       look at it is: if another country can make you accept their
       deportees, you have been reduced to a colony of that country in
       practice.
       On the contrary, all transport crew carrying deportees should be
       arrested as human traffickers (which is exactly what they are)
       and executed. Only this will send the message that deportation
       will not be tolerated.
       ---
  HTML https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/angela-merkel-welcomed-refugees-to-germany-theyre-starting-to-help-the-economy/2019/05/03/4bafa36e-6b60-11e9-bbe7-1c798fb80536_story.html
       ---
       Brussels still delusionally thinks it can use pieces of paper to
       persuade V4:
       www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15245/eu-migrants-relocation-quota
       [quote]German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has unveiled a
       new plan to reform the European asylum system. A draft of the
       proposal leaked to the media shows that all member states of the
       European Union would be required to take in illegal migrants.
       ...
       The new plan is aimed at replacing the European Union's Dublin
       Regulation, a law that requires people seeking asylum in the EU
       to do so in the first European country they reach.
       Southern European countries — especially Greece and Italy — have
       complained that, in the context of mass migration from Africa,
       Asia and the Middle East, the current system places an unfair
       and disproportionate burden on them. They say that all EU member
       states should take equal responsibility for migrants reaching
       European shores.
       ...
       The key part of the document calls for asylum applications to be
       assessed immediately upon arrival at the EU's external border.
       From there, a newly created European Union Agency for Asylum
       (EUAA) would "determine" which member state is responsible for
       taking in the applicant and processing his or her application.
       Seehofer's plan is intended to be permanent and not limited to
       crisis situations. Notably, the plan does not address the issue
       of returning illegal migrants back to their countries of origin.
       The plan studiously avoids using the politically explosive term
       "quota" and replaces it with "fair share" (gerechter Anteil).
       The document also omits the term "mandatory," although it is
       assumed throughout that the migrant relocation scheme will be
       compulsory for all EU member states.
       If everything goes according to plan, the draft legislation
       would be adopted by the European Parliament in the second half
       of 2020 when Germany holds the presidency of the EU. It would
       then be ratified by the European Council, made up of the leaders
       of the EU member states.
       The new European Commissioner for the Promotion of the European
       Way of Life, Margaritis Schinas, expressed support for the
       scheme:
       "Migration Commissioner Ylva Johansson and I met Horst Seehofer.
       We completely agree with Germany. We need this consensus from
       all Member States, and we are working hard to achieve it."
       Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, however, voiced his
       opposition to the German plan. In an interview with the Czech
       news agency ČTK, he said that he saw through Seehofer's
       semantics:
       "We fundamentally reject illegal migration. We also reject
       allowing smuggling gangs to decide who will live in Europe. We
       reject quotas and I am surprised that this issue has once again
       returned to the negotiating table. I hope that the new European
       Commission will put a stop to this."
       Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamáček said that the Czech
       Republic would "coordinate our position" with the other members
       of the Visegrád Four (V4), a cultural and political alliance of
       four Central European states — the Czech Republic, Hungary,
       Poland and Slovakia.
       Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that the V4
       would not bow to EU pressure to accept migrants:
       "The V4's position is clear. We are not willing to admit any
       illegal migrants into central Europe. The success and security
       of central Europe is thanks to our pursuit of a firm
       anti-migration policy, and this will endure.
       "This is why central Europe is one of the most successful
       regions of the European Union today, and its engine of growth.
       We do not tolerate any kind of pressure and we Hungarians insist
       on our right to decide whom to allow into our country and with
       whom we wish to live."[/quote]
       OK, so imagine the new plan passes but then V4 simply refuses to
       abide by it on ground level by physically shutting out refugees
       sent to them. Then what? As I have said over and over again, the
       only question of practical importance is how the EU intends to
       enforce cooperation, specifically whether or not it is willing
       to militarily destroy V4. Read the last two paragraphs again:
       [quote]"The V4's position is clear. We are not willing to admit
       any illegal migrants into central Europe. The success and
       security of central Europe is thanks to our pursuit of a firm
       anti-migration policy, and this will endure.
       "This is why central Europe is one of the most successful
       regions of the European Union today, and its engine of growth.
       We do not tolerate any kind of pressure and we Hungarians insist
       on our right to decide whom to allow into our country and with
       whom we wish to live."[/quote]
       You think mere economic penalties (let alone verbal
       condemnations) will change their minds? No, they will only
       change their minds when WMDs are raining down on them every day.
       If you are not willing to do this to them, then V4 has already
       won.
       What makes it most annoying is how easy it would be if only the
       major EU powers were willing to use their military strength:
       en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_Defence_Forces
       [quote]Active personnel
       27,800 (2018)[8]
       Reserve personnel
       20,000 (2018)[8]
       Deployed personnel
       895 (2018)[9][/quote]
       #Post#: 2173--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Refugees Welcome
       By: 90sRetroFan Date: November 13, 2020, 12:25 am
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       OLD CONTENT contd.
       Sanctuary cities tested:
       www.borderreport.com/news/national/denver-officials-wont-hand-ov
       er-information-sought-by-ice/
       [quote]WASHINGTON (AP) — Denver officials on Thursday said they
       would not hand over information requested by U.S. Customs and
       Immigration Enforcement on four men wanted for deportation.
