MEXICO OPENS BORDER to a THOUSAND Illegal Migrants in Caravan Traveling to US Border

The Mexican government opened its southern border to a thousand illegal immigrants in a caravan to the United States.

The border was wide open to the caravan as it continued its way to the United States.

Mexican authorities did nothing to stop the illegal migrants on their way through Mexico.

Nancy Pelosi and Democrats want this on the US southern border — open borders and no border wall.

FOX News reporter Griff Jenkins was at the Ciudad Hildago checkpoint on the Mexican border and witnessed the open border.

Griff said he did not see a single federal agent as the caravan walked into Mexico.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/01/mexico-opens-border-to-a-thousand-illegal-migrants-in-caravan-traveling-to-us-border-video/

‘No more talks’: Theresa May shuts door on opposition parties, as Brexit descends further into chaos

PM Theresa May has no plans to stage further talks with UK opposition party leaders who have accused her of ignoring their demands, in an attempt to broker a new Brexit agreement, as chances of securing a deal ebb away ever more.

A spokesperson for the PM has stated that May will instead focus on meetings with “a large number” of her ministers in small groups and on a one-to-one basis, the Independent reports.

The unwillingness of May to engage in more talks could potentially anger opposition leaders, who have been left frustrated by the PM’s apparent lack of compromise on some of her redlines, such as a customs union with the EU and a second referendum.

In the aftermath of the crushing defeat of her Brexit deal on Tuesday, May pledged to find a cross-party solution to the crisis, inviting opposition leaders to talks over the next steps to take to break the impasse.

All accepted the PM’s invitation apart from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who told May in no uncertain terms that no discussions could take place unless she took ‘no-deal’ off the negotiating table.

Those that did attend the meeting with the PM reported unsatisfactory outcomes, with Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, claiming that May’s offer of talks “is a promise to listen, but only if we all agree with her.”

The Green Party’s Caroline Lucas came away from discussions saying that May should stop blackmailing MPs and that there is “no sign PM is willing to compromise.”

The resistance to engaging further on a cross-party basis increases the chances of the PM failing to put forward a meaningful Brexit ‘plan b’ on Monday, when she addresses MPs in Parliament. It’s more likely that May will issue some kind of holding statement.

The fear for the prime minister is that amendments to her statement could be tabled by MPs, which may include trying to block the threat of a no-deal Brexit or a second referendum. If such amendments are successful, it would risk inflicting irreconcilable damage, splitting her Tory party.

It comes as Downing Street says that the PM has spoken to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, about the ongoing Brexit crisis. No official dates have been announced for the UK to reopen negotiations with the EU.

https://www.rt.com/uk/449121-may-brexit-talks-opposition/

Democracy is dead in England

Newly Elected Sheriff Arrested for Stealing Meth from Evidence Room—Second Day on Job

You know the drug war is a failure when the police state can't keep their own sheriff's from stealing and abusing drugs like meth.

Charleston, WV — To those who frequent the Free Thought Project, you will know that positions of power often attract unscrupulous individuals, who seek out this power to give themselves an advantage that doesn’t come with being an average Joe. We see this from cops to politicians to priests who seek out these positions to prey on the weak or exploit their power for personal gain. One case out of West Virginia highlights this tendency of power corrupting quite well as a meth addict sought out the job of sheriff, won it, and was arrested on the second day on the job.

In 2017, the newly elected sheriff of Roane County, Bo Williams was arrested and charged with grand larceny. Williams was caught stealing methamphetamine from the evidence room for his personal consumption.

Before he was caught, Williams was only just elected in November of 2016 and his term had just started the following January. He was on the job for just two days before being arrested for breaking his oath to the constitution and betraying the citizens of Roane County. Despicable, indeed.

While he was waiting to start his job as sheriff, Williams was placed on paid leave at his job in the neighboring town of Spencer. He then resigned during this paid leave—a move many corrupt cops make as not to get in trouble. His paid leave was a result of this missing evidence.

