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22m22 minutes ago
President Trump announces he will be sending more troops to the Southern Border after getting updates on the situation while in Texas today.
https://twitter.com/45_Schedule/status/1116061395534192640
Trump in San Antonio warns of killers pouring over border, vows more troops: 'Who the hell can live like this?'
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/elections-2020/2019/04/10/trump-claiming-treason-plots-heads-texas-scoop-6-million-san-antonio-houston
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump, during a fundraising stop in San Antonio on Wednesday, asserted that without his tough border security policies, murderous migrants "will probably stay at your house."
He vowed to send more troops to the border to address a surge in migration from Central America, saying that Texas ranchers fear being killed or having cars stolen by migrants, and "this never comes out in the fake news."
"Who the hell can live like this?" he said. "Dangerous people are coming here and the good people are dying."
Trump's frustration at the migrant surge has boiled over. Within the last week he ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and dropped his nominee to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying he wanted to move in a "tougher direction."
But his claims about crime along the border are wildly exaggerated. State and federal data do not back up assertions that migrants in previous years or in the current surge commit crimes at elevated rates, though Trump and his backers argue that any crime committed by someone in the United States without permission should not have occurred.
Roughly 5,000 uniformed personnel are currently at the border, including National Guard. Trump ordered the deployment a year ago.
"I'm going to have to call up more military," he said with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick at his side during a meeting with campaign donors in San Antonio.
He expressed irritation that longstanding federal law – the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 – bars the use of military for law enforcement.
"Our military, don't forget, can't act like a military would act. Because if they got a little rough, everybody would go crazy," Trump said. "…They have all these horrible laws that the Democrats won't change…. I think they will pay a very big price in 2020 for all of the things, whether it is the fake witch hunt they start out, or whether it is a situation like this. I think the border is going to be an incredible issue."
Trump was in Texas for fundraisers in San Antonio and Houston that national GOP chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel told reporters aboard Air Force One will raise $6 million.
Huge delays at ports of entry
With the Border Patrol unable to keep up with the current surge of asylum seekers, the Department of Homeland Security has shifted 750 customs agents to help – 300 of them from ports of entry in South Texas, according to Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo.
That has created huge delays for cargo, tourists and workers at crossings in Laredo and other border cities that rely heavily on trade.
"They're not being used to process legal immigration and and commerce, they're being used to process people who are claiming asylum," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. While the migrant situation may require that, he said, the personnel shift has created a "risk of a huge economic impact on the border economy, and on Texas and on the country."
"I was on the phone yesterday with a number of constituents along the border, who fear terrible damage to the border economy, because the bridges and the ports of entry are being clogged," he said. "Tourists and other legitimate trade are being stymied or stopped entirely along the border. Some of the car manufacturers for example that depend on the trailer truck activity for their supply chain are being forced to wait, hour upon hour upon hour."
Trump cries 'treason'
Patrick, who chaired Trump's campaign effort in Texas, took a day off from presiding over the state Senate to join the president. He greeted Trump on the tarmac in San Antonio when Trump landed just before noon, and sat beside him at a roundtable with donors as he talked about border security with the news media.
Before leaving the White House, Trump said he views the special counsel inquiry as a "witch hunt" and a case of "treason" because Democrats had sought to use it as a way to illegally force him from office.
Treason carries the death penalty, and his view is not widely accepted by legal scholars.
"This was an attempted coup. This was an attempted take-down of a president," he said before boarding Marine One.
Steve Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas who specializes in national security law, was among the experts rejecting Trump's use of the term "treason" to describe an inquiry housed within the Department of Justice. He noted that the Constitution provides a narrow definition "to prevent those in power from using it to attack their political opponents."
Before leaving the White House, Trump insisted that Attorney General William Barr should open an investigation into "the origins of exactly where this all started," asserting that Americans "hunger" for such an inquiry, particularly those who voted for him.