       ICE, the Homeland Security agency tasked with arresting and
       deporting people in the U.S. illegally, sent four administrative
       subpoenas earlier this week to law enforcement looking for
       information on three Mexican nationals and one Honduran who had
       been in custody in Denver.
       It was the first time subpoenas had been sent to a law
       enforcement agency — an escalation of the conflict between the
       Trump administration and so-called sanctuary cities.
       ...
       Chad Sublet, Senior Counsel to the Department of Safety in
       Denver, noted in a letter to ICE officials that the subpoenas
       were administrative — not issued by a judge — and there was no
       verifiable information on the documents to show the purpose was
       for law enforcement and not civil immigration enforcement.
       “The documents appear to be a request for information related to
       alleged violations of civil immigration law,” he wrote. “Based
       on these facts, we are denying your request.”
       Sublet wrote the subpoenas could be “viewed as an effort to
       intimidate officers into help enforcing civil immigration
       law.”[/quote]
       Here is what our enemies have to say:
       vdare.com/posts/denver-challenges-dhs-subpoena-will-dhs-fold
       [quote]A better strategy could be one of two more effective
       strategies; obtain a search warrant for the information and raid
       the City of Denver, seize their computer system, and take it
       away to review at the leisure of the ICE ERO officers. The
       second strategy, and these two are not necessarily exclusive, is
       to obtain an arrest warrant for Sublet for violation of Title 8
       USC 1324, Bringing In and Harboring Certain Aliens and the above
       18 USC 1505. This would be the shock and awe strategy, letting
       Sanctuary Cities know that DHS and the Department of Justice
       (DOJ) are serious about punishing their support for illegal
       immigration.
       The only question is does Chad Wolf, DHS Secretary, have the
       balls to actually do something about Sanctuary Cities, or is he
       just another Kevin McAleenan? Stephen Miller should make it
       happen.[/quote]
       So suppose ICE actually does this. Is the self-proclaimed
       sanctuary city willing to order its local police to shoot the
       raiding ICE agents? If so, only then can it truly call itself a
       sanctuary city. If not, then it cannot. Can it?
       ---
  HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNHy_BYwTPs
       ---
       Good news:
       www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/02/22/greyhound-border-p
       atrol-cant-conduct-immigration-checks-buses/4841999002/
       [quote]SEATTLE — Greyhound, the nation's largest bus company,
       said Friday that it will stop allowing Border Patrol agents
       without a warrant to board its buses to conduct routine
       immigration checks.
       The company's announcement came one week after The Associated
       Press reported on a leaked Border Patrol memo confirming that
       agents can't board private buses without the consent of the bus
       company. Greyhound had previously insisted that even though it
       didn't like the immigration checks, it had no choice under
       federal law but to allow them.
       In an emailed statement, the company said it would notify the
       Department of Homeland Security that it does not consent to
       unwarranted searches on its buses or in areas of terminals that
       are not open to the public — such as company offices or any
       areas a person needs a ticket to access.
       Greyhound said it would provide its drivers and bus station
       employees updated training regarding the new policy, and that it
       would place stickers on all its buses clearly stating that it
       does not consent to the searches.
       ...
       Greyhound has faced pressure from the American Civil Liberties
       Union, immigrant rights activists and Washington state Attorney
       General Bob Ferguson to stop allowing sweeps on buses within 100
       miles of an international border or coastline. In many cases,
       the buses being checked were not crossing or even approaching an
       international boundary.
       Critics say the practice is intimidating and discriminatory and
       has become more common under President Donald Trump. Border
       Patrol arrests videotaped by other passengers have sparked
       criticism, and Greyhound faces a lawsuit in California alleging
       that it violated consumer protection laws by facilitating raids.
       ...
       “Today’s announcement from Greyhound confirms what should have
       been obvious to the company since I contacted them a year ago –
       it has both the power and the responsibility to stand up for its
       customers, who suffered for far too long from Greyhound’s
       indifference to CBP’s suspicionless bus raids and harassment,"
       he said.
       ...
       “When transportation checks occur on a bus at non-checkpoint
       locations, the agent must demonstrate that he or she gained
       access to the bus with the consent of the company’s owner or one
       of the company’s employees,” the memo states. An agent's actions
       while on the bus "would not cause a reasonable person to believe
       that he or she is unable to terminate the encounter with the
       agent.”[/quote]
       I have been saying since 2017 that warrantless searches should
       be resisted, including with firearms as necessary if ICE/CBP
       agents try to force their way in:
       aryanism.net/blog/aryan-sanctuary/fighticewithfire/
       In other good news:
       www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/02/17/ceos-keep-1-million-indian
       -graduates-in-u-s-jobs-legally/
       ---
       Why I love Turkey:
       [quote]ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey is sending elite special
       operations police to the border to stop Greek officers from
       driving back people who try to cross over to Europe, Turkish
       authorities said Thursday.
       Greek police fired tear gas, stun grenades and water cannons to
       repel people trying to breach the land border from Turkey's
       side. Turkish authorities allege that Greece's officers also
       fired live ammunition and killed a migrant, an assertion Greece
       denied.
       Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said Ankara intends to
       bring a case before the European Court of Human Rights on behalf
       of the dead migrant.[/quote]
       But so what if the Court convicts Greece? Who will punish
       Greece? Conviction is meaningless without punishment, and only
       military force can punish Greece.
       [quote]During a visit to the border area Thursday, Soylu said
       1,000 officers from the tactical units of the Police Special
       Operation Department would be deployed to the Turkey-Greece
       border to counter the Greek officers working to repel migrants
       and refugees.
       “As of this morning ... we are bringing 1,000 fully equipped
       special forces police (along) the Meric river system to prevent
       the pushbacks,” Soylu said. “With the help of Zodiac boats, they
       will (stop) those who mistreat people.”
       Soylu asserted that Greece violated international conventions by
       using force to stop about 4,900 migrants from getting across the
       border. He also accused the European Union and Europe's border
       protection agency Frontex of complicity by remaining silent.
       An estimated 4,000-5,000 people near the Pazarkule border
       crossing, opposite the Greek village of Kastanies, were being
       prevented from crossing, Soylu said.
       “It is a border gate. They are obliged to take them in. They are
       obliged to take in asylum-seekers,” the minister said.
       But he added the migrants were not obliged to use the official
       border crossing and could cross anywhere along the roughly
       200-kilometer (125-mile) -long border. Much of the border is
       demarcated by a river, and many have tried wading, rowing or
       swimming across it.
       “I want to say that there is no rule that says they have to
       cross from Pazarkule,” Soylu said.[/quote]
       This is why Turkey deserves to rule the entire region again. But
       again, just telling Greece what is ethical behaviour will not
       cause Greece to behave ethically. Only ruthless exercise of raw
       power can achieve this. Not only does Turkey deserve to rule the
       region, it must do so (in practice even if not in name) if it is
       to reliably ensure fair treatment of refugees.
       Our enemies also report:
       rairfoundation.com/exposed-turkish-government-arms-migrants-with
       -tear-gas-drones-to-attack-greek-borders-agents/
       [quote]We have learned that many mayors of Turkish
       municipalities as well as businessmen have declared that they
       will pay for the transport of the refugees to Pazarkole and
       other points on the border with Greece, so, indeed, the people
       are coming.
       ...
       Greek border police complain that the Turkish side not only are
       cutting the barbed wire, but also drones with tear gas are sent
       from Turkey to the migrants.[/quote]
       All encouraging, but the Greek border guards still have better
       equipment overall. Why not give the refugees assault rifles?
       They would be able to overwhelm Greek border guards with such
       firepower, forcing Greece to deploy its military, whereupon
       Turkey can then deploy its far superior military and crush the
       Greek military with ease:
       en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_modern_weapons_of_the_Turkish_Air_
       Force
       ---
       They are now calling Greece "the shield of Europe". Clowns....
       ---
       Could it be that Erdogan reads this forum?
       www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-security-greece-idUSKBN20T0PX
       The good guys:
       [quote]Turkey’s coastguard rescued about 120 migrants, including
       small children, early on Friday. The migrants said the Greek
       coastguard had disconnected their boats’ motors, leaving them
       adrift in the Aegean.[/quote]
       The bad guys:
       [quote]On Lesbos, just a few miles (km) from the Turkish coast,
       fishermen, hoteliers and shopkeepers expressed concern that more
       migrant arrivals would further harm their island’s reputation as
       a dream holiday destination.[/quote]
       ---
       Time for Turkey to flex its military prowess and steamroll into
       Greece, lebensraum style.
       ---
       Will Germany support Turkey just like in the old days?
       www.yahoo.com/news/migrants-try-reach-eu-germanys-153735288.html
       [quote]BERLIN, March 7 (Reuters) - Social Democrat state
       premieres on Saturday called for Germany to take in vulnerable
       refugees from crowded reception camps in Greece, in the latest
       sign of discord in the ruling coalition over the prospect of a
       new refugee wave hitting Europe.
       ...
       The Social Democrats, Merkel's national coalition partners,
       control seven of the 16 states that make up the German Federal
       Republic, and represent a more urban voter base which is more
       relaxed about immigration.
       "Putting all political calculation aside, now is the time to act
       and at the very least get at least children and young
       unaccompanied refugees out of this situation," said Michael
       Mueller, mayor of Berlin.
       ...
       In Saturday's statement, the left-wing premieres, including the
       mayors of the three city-states of Berlin, Hamburg, and Bremen,
       and the minister-president of Lower Saxony, a major industrial
       region, demanded a "pact of humanity" under which vulnerable
       refugees could be shared out across the country.[/quote]
       Not only should Germany accept refugees, the best thing it can
       do is fast-track them to citizenship so that they can then
       migrate to other EU countries as they wish. The point is not for
       Germany to accommodate refugees that other EU countries should
       be accommodating, but for Germany to use its leverage to
       undermine the attempts of other EU countries to keep refugees
       out.
       ---
       Erdogan says what I have been saying:
       www.rt.com/news/482606-erdogan-greece-open-border/
       [quote]Greece should follow Turkey's suit and simply “open the
       gates” for migrants amassed at the Turkish-Greek border,
       President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, insisting that thousands of
       people would simply go to other EU countries.