Upon his arrest, Williams admitted to authorities that he’d been addicted to meth for over a year. He also admitted to stealing meth from a police case file and then consuming it.

Prosecutor Josh Downey told reporters “I know Bo Williams,” and noted that “It’s a sad situation.”

Indeed, it is a sad situation. When public officials betray the citizens they are supposed to serve, this is the epitome of corruption.

In 2017, Williams was charged with grand larceny which is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. However, he was sentenced to home confinement that March.

Although this story unfolded in 2017, Williams’ addiction is serious matter and illustrates an important point. Countless other individuals like him are battling a similar demon and they need help. However, it should serve as an example as to how ineffective and futile the war on drugs has become.

When the police state can’t even keep their own top officials from abusing meth, with the entire militarized anti-drug army at their disposal, it might be time to consider an alternative.

https://thefreethoughtproject.com/newly-elected-sheriff-arrested-for-stealing-meth-from-evidence-room-second-day-on-job/

Thousands Gather on National Mall to ‘March for Life’

Thousands of pro-life activists will gather on the National Mall on Friday for the anniversary of the United States Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision that made abortion on demand the law of the land in 1973.

The annual rally attracts individuals from across the country who gather despite frigid winter weather to express their support for overturning the law and advocate for national policy that honors life from conception to natural death.

The event will conclude after participants march to the steps of the Supreme Court.

Pro-life lawmakers will be speaking at the event, including Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) and Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ).

Vice President Mike Pence will be the keynote speaker at the March for Life Rose Dinner on Friday night.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/01/18/watch-live-thousands-gather-on-national-mall-to-march-for-life/

Top Obama White House Lawyer Made False Statements To DOJ About Manafort-Related Work

The Justice Department is alleging that the former Obama White House general counsel made ‘false and misleading’ statements regarding consulting work done for Ukraine.

Greg Craig was lead partner for the law firm Skadden Arps on its Ukraine work, which was done in partnership with Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman.

Skadden Arps agreed Thursday to settle with the Justice Department by registering as a foreign agent of Ukraine and paying a $4.6 million fine.

Craig’s fate remains uncertain.

The former general counsel for President Obama made “false and misleading statements” to the Justice Department regarding work he did for the Ukrainian government that has come under scrutiny in the special counsel’s probe.

Greg Craig’s allegedly false statements were revealed in a settlement announced Thursday by the Justice Department. The agency announced it was settling with Craig’s former firm, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, which worked with former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort on behalf of Ukraine beginning in 2012.

Skadden Arps agreed to register retroactively with the Justice Department as a foreign agent of Ukraine and to pay a $4.6 million fine, the same amount that the firm was paid for its consulting work.

Craig, who left Skadden Arps in April 2018, is not identified by name in the Justice Department announcement, but he has previously been identified as the lead Skadden Arps partner who worked on its Ukraine account. Other clues from the Justice Department settlement point to Craig as the lead partner referenced in case.

As part of the settlement, Skadden Arps acknowledged that it acted on behalf of the Ukrainian government “by contributing to a public relations campaign directed at select members of the U.S. news media in 2012.”

Craig and others at Skadden Arps helped promote a report that raised questions about Yulia Tymoshenko, a former Ukrainian prime minster, who was seen as a foe to Viktor Yanukovych, who served as prime minister through 2014.

https://dailycaller.com/2019/01/17/obama-lawyer-ukraine-justice-department/

JPMorgan raises boss Dimon’s pay to a sweet $31 million, topping pre-crisis record

Wall Street banking giant JPMorgan has awarded its chief executive Jamie Dimon $31 million in total compensation for his work in 2018. The pay exceeds his record compensation of $30 million in 2007 before the financial crisis.

It’s a 5.1 percent increase from 2017 as the bank raked in a record profit last year. Dimon’s pay package included $24.5 million of restricted stock tied to performance, an annual base salary of $1.5 million and a $5 million cash bonus, the New York-based bank said in a regulatory filing. It explained that board members have approved Dimon’s compensation based on the bank’s “strong performance in 2018.”

