Judge orders Trump administration to restore DACA, accept new applicants

A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to fully restore the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protects undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as minors from deportation, scoring a key win for immigrant advocacy groups.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis, a Clinton appointee, restores the Obama-era program and also mandates that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) post a public notice by Monday saying it is accepting new applicants.

It would mark the first time since 2017 that the government has admitted new immigrants into the program.

Approved applicants will also receive two-year work permits under the ruling, as opposed to the one-year permits the administration had proposed.

BREAKING: A NY-based federal judge ordered Trump admin to reinstate DACA, the Obama-era deportation shield for young undocumented immigrants, to its original 2012 status. Follows Scotus' 5-4 decision last term blocking the Trump admin from ending program pic.twitter.com/6hnBSiGHVA

— John Kruzel (@johnkruzel) December 4, 2020

Garaufis’s ruling centered around a memo acting Homeland Security secretary Chad Wolf issued in July that curtailed DACA recipients’ work permits to a year and banned new applicants. The court ruled last month that Wolf had ascended to the post in violation of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, and said Friday that the memo was void. The order mandates the White House administer DACA under the guidelines that were in place when the program was first created during the Obama administration.

“The court believes that these additional remedies are reasonable,” Garaufis wrote. “Indeed, the Government has assured the court that a public notice along the lines described is forthcoming.”

Roughly a million undocumented immigrant teens and young adults will now be able to apply for the program following the order, according to some estimates. About 640,000 immigrants are currently enrolled in the DACA program.

President Trump has repeatedly taken aim at DACA during his administration as part of his efforts to curb overall immigration into the U.S., moving to completely end the program in September 2017. However, the program’s cancellation was paused by several federal courts, and the Supreme Court in June blocked the administration from ending the program.

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/528856-federal-judge-order-trump-administration-to-restore-daca-accept-new

Armed Clashes Erupt At Russian-Ukrainian Border After Russian Border Guards Intercept Group Of Gunmen

Russian border guards prevented an attempt of 3 armed men to cross the Russian border from Ukraine, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) reported on December 4.

Gunmen opened fire at Russian personnel. As a result of the armed clash, one of gunmen was eliminated, while two others fled back to Ukraine.

“In the area of the Border Directorate of the FSB of Russia for the Belgorod and Voronezh regions, on December 4, a frontier detachment suppressed an attempt to violate the border from Ukraine to the Russian Federation by three armed unknown persons. The violators showed armed resistance during the arrest attempt,” the FSB reported.

The FSB has not yet provided other details of the incident.

However, the intercepted group was likely a sabotage group affiliated with Ukrainian (and thus Western) intelligence services. Over the past years, Ukraine with help from its ‘’democratic partners” has repeatedly tried to stage terrorist attacks in Russia and there are no indications that these efforts were halted by the Zelensky administration.

https://southfront.org/armed-clashes-erupt-at-russian-ukrainian-border-after-russian-border-guards-intercept-group-of-gunmen/

Mayor of Liverpool and Four Others Arrested for Bribery and Witness Intimidation

Merseyside police said they had arrested five men suspected of bribery and witness intimidation in connection with a year-long investigation into property developers. The Liverpool Echo reported that Mayor Joe Anderson was among the detained suspects.

The mayor of Liverpool and four other men have been arrested for bribery and witness intimidation.

Merseyside police said on Friday that the arrests of Mayor Joe Anderson and four unnamed others were in connection with an "ongoing investigation" into building and development contracts in the city.

The year-long Operation Aloft probe focused on a number of property developers.

The other suspects were later only identified as a 62-year-old man from Old Swan, a 33-year-old man from West Derby and a 46-year-old man from Ainsdale, who were all arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation, while a 25-year-old man from Ormskirk and 72-year-old man from Aigburth were arrested on suspicion of witness intimidation.

The Liverpool Echo reported that the 62-year-old was in fact Anderson, who became Liverpool's first directly-elected mayor in 2012. The BBC reported that the Labour Party had already suspended the mayor.

The leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Liverpool council said the mayor should "step away" from his post while the investigation continued.

"[He] should follow the precedence set by leaders of the council and other senior figures in such cases," Councillor Richard Kemp said. "He should step away from the council and step away from his mayoralty while this goes through due legal process."

Political gossip site Guido Fawkes speculated that the 72-year-old suspect was none other than former deputy leader of Liverpool council, Derek Hatton, who was expelled from the Labour Party in 1986 for his membership in the Trotskyist entryist group Militant.