       Erdogan shared his wisdom on how to free Athens from the refugee
       “burden” while speaking in Istanbul on Sunday.
       "Hey Greece! I appeal to you... open the gates as well and be
       free of this burden. Let them go to other European
       countries."[/quote]
       So obvious!
       Also, good to see that there are still some real Germans left:
       www.dw.com/en/germany-thousands-rally-urging-government-to-accep
       t-more-refugees/a-52678683
       [quote]Up to 5,000 people gathered in Hamburg on Saturday in
       protest of the German government's handling of the fresh migrant
       crisis unfolding at the Turkish-Greek border.
       The rally took place in response to the rush by thousands of and
       migrants and refugees in Turkey — many from Afghanistan, Iran
       and Syria — towards the EU border last week after Turkish
       President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the frontier had
       been reopened. Germany, along with other EU countries, has
       maintained that the border remains closed.
       "When Europe officially closes its borders and state-condoned
       violence against those seeking refuge escalates, then everyone
       needs to go to the streets in solidarity with the right to
       asylum," said protest organizer Christoph Kleine of the activist
       group "Seebrücke" (Sea bridge).
       ...
       "I am ashamed of Europe," Heiko Habbe of the migrants'
       consultancy group "Fluchtpunkt," told EPD news agency. Placards
       on display read "Stop war, not people" and "Help!"
       The protesters' demands echo those made by several German
       politicians on the left, who have asked Chancellor Angela Merkel
       to take in vulnerable refugees.[/quote]
       ---
       us.yahoo.com/news/msf-urges-greece-evacuate-migrant-160034891.ht
       ml
       [quote]ATHENS, March 13 (Reuters) - Medical charity Medicins
       Sans Frontieres (MSF) has urged Greece to immediately evacuate
       migrants from overcrowded camps on its islands due to a high
       risk of the coronavirus spreading swiftly among people living in
       squalid conditions.
       Greece reported its first fatality from the virus on Thursday,
       in the town of Patra on the mainland. It has confirmed 117 cases
       of coronavirus so far, including one on the island of Lesbos,
       where the notorious Moria camp is located.
       "The evacuation of the camps on the Greek islands is now more
       urgent than ever," the charity said.
       "We need to be realistic: It would be impossible to contain an
       outbreak in such camp settings," it said, adding that it had not
       yet seen a credible emergency plan in case of an outbreak.
       More than 40,000 asylum-seekers are living in camps, which are
       operating far beyond their capacity on five Greek islands.
       MSF did not specify where it thought the Greek authorities
       should transfer the migrants but said both Greece and the
       European Union should act swiftly to avert a disaster.[/quote]
       Just set them free! They can worry for themselves about where to
       go so long as they are allowed to move wherever they want!
       [quote]The Moria camp on Lesbos was set up to accommodate 3,000
       people but now hosts at least five times that number. The MSF
       said that in parts of the Moria camp some 1,300 people shared
       just one water tap and there was no soap available.
       "Forcing people to live there as part of Europe’s containment
       policy was always irresponsible, but with the virus spreading,
       it is on the verge of becoming criminal if no action is taken to
       protect people," it said.[/quote]
       That is an understatement. Actually, it warrants WMDs being
       dropped on Greece in response.
       ---
       www.ekathimerini.com/250486/article/ekathimerini/news/erdogan-sa
       ys-turkey-will-chase-greek-boats-in-the-aegean
       [quote]Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday
       appeared to applaud a seemingly deliberate attempt by a Turkish
       Coast Guard vessel to ram into a Greek Coast Guard patrol off
       the coast of the Greek island of Kos in the early hours.
       “They will run away and we will chase them. That’s how it will
       be from now on,” Erdogan said, according to reports in the Greek
       media, in translated comments.
       His comments come after the Greek Shipping Ministry issued a
       statement saying that it is treating the early morning incident
       off the coast of Kos as a deliberate attempt by the Turkish
       Coast Guard to ram into the Greek vessel.[/quote]
       #IStandWithTurkey
       [img width=1280 height=808]
  HTML https://i.imgur.com/BZubVpR.jpg[/img]
       #Post#: 2174--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Refugees Welcome
       By: 90sRetroFan Date: November 13, 2020, 12:37 am
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       OLD CONTENT contd.
       Good move:
       www.yahoo.com/news/guatemala-turns-tables-blocking-u-174716314.h
       tml
       [quote]Guatemala on Tuesday became the first Central American
       nation to block deportation flights from the United States in an
       effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, a dramatic
       turnabout on Trump administration policies barring entry to
       asylum seekers from the region.[/quote]
       All countries should block all deportation flights as an ethical
       duty irrespective of conditions, no less than should all
       countries accept asylum seekers. To fail to block a deportation
       flight is to be a passive accomplice to initiated violence.
       That it took coronavirus to spur Guatemala into action is
       disappointing in itself, though of course it is better than no
       action at all.
       [quote]Guatemala’s move to refuse deportations will have a
       significant impact on the Trump administration’s efforts to ramp
       up a controversial agreement under which the United States sends
       migrants who are seeking asylum in the United States to
       Guatemala instead, even those who aren’t Guatemalan citizens.
       ...