This week, JPMorgan reported a $32.5 billion annual profit for 2018, the biggest yet in US banking history. The bank’s performance was buoyed by corporate tax cuts, rising interest rates and growth in the firm’s credit-card business.

Dimon, the 62-year-old billionaire banker, has been at the helm since the end of 2005. He has previously said that he plans to stay in the top job at the largest US investment bank for about five more years.

He is also overseeing the bank’s plans to expand its branch network into new states for the first time in more than a decade and the building of a new Manhattan headquarters.

https://www.rt.com/business/449102-jp-morgan-ceo-pay/

Sweden: Illegal Migrants Given Jobs with Access to Airport Secure Areas

Swedish police have expressed outrage after details emerged that three illegal migrants from Uzbekistan were given cleaning jobs within the secure areas of Stockholm’s Arlanda airport.

The three illegal migrants were employed as cleaners for the police at the airport and were able to move freely back and forth from the secured areas of the airport. This week, after preliminary investigations, the police found that none of the three migrants had valid work or residency papers, Expressen reports.

The investigation came after several officers at the airport claimed they could not speak with the cleaners and that the three individuals were not doing the proper work. It was later discovered that only one of the migrants had a work permit that had expired in 2017, while the other two had no papers at all.

“The fact that three people who are in the country illegally were able to move around here freely is completely mad,” one police officer told the paper, adding: “I’m getting scared. Imagine if they left something inside the premises or photographed things.”

The case is similar to the background of Stockholm radical Islamic terrorist Rakhmat Akilov, also a failed asylum seeker from Uzbekistan, who also worked at a cleaning company, which was suspected of financing terrorism.

The case comes after the European Union reported that Sweden had the worst border control among any member-state of the political bloc, arguing that border officers had poor training and rarely checked for returning jihadists.

According to the Swedish border police, more and more companies are now employing illegal migrant labour after officers in Jämtland County found at least 40 cases of companies hiring illegal migrants within the last two years alone.

“Today we have many people who are expelled from Sweden who do not leave but go underground. And in order to survive, they work virtually for free in exchange for food,” said Kristina Molin, an investigator at the border police in Östersund.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/01/18/outrage-illegal-migrants-given-jobs-secure-swedish-airport-area/

https://www.rt.com/usa/449083-pornhub-traffic-dc-shutdown/

YPG Should Not Be Allowed To Let Syrian Army Enter Manbij: Turkey

Kurdish forces should be prevented from handing over the northern city of Manbij to the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), a spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on January 18.

“The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) should not be allowed to let forces of the regime [of Syrian President Bashar Assad] enter Manbij,” Hami Aksoy said during a press briefing, according to the Russian news agency, Sputnik.

The Turkish diplomat also warned that the upcoming withdrawal of U.S. forces from northeastern Syria shouldn’t be in favor of the YPG and its political wing, the Democratic Union Party (PYD).

Following the White House announcement of the withdrawal decision last December, the Damascus government and the YPG resumed their talks on northeastern Syria. The first result of the talks was an agreement that allowed the SAA and the Russian Military Police to establish several positions southwest of Manbij.

Aksoy’s statement indicate that Turkey, as expected, is not happy with the recent rapprochement between the Damascus government and the YPG. Despite of this strict stand, Ankara will not likely dare to take military action if both sides reach an agreement on Manbij.

Last year, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made several similar wanings over the town of Tell Rifaat in the northern Aleppo countryside. However, Turkey backed off when Syrian and Russian troops were deployed in the city under an agreement with Kurdish forces.

https://southfront.org/ypg-should-not-be-allowed-to-let-syrian-army-enter-manbij-turkey/

How Cabal of them to tell a country what they can do in their own country

Here’s what you need to know about the biggest update to UCMJ in decades

In 2016, Congress passed a new Military Justice Act, calling for a review and reorganization of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the set of rules and regulations that dictate criminal offenses for service members and how they are adjudicated.

Among the changes are new definitions for adultery and intimate partner violence, and a specific law against sexual relationships between instructors and trainees.