— Guido Fawkes (@GuidoFawkes) December 4, 2020

Hatton shot to fame in the 1985 rate-capping rebellion, in which the Liverpool city council set a budget $30 million above its tax income in protest of cuts in grants made by the central government at the hands of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government. Hatton later became a radio presenter, occasionally appearing on TV.

Hatton told the Daily Telegraph in 2008 that he was now running a property firm in Cyprus selling villas and apartments. In 1993 he was acquitted, along with three others, of conspiring to defraud the Liverpool city council.

Hatton has reapplied to the Labour Party in 2007, 2015 and 2018. He was successful the third time, but was again suspended within days over an anti-Semitic tweet dating from 2012. He was reinstated the next year.

https://sputniknews.com/uk/202012051081364663-mayor-of-liverpool-and-four-others-arrested-for-bribery-and-witness-intimidation/

Lin Wood Says Kelly Loeffler Is An Illegitimate Candidate And David Perdue Has ‘Ties To China’

“Stop the Steal” attorney Lin Wood said Friday that Chinese communists have corrupted the two Republican Georgia Senators who face critical runoff elections in January that will determine whether Democrats retake control of the Senate.

Wood, who has donated to prominent Democrats and hasn’t voted in a Republican primary since 2004, said Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler is an illegitimate candidate who lost to Republican Rep. Doug Collins, who he claimed received over 50% of the vote in their election.

Collins in fact received 20% of the vote in the election, putting him in third place behind Loeffler, who received 25.9% of the vote, and Democrat Raphael Warnock, who received 32.9% of the vote, according to the Associated Press.

Wood also suggested in a tweet Friday that Georgia Republican Sen. David Perdue has ties to China because of his refusal to call for a special session of the state legislature to overturn President Donald Trump’s electoral loss to President-elect Joe Biden.

Wood provided no evidence supporting his claim that Loeffler and Perdue have ties with Chinese communists or Chinese money.

Both Loeffler and Perdue face critical Senate runoff elections in January that will determine the fate of the Senate. Republicans will lose control of the Senate if both candidates lose to their Democratic challengers.

Wood came under attack from prominent supporters of President Donald Trump after he said at a “Stop the Steal” rally on Wednesday that Republicans ought to not vote for Loeffler and Perdue in the January runoffs because it would be “another rigged election.”

https://dailycaller.com/2020/12/04/lin-wood-accuses-kelly-loeffler-david-perdue/

Beach protest planned for Whitsundays island purchased by Chinese developer

A Chinese developer who purchased a pristine Aussie island tried to kick locals off a public beach. This is how they plan to take it back.

The war over a pristine piece of Australia’s paradise is intensifying this week as locals and their supporters plan to occupy a beach in the Whitsundays that a Chinese developer wants them banished from.

News.com.au wrote about Keswick Island, 30km from Mackay, earlier this week after it emerged wealthy developer China Bloom had closed beaches, parts of the national park and the airstrip and had banned short term accommodation and rentals.

The tiny island in the Coral Sea at the bottom of the Whitsundays is being controlled by the developer after it signed a 96-year lease for 117 hectares with plans to develop a tourist resort to accommodate 3000 people.

The small community that calls the 530 hectares of Keswick Island home has been banned from accessing large parts of public land, including the national park (which accounts for 400 hectares). The track to beautiful Basil Bay is blocked with rocks and “permit only” signs.

“I’m gobsmacked that it’s happening in Australia,” local Julie Willis told news.com.au after she was given three days to evacuate a rental property she had lived in for five years.

Northern Beaches local Deb Lawson is capitalising on the media attention. She has planned a “peaceful protest” at Basil Bay, where the Queensland Government told news.com.au locals are not allowed to go “past the high tide line”.

Her protest, planned for Australia Day, will include “a flotilla of boats”.

“I thought, being a boating community (Mackay), what better way to do that than get a flotilla of boats, let’s get out to Keswick Island.”

“China Bloom don’t have ownership below the high tide mark,” she told 7 News. “So, technically, they can’t stop us getting on to the beach.”

The member for Whitsundays, Amanda Camm, told reporters this week: “This is not Communist China, this is Australia. This is Queensland and this is the Whitsundays.”

https://www.news.com.au/travel/destinations/beach-protest-planned-for-whitsundays-island-purchased-by-chinese-developer/news-story/999d5bd730235f973e127da9839b7ef3

https://twitter.com/axios/status/1334926537649516545

Axios

@axios

NEW: Patrick Gaspard, who served as Obama's ambassador to South Africa, is stepping down as president of George Soros' Open Society Foundations, fueling speculation that he'll join the Biden administration, potentially as Labor secretary.