       Casa del Migrante, a shelter in Guatemala City that since
       November has housed hundreds of Salvadorans and Hondurans
       returned under the U.S.-Guatemala agreement, announced over the
       weekend that it would stop receiving immigrants who had been
       deported from the U.S. or Mexico.
       Mauro Verzeletti, director of the shelter, declared Guatemala's
       action "extraordinary" and "a victory." For days, he had called
       for the U.S. to stop deportation flights to Guatemala, to slow
       the spread of the virus. He said the immigrants were already
       vulnerable to illnesses because they arrived from the U.S.
       physically exhausted and simply “in a really bad
       condition.”[/quote]
       ---
       Coronavirus spurs more to say what we have been saying for
       years:
       www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/why-must-close-border-camps-161701327.ht
       ml
       [quote]Here in America, we have detention camps full of people.
       We are currently in the midst of a pandemic.
       That bodes very poorly for the people in those camps.
       If you are someone who studies history — or even just watched
       the HBO show Years and Years — this might make you think about
       the camps the British operated during the Boer war in South
       Africa, at the turn of the 20th century. These camps were for
       refugees, and they were kept deliberately overcrowded. The
       British officials hoped that, rather than having to kill the
       refugees themselves, the unsanitary conditions in the camps
       would do the work for them. They did. Disease festered and
       killed off thousands in those camps — including 22,000 children.
       A century later, Britain’s actions during that war are
       remembered as an incident of genocide.
       Today, the camps on the Mexican-American border suffer from
       similarly unsanitary conditions and dangerous overcrowding.
       After visiting the camps, Dr. Dolly Lucio Sevier issued a
       medical declaration that children at those facilities have “no
       adequate access to medical care, basic sanitation, water, or
       adequate food.” Teen mothers in the camps have claimed that
       they’re unable to wash out their babies’ bottles. Many of them
       haven’t been able to wash their hands. Dr. Sevier remarked that
       those conditions are “tantamount to intentionally causing the
       spread of disease.”
       ...
       In an environment like the camps, coronavirus will spread like
       wildfire, and its effects will be similarly devastating, because
       the lives of the people at the camps have not been prioritized
       in the past, and doubtfully will be moving forward. Remember: As
       you share those memes about songs to sing while washing your
       hands remember that until very recently children at the
       detention camps were not allowed to have soap. While we might
       bemoan the lack of available toilet paper at the pharmacy, the
       people in detention camps have been told to drink out of
       toilets.
       So, perhaps it’s not surprising that, reportedly, the immigrants
       aren’t even being informed of what’s happening.
       “Nobody has come from the administration and told us about
       coronavirus. Nobody,” explained an asylum seeker at the Port
       Isabel Detention Center near Brownsville to the San Antonio
       Express. The same man claimed he sleeps in a room with 75 other
       people.
       Perhaps even more unsurprisingly, Trump has leaned into his most
       xenophobic inclinations throughout the epidemic. He’s described
       coronavirus as “a foreign virus” and said that “to keep new
       cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel
       from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days.” He’s
       claimed, regarding South America that “we need the wall more
       than ever!” This, despite the fact that the director of the CDC
       has explained that the wall would not actually help mitigate an
       outbreak of disease.
       Besides, the problem with Trump’s notions about building a wall
       to keep the virus out, is that the virus is already here. And
       viruses do not really care about anyone’s nationality.
       But Trump does, very much. During this time he’s been blaming
       the disease upon immigration and claiming that, “We must
       understand that border security is also health security… Whether
       it’s the virus that we’re talking about or many other health
       threats, the Democrat policy of open borders is a direct threat
       to the health and wellbeing of all Americans.”
       All of this means that we’re inclined to be ill-disposed towards
       those people being held in camps on the border. If they’re being
       tended to so poorly they can’t survive simple flu, why do we
       think they’d be treated better at a time when the President is
       demonizing immigrants?
       ...
       If there was ever a time to shut down the camps, it’s now.
       Otherwise the U.S. is at risk of being forever remembered as the
       British were during the Boer war — indifferent to suffering, and
       guilty of genocide.[/quote]
       ---
       Someone gets it:
       greekcitytimes.com/2020/03/13/iranian-granted-asylum-in-greece-n
       ow-calls-for-illegal-immigrants-to-fight-greeks-bullet-for-bulle
       t/
       [quote]Abtin Parsa, the self-proclaimed “anarchist refugee” said
       that the “…most useful solidarity to the immigrants who are at
       the border is to arm them because the answer to bullets should
       be bullets back and this is the only way to open the border for
       all the immigrants. We as immigrants should fight for what we
       need and at the moment, our first need is survival, so we must
       destroy those who are killing us; we have nothing to lose but
       our fear.[/quote]
       ---
       This is an excellent idea:
       morningstaronline.co.uk/article/w/eu-called-to-use-decommissione
       d-cruise-ships-to-evacuate-refugees-from-greece-migrant-camps
       [quote]A REFUGEE rescue charity has called on the European Union
       to use decommissioned cruise ships to evacuate the thousands of
       refugees trapped in overcrowded camps on Greece’s Aegean
       islands.
       German aid organisation Sea Watch warned today that while the
       continent is gripped by the coronavirus crisis, those seeking
       international protection from “the humanitarian disaster at
       Europe's borders” are at risk of being forgotten.