The revamped system went live on Jan. 1, the first update to the UCMJ since 1984, and, according to officials, the biggest set of changes since the code was enacted after World War II.

The Military Justice Act of 2016 called on the services’ judge advocate general corps to take a big-picture look at criminal justice in the military, updating some rules and definitions, while changing up some proceedings to streamline processes or to get them in line with civilian federal courts.

“We make a lot of changes every year, we always have, to our military justice system,” Army Col. Sara Root, who works in the criminal law division at the Office of the Judge Advocate General, said. “But they said, ‘Let’s take a look, and just see how we can make it more efficient, more effective.’ ”

The original UCMJ went into effect in 1951. There were small updates in 1968 and 1984, according to the chief of the Army’s Military Justice Legislation Training Team, but in some ways, it was still “a little bit dated.”

The judge advocate corps has been training on the new rules for the past year, Root said, with a team traveling to 48 installations and briefing more than 6,000 military lawyers and legal personnel.

“In addition to training our corps, our military justice experts are building tools and updating publications,” Lt. Gen. Jeff Rockwell, the Air Force judge advocate general, said in a Jan. 2 news release. “Installation commanders, convening authorities, chief master sergeants and first sergeants will continue to receive military justice training in formal courses and from their local installation legal offices. Our focus is to ensure a smooth and seamless transition for all airmen.”

For service members, the most important thing to note is when and how the new rules take effect.

Offenses committed before Jan. 1 fall under the previous system, so any investigations or proceedings that were underway in 2018 will continue according to those rules. Offenses committed after Jan. 1 fall under the new UCMJ.

Where it could get complicated is so-called “straddling offenses,” Root said.

For instance, if a service member is arrested today on multiple counts of domestic violence that occurred both in 2018 and in the new year, charges would be applied according to when each incident occurred.

The accused can opt in to the new sentencing rules if they have straddling offenses, Root said, but otherwise commands will have to use the old rules.

Some of the updates go too far, according to one civilian defense attorney, while, in other places, not far enough.

MORE

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-army/2019/01/15/heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-biggest-update-to-ucmj-in-decades/

Trump to meet with top North Korean official to discuss 'fully verified' denuclearization

President Trump will meet with a top North Korean official on Friday to discuss progress on Pyongyang’s “final, fully verified denuclearization,” the White House said.

Trump was scheduled to meet with North Korea’s Kim Yong Chol, who is spearheading negotiations with Washington on denuclearization, at 12:15 p.m. in the Oval Office.

“They will discuss relations between the two countries and continued progress on North Korea’s final, fully verified denuclearization,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

Kim arrived in Washington on Thursday night and met with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier Friday to continue discussions about denuclearization.

Kim's visit has fueled speculation the two sides could finalize plans for a second summit between Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un. The Trump administration released no official details on plans for Kim Yong Chol’s meetings with U.S. officials, until Friday.

The visit is Kim Yong Chol’s first to the U.S. since last June, which came just before the unprecedented first summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un.

Trump for months has expressed a desire to have a second summit with Kim Jong Un even as negotiations have stalled since their first summit.

In his New Year’s address, Kim Jong Un upped the pressure for a potential meeting. While he said he was willing to meet with Trump “at any time,” he warned his country could take a “new path” if the United States does not lift its sanctions.

Trump responded to the address by reiterating that he is ready to meet Kim Jong Un “in the not-too-distant future.”

Trump and Kim Jong Un met in Singapore last June after which the North Korean leader “reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” in a document signed by both sides. Trump declared shortly after the summit that the nuclear threat from Pyongyang was “no longer.”

But nuclear talks with North Korea have appeared to stall, and several reports have indicated North Korea has worked to conceal its missile program since.

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/426033-trump-to-meet-with-top-north-korean-official-to-discuss-fully-verified

Feels like all the oxygen is being sucked out of the news cycle in anticipation of something huge!

Rockefeller Caught Funding Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal

The Rockefeller family are one of the biggest funders in Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal – an environmental program determined to impose far-left social and economic reforms in America.