       “Leading cruise operators have already suspended their cruises
       until at least April,” the charity said, adding that most of
       these ships could carry several thousand people and have
       comparatively well-equipped medical stations.
       "Necessary quarantine and protection measures against corona
       must be implemented everywhere to prevent exponential spread,
       including in refugee camps,” said Sea Watch medic Aline Wedel,
       currently deployed on Lesbos.
       “This means immediate evacuation of the overcrowded Greek camps
       and accommodation in places where people are protected from the
       virus. The cruise ships can do both. We must leave no-one
       behind.”
       Sea Watch chairman Johannes Bayer said: “The refugees on the
       Greek islands, but also the local population, have been left
       alone by Europe long enough.
       “If the EU Commission does not act now, the humanitarian
       catastrophe that is already taking place there will cost many
       more lives.”
       The charity is offering to help the commission and cruise ship
       operators with logistical and medical support to carry out the
       evacuations.
       “More than 140 German cities and municipalities have declared
       their willingness to take part; 40,000 free places are available
       in the German federal states alone,” Mr Bayer said.[/quote]
       Still, this does not guarantee the refugees will be safe after
       arriving:
       [quote]Some European countries, Mission Lifeline co-founder Axel
       Steier told the Star, are using the coronavirus to justify a
       “fortress Europe” policy and violate the Geneva and human-rights
       conventions.
       ...
       Human Rights Watched warned last week that the Greek authorities
       had denied the fundamental right to seek asylum to at least 625
       newly arrived migrants on Lesbos between March 1 and 18.
       Senior crisis and conflict researcher Belkis Wille said: “For up
       to two weeks the authorities have been holding women, men and
       children — many of them fleeing war and persecution — in the
       open in cold temperatures, denying their right to seek asylum
       and preventing them from getting the humanitarian and legal
       assistance they need and are entitled to.
       ...
       “Such policies are abusive and illegal.”[/quote]
       The only way to ensure refugee safety is to make sure every
       country that mistreats refugees gets WMDs dropped on them.
       Nothing else will work.
       ---
       www.yahoo.com/news/ngo-restarts-mediterranean-migrant-rescues-de
       spite-virus-fears-114856741.html
       [quote]Berlin (AFP) - The Alan Kurdi migrant rescue boat is
       heading back out into the Mediterranean after a two-month break
       despite the coronavirus pandemic, according to the German
       organisation that operates it.
       The boat has already left port in Spain where it had been
       undergoing repairs and is expected to reach waters off the coast
       of Libya this weekend, NGO Sea Eye said in a statement on Monday
       evening.
       Led by German captain Baerbel Beuse, the Alan Kurdi will be the
       only rescue boat operating in the area, the NGO said.
       Due to the spread of COVID-19, Sea Eye is taking extra security
       precautions and has established an "outbreak management plan",
       according to mission manager Jan Ribbeck.
       "We have sufficient personal protective equipment for our crew
       on board," he said.
       Sea rescue operations currently face great difficulties finding
       a safe harbour, according to Sea Eye.[/quote]
       Do you know why you face such difficulties finding a safe
       harbour? It's because those who refuse to let you land suffer no
       consequences for doing so. It's good that you want to rescue
       refugees, but the correct sequence of action is to first
       physically eliminate the anti-refugee forces throughout the EU.
       ---
       A hint of ethical consideration from Portugal:
       www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/europe/1585600219-portugal-
       migrants-granted-residency-rights-amid-covid-19-pandemic
       [quote]Undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers in Portugal
       have been granted the same rights as residents, including access
       to medical care, during a state of emergency to curb the spread
       of coronavirus.
       ...
       Portugal's decision was welcomed on Monday by the Council of
       Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic.
       “(It is) a good practice to protect vulnerable people and
       society in response to the pandemic,” Mijatovic wrote on her
       Twitter account.
       "In times of crisis, it is a duty for a secure society to ensure
       that migrants have access to health, stable employment and
       housing," Portuguese Interior Minister Eduardo Cabrita told
       local newspaper Publico.[/quote]
       All EU countries should follow suit. All it is is not treating
       individuals differently for something they had no choice in
       (where they were born). There was a time when this used to be
       obvious.....
       ---
       Willingness to use retaliatory violence is what produces
       results:
       rairfoundation.com/breaking-italys-socialist-government-announce
       s-trial-against-their-biggest-threat-matteo-salvini-watch/
       [quote]Italy’s leftist government under their Socialist Prime
       Minister Giuseppe Conte has kept its promise to reverse
       Salvini’s immigration stance, empowering NGO human trafficking
       vessels to enter their seaports. In fact, they have gone to
       great lengths to support NGO captains flooding Italy with
       dangerous illegals, including left-wing radical Carola Rackete.
       Salvini and Rackete squared off in June 2019, when she ignored
       Italian military orders prohibiting her from docking her George
       Soros-backed NGO ship trafficking illegals at a port in
       Lampedusa. Rackete instead crushed a patrol boat putting the
       lives of soldiers at risk, and illegally entered the Italian
       port.
       ...
       Salvini responded on social media:
       “In the eyes of some judges, a German woman who risked the lives
       of 5 Italian soldiers should not be put in jail. And instead
       they want to put a minister on trial who defended the country’s
       borders and stopped the [undocumented migrant] landings.
       As Rackete has been hailed for smuggling in three dangerous
       rapists and murderers, Salvini will be tried as a
       criminal.[/quote]
       The trial itself is not going to finish off Salvini, however:
       [quote]The former Deputy Prime Minister faces potential steep
       fines and even prison time for as long as 15 years.[/quote]
       Even if he gets the maximum sentence, what happens after 15
       years? The only reliable solutions are: 1) assassinate him
       during trial; 2) assassinate him in prison after sentencing.
       ---
       www.yahoo.com/news/op-ed-im-immigrant-doctor-200725025.html
       [quote]I am a kidney doctor in rural Pennsylvania, caring for
       COVID-19 patients and trying my best to survive despite limited
       supplies of personal protective equipment.
       I am also one of some 300,000 Indians in the United States on a
       H-1B work visa, waiting in line for a green card that would give
       me legal permanent residency.
       My greatest fear is that if I contract and die from COVID-19, my
       wife, who is on a dependent visa, will be asked to go back to
       India. My 1-year-old daughter, an American citizen by birth,
       cannot travel with her as the Indian government has a travel
       embargo on all foreign citizens to limit entry of COVID-19
       patients.
       Every year, the United States issues 140,000 green cards based
       on employment. A maximum of 7% can go to any single country
       (usually, only 3,000). This system has resulted in a backlog of
       several hundred thousand immigrants from India waiting for
       permanent residency status. Their immigration petitions have
       been approved, but there are no green cards available. The Cato
       Institute and other agencies estimate the wait time for Indian
       immigrants approved today to be up to 150 years.
       The never-ending wait is sheer torture. After paying taxes for
       decades, I would not be eligible for Social Security in
       retirement. Getting a driver’s license requires multiple trips
       to the DMV, waiting for immigration verification. There is a
       court battle going on over whether my wife and immigrants like
       her can work during their decades in limbo. Many employers are
       unwilling to deal with hiring people on a work visa, like me.
       Most credit unions will not make me a member and lenders will
       not consider me for a mortgage.
       Most of my friends and patients are happily oblivious of this
       situation. A lot of people seem to think that I can just walk to
       an immigration office, fill out some applications and get
       citizenship. They don’t realize that there is no viable path for
       immigrants like me. Politicians claim to be “for” legal
       immigration and “against” illegal immigration all the time. Yet,
       initiatives to help highly skilled immigrants have gotten
       nowhere.
       One proposal, the federal Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants
       Act , was approved in the House but has been stuck in the Senate
       Judiciary Committee. During this pandemic, it would make good
       sense to eliminate country caps by declaring a onetime,
       emergency increase in the number of green cards issued to
       immigrants with critically required skills.
       Doctors from India like me make up around 5.1% of the total
       physician workforce in the United States. With the never-ending
       wait, many of them are abandoning their American dream and
       taking their skills elsewhere. Their absence will be felt even
       more in public health crises such as the COVID-19 outbreak. I
       hope and pray that this situation gets resolved before I am
       forced to join this exodus.
       In the meantime, I will keep on being extra diligent with my
       reused personal protective equipment. I cannot afford to die
       while waiting for a green card.[/quote]
       #Post#: 2175--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Refugees Welcome
       By: 90sRetroFan Date: November 13, 2020, 12:42 am
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       OLD CONTENT contd.
       greekcitytimes.com/2020/04/13/albania-plans-to-replace-greeks-in
       -northern-epirus-with-jihadists-and-turkish-intelligence-officer
       s/
       [quote]Albanian media has exposed Albanian Prime Minister Edi
       Rama’s deal with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to
       relocate illegal immigrants and refugees in Turkey to Albania.
       Recently, Tirana and Ankara signed a defence co-operation plan,
       with many in Albania and Greece believing that the issue of
       relocating migrants and refugees from Turkey to Albania is also
       included. Details of the plan have not been made public, but a
       part of the deal includes “activities that the two countries’
       defence ministries are committed to completing by 2020 in order
       to strengthen and intensify security and defence interaction.”
       According to Albanian media, there is an agreement between Rama
       and Erdoğan to relocate 30,000 refugees and illegal
       immigrants from Turkey to Albania in the region of Northern
       Epirus where up to 120,000 Greeks live. Although Greece
       liberated Northern Epirus during the First Balkan War (1912-13),
       the Great Powers gifted the region to the new Albanian state.
       Greece would once again liberate the region in World War Two,
       but it was once again gifted to Albania by the Great Powers.
       ...
       There is little doubt that Albania and Turkey are collaborating
       to not only change the demographics of the Greek-majority
       region, but to also open another front for illegal immigrants to
       enter the European Union (Greece) illegally.
       Albania’s Top Channel television station revealed that since
       last summer a working group has been set up with absolute
       secrecy to set up Immigrant Reception Centers in the Greek towns
       of Argyrokastro (for 5,000 people), Korytsas (5,000), Agioi
       Saranda (1,000), while First Aid Stations will be set up in
       border crossings with Greece (Kakavia, Ripesi, Mavromati, Treis
       Gefyres, Kapestitsa). The initial plan concerns the
       establishment and operation of Refugee Reception Centers, but
       the working group that has been set up – according to Albanian
       reports – is working to ensure that these populations are
       permanently housed either in new functional structures or in
       rural houses in the area.