The program was devised by the Sunrise Movement, a mysterious environmentalist organization that wields enormous influence in Washington, D.C.

Dailycaller.com reports: Founded in April 2017, the Sunrise Movement is a newcomer among the many green organizations that have already been established for generations. However, the youth-led climate group quickly garnered national attention and high-dollar donations from across the country. Between its 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) entities, the group was able to raise just shy of $1 million during 2018 — and members intend to raise $2.5 million in 2019.

Despite growing attention from the media, it’s been difficult to pinpoint exactly who is funding the Sunrise Movement. The group is not legally required to disclose its donors. However, a recent report from Inside Philanthropy, an outlet focused on philanthropic groups and their big donors, shed some light.

The Rockefeller Fund, the Wallace Global Fund and the Winslow Foundation are core funders of Sunrise Movement. The three groups have continued to finance a large portion of Sunrise’s operations, with institutional funders making up 55 percent of the group’s 2018 budget. Thirty-five percent of its budget came from individual donors, and the rest came from non-profit partners.

Sunrise’s core funders have a long history of bankrolling left-wing activities.

The Global Wallace Fund has given nearly $7 million to population control groups since the 1990s. The Rockefeller Family Fund has led a war against ExxonMobil, acknowledging it has colluded with Democratic attorneys general and funded negative media coverage against the oil company, The Daily Caller News Foundation previously reported.

“What’s been nice about [the past month] is that our impact is incredibly clear and everybody is seeing it, because of the way we’ve been able to put truly ambitious and truly equitable climate action on the map in a way that nobody expected,” William Lawrence, co-founder and development director for Sunrise, stated. “That’s opened some doors that might have been closed before, because people are seeing the value of movement building.”

Sunrise, which has been an ardent supporter of the Green New Deal, protested outside now-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office late in 2018, demanding she take more action on climate change. Its efforts received widespread attention when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — now a New York Democratic congresswoman — joined them in protest.

The group enjoyed a surge in donations after the protest.

At least some of the salaries for Sunrise Movement staffers, according to Inside Philanthropies, are not based on conventional compensation agreements, but on what members claim they need to support themselves.

https://nworeport.me/2019/01/15/rockefeller-caught-funding-ocasio-cortezs-green-new-deal/

Report: Pentagon Secretly Trained UAE Fighters for Combat in Yemen — Then Lied About It

On Wednesday, Yahoo News revealed new documents from late 2017 that show, contrary to the Defense Department’s insistence that it is neutral in the bloody conflict in Yemen perpetrated by a coalition of Saudi Arabia and its allies, the U.S. appears to have provided training to forces from the United Arab Emirates, which is part of the coalition:

The United States is “not a participant in the civil war in Yemen nor are we supporting one side or the other,” Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said last month, echoing a long-held position in the Pentagon.

[…]

The files, obtained from Air Forces Central Command via the Freedom of Information Act, appear to tell a different story. “Escorted 6 UAE F-16s to RED FLAG” — reads a December 2017 Air Force document referring to an advanced aerial combat training exercise held for U.S. and allied pilots — “assisted 150 airmen in challenging ex[ercise] to prepare for combat ops in Yemen.” The document goes on to detail additional support provided by the U.S. Air Force’s Air Warfare Center at Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates. “Unit fighter personnel advanced the UAE’s F-16 fighter pilot training program; 3 pilots flew 243 instructor sorties/323 hrs that created 4 new instructors & 29 combat wingmen who immediately deployed for combat operations in Yemen.”

A CENTCOM spokesman, Lt. Col. Earl Brown, flatly denied the contents of the document, saying that U.S. forces have not “conducted exercises with members of the [Saudi-led coalition] to prepare for combat operations in Yemen.” He claimed that the U.S. gives “limited non-combat support” to forces in the region to counteract “the destabilizing effects of terrorism and other threats” — despite the fact that the documents clearly say the training is for “combat ops in Yemen.”