       In writing for SLPress, Lieutenant Colonel of the Greek
       military, Christos Pougialis said “Officially, of course, the
       30,000 will be immigrants and refugees, some of whom will have
       their families with them. But beyond that, Turkey is sure to
       send its own agents among them to guide and control the
       situation. Turkey will send some ‘retired’ jihadists from those
       fighting alongside them in Syria, who will be with weapons.”
       Just as Turkish intelligence agents played a key role in
       inciting violence on the Greek-Turkey border, they will now be
       able to create tensions on the Greek-Albanian border.
       The Lieutenant Colonel in his article on SLPRESS also said that
       the refugees and jihadists “will be used by Rama for demographic
       alteration of the Greek population of the region […] as has
       happened historically, it is very likely that gangs will be
       organized independently or led by agents who will ravage Greek
       homes and villages. In this way, they will force the Greek
       population to leave so that they can permanently change the
       demographic composition in Northern Epirus.”[/quote]
       ---
       What used to be obvious now needs to be stated explicitly (and
       even then our enemies complain about it):
       www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15976/eu-covid-19-immigration
       [quote]Persons "in need of international protection or for other
       humanitarian reasons", however, are exempted from these
       restrictions on non-essential travel from third countries." —
       European Commission statement, March 30, 2020.
       This means that people who apply for international protection
       cannot be turned away and that the rights of migrants and
       refugees to apply for asylum cannot be suspended, even in the
       time of coronavirus.
       ...
       This policy was on display during the recent crisis on the
       border between Turkey and Greece, when Turkish President Recep
       Tayyip Erdogan used migrants -- whom Turkey transported to the
       border with Greece -- as political blackmail, threatening to
       unleash a new migration crisis on Europe. At least 14,000
       migrants were brought to the border, according to media reports.
       Greece, at the time, said that it was suspending all asylum
       applications, based on article 78 (3) of the Treaty on the
       Functioning of the European Union, which states:
       "In the event of one or more Member States being confronted by
       an emergency situation characterised by a sudden inflow of
       nationals of third countries, the Council, on a proposal from
       the Commission, may adopt provisional measures for the benefit
       of the Member State(s) concerned".
       The European Commission, however, did not approve. The
       Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, ordered Greece to
       allow the migrants that Erdogan transported to the border to
       apply for asylum.
       "Individuals in the European Union have the right to apply for
       asylum. This is in the treaty, this is in international law.
       This we can't suspend," said Johansson.[/quote]
       ---
       This is our enemies' proposed response to our (occasional)
       judicial wins:
       vdare.com/posts/kritarch-royce-lamberth-strikes-again-banning-us
       -marshalls-from-arresting-illegals
       [quote]Lamberth has decided that the USMS cannot take illegal
       aliens into custody and turn them over to ICE as part of their
       management of the District of Colombia Superior Courts pre-trial
       detention system.
       ...
       The best reaction of the USMS would be to ignore this order. All
       Federal judges know that their lives are protected by DUSMs and
       merely issuing such an order, much less ordering another DUSM to
       arrest another DUSM for violating this order would likely make a
       DUSM unlikely to take a bullet to protect a Federal judge.
       Moreover, as punishment, the Director of the USMS should order
       his subordinates to ignore this order and provoke a
       confrontation over this. Let Kritarch Lamberth know who holds
       the guns. Kritarch Lamberth holds no guns, as Alexander Hamilton
       stated in Federalist No. 78: The judiciary has “no influence
       over either the sword or the purse, …It may truly be said to
       have neither FORCE nor WILL, but merely judgment.”
       Time to go Andrew Jackson on the corpulent Kritarch Lamberth.
       But I tire of pointing this out. Time for action this day to
       defeat the kritarchy.[/quote]
       Why are we not responding to their (much more frequent) judicial
       wins in the same way?
  HTML https://trueleft.createaforum.com/news/court-packing/
       ---
       I am liking Cuomo more and more:
       www.wkbw.com/news/local-news/green-light-law-amendment-officers-
       can-be-charged-with-felony
       [quote]BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — In April, Governor Andrew Cuomo
       passed the 2020 budget, and in it, an amendment was made to a
       law that was passed last year allowing undocumented immigrants
       to get a New York State driver’s license.
       The Green Light Law also prohibited the sharing of DMV
       information to any federal agency in charge of immigration.
       Last month, the original law was amended as part of the 2020
       budget, now making it an E Felony for any law enforcement
       officer to share DMV records with another law enforcement agency
       in charge of immigration like ICE or DHS.
       ...
       “If any law enforcement officer in Texas ran across a New York
       State registered vehicle they could not run that plate if it was
       any officer who was involved in the enforcement of immigration
       law.”[/quote]
       Though again it is my duty to remind everyone that no
       legislation is a substitute for firearms with respect to
       stopping ICE. ICE has already shown its willingness to ignore
       any law it considers inconvenient:
  HTML https://trueleft.createaforum.com/enemies/ice/
       The only things ICE cannot ignore are bullets.
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