The Saudi attacks on Yemen, in response to a civil war between the government of Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and the Shi’a Houthi rebels, have stunned the world with their brutality. The coalition has been accused of deliberately bombing farms and food storage sites, triggering a famine that has killed 85,000 children — and they are using bombs supplied by the United States.

In November, the Pentagon announced it would no longer refuel Saudi coalition aircraft conducting the air raids. In December, the Senate voted to formally forbid U.S. support for the war. But these documents suggest our military has been more intimately involved with this war than they cared to acknowledge, and the public deserves answers.

https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/70402/report-pentagon-secretly-trained-uae-fighters-for-combat-in-yemen–then-lied-about.html

‘Someone will make money by stoking fears’ – Ron Paul on new US missile doctrine

The new US missile defense strategy is a boondoggle for the military-industrial complex, which will drive the US into more debt and can bring misery upon multiple nations by fueling an arms race, ex-US Congressman Ron Paul said.

Plans to weaponize space with a new layer of sensors unveiled by Trump as part of his administration's Missile Defense Review is an unnecessary and hard-to-implement project that is sure to enrich the military-industrial lobby, Paul told RT.

"The biggest issue here is someone is going to make a lot of money on it. It reminds me of Star Wars. They've never really developed it, but people got excited about it," Paul said, drawing parallels between President Donald Trump's new endeavor and former President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative program.

Addressing the Pentagon on Thursday, Trump said that the goal of deploying ground-based interceptors to Alaska and sensors in space is to stop missile launches by hostile powers over their own territory.

Paul says the scale of the threat to US security has been overblown and does not warrant such extravagant means, which might not end up being efficient.

"I'm all for having defensive weapons if necessary, but I can't quite see the danger that they are talking about that we have to now go much further into debt on something that can take many, many years and there are questions on how well it would work," he said.

The mammoth project is another way of throwing more money at the military, Paul said, noting that the US is "already running a trillion-dollar debt every year" and will have to borrow money to pay for the futuristic missile defense shield.

National debt stands at over $21 trillion and continues to surge, with the federal deficit projected to top $1 trillion by 2020.

While it remains to be seen if Congress approves the major increase in funding that would be required to implement Trump's plan, Paul says it's unlikely to be nearly as contentious as Trump's $5bn border wall that triggered a record-breaking government shutdown.

"But it seems like the money they spend on the military-industrial complex never gets the same scrutiny as some of these political issues," Paul said.

Defense, unlike other political issues, tends to transcend party lines, as it "is more involved with money than anything else."

"Fiscal conservatives are big spenders as much as liberals," he said.

Of course, it also comes in handy to have the "usual scapegoats, the countries that they are able to stir animosity towards."

The US will inevitably whip up an arms race if it adopts the new strategy, since no country singled out in the review – such as Russia, China, and 'rogue nations' Iran and North Korea – are going to ignore the US military beef-up. Those who will suffer the most from this are ordinary people who will have to carry the burden of the defense costs.

"Often these arguments get carried away to the point when one side is up-betting another side, building more and more and the only people that seem be really hurt from this are the people of the countries whose finances are drained," Paul said.

And to consent to such massive spending, people have to be intimidated, the ex-congressman believes – thus, the negative media response to Trump's announced withdrawal from Syria or thawing relations with North Korea.

"As if we've just created WWIII by suggesting they are not going to stay there," Paul said, adding that the military-industrial complex profiteers and pro-war politicians appear to be in control of the propaganda machine.

https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/70398/someone-will-make-money-by-stoking-fears–ron-paul-on-new-us-missile.html

100,000 Supporters Turn Out for Annual March for Life — USA Today Reports ‘More Than a Thousand,’ CNN and MSNBC COMPLETELY IGNORE

An estimated 100,000 people — including Vice President Mike Pence — gathered in DC on Friday for the annual March for Life.

The media, as always, is either outright ignoring the massive march or severely downplaying the impressive size of the crowd.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/01/100000-supporters-turn-out-for-annual-march-for-life-usa-today-reports-more-than-a-thousand-cnn-and-msnbc-completely-ignore/