"Because this was an illegal witch hunt and everybody knew it. And they knew it too and they got caught. And what they did was treason. …What they did was against our Constitution and everything we stand for," Trump said.
In San Antonio, Trump meets privately with supporters at noon at The Argyle – a party venue that has served as headquarters for a sprawling horse ranch, a Confederate arsenal, and guest house for the likes of Robert E. Lee – before speaking at a closed-door lunch with donors at a joint fundraiser to benefit his campaign and the RNC.
Julián Castro, a former San Antonio mayor and housing secretary during the second term of Barack Obama, is organizing a "Texas United Against Hate" rally at San Antonio's Hemisfair Park on Wednesday night as a show of force against Trump, though the president will be long gone by then.
The state Democratic Party has also urged turnout for that rally.
"It doesn't matter how much Donald Trump raises from wealthy Republicans and corporate interests, Texans are fighting back and his poll numbers are plummeting. Texas is the biggest battleground state," Texas Democratic Party chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said. "Texans won't sit idly by as Trump steals our land, destroys our healthcare, and threatens to shut down our economy…. In 2020, we will defeat Trump and [Sen. John] Cornyn and turn Texas blue."
Trump spent roughly three hours in San Antonio before heading to Houston. He will attend a fund-raising dinner at the Lone Star Flight Museum, after a visit to nearby Crosby, Texas, and the International Union of Operating Engineers International Training and Education Center.
There, he will sign an executive order that will make it harder for states to use concerns about water quality to block pipeline projects.
Trump says he may 'call up more military' to border
Jordan Fabian
17 mins ago
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-says-he-may-call-up-more-military-to-border/ar-BBVOijq
President Trump said Wednesday he may send more troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to deal with the spike in migrant families entering the country.
"I'm going to have to call up more military," Trump said during an impromptu appearance at a Texas political fundraiser with people who said they have dealt firsthand with the surge in migration.
A further increase in U.S. troops at the border is the latest in a string of controversial proposals the Trump administration has floated to address the what it calls a crisis the southern border.
Roughly 2,350 active-duty troops were at the border as of January, when acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan announced plans to send back thousands more and extend their deployment through September. Trump first deployed troops to the border last fall to assist Border Patrol in addressing a migrant caravan traveling from Central America.
Trump alluded to the fact troops are limited to support roles and are barred by law from apprehending migrants, saying "our military, don't forget, can't act like a military would act. Because if they got a little rough, everybody would go crazy."
Even though the president said his focus on immigration has "has nothing to do with politics," he bashed Democrats for refusing to pass stricter laws and predicted the issue would be a major factor in his reelection race.
"I think they will pay a very big price in 2020 for all of the things, whether it is the fake witch hunt they start out, or whether it is a situation like this," he said, referring to the Russia investigation. "I think the border is going to be an incredible issue."
The president answered reporters' questions after listening to stories from fundraiser attendees who said they have had run-ins with human traffickers or had migrants found dead on their ranches.
Trump drew intense criticism when he announced his 2016 presidential bid for saying Mexico was sending rapists and criminals to the U.S., but he said Wednesday the ranchers' stories were far worse.
"That turned out to be nothing compared to what happens on those journeys up, nothing. My speech was so tame, as it turned out," the president said.
Trump has rattled many fellow Republicans by pushing out Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen over his frustration with the situation at the border situation, part of a broad effort to overhaul the department's leadership.
White House immigration adviser Stephen Miller, who is seen as being behind the purge, is also pushing a raft of hard-line proposals intended to stem the flow of Central American migrants, including making it harder to seek asylum and making it possible to detain children for longer periods of time.
Trump earlier this year declared a national emergency to circumvent Congress and build a wall along the southern border and threatened to close down the border entirely to prevent illegal entries. Privately, he reportedly pushed officials to resume family separations but on Tuesday he denied doing so.
The Hill
Verified account @thehill
2m2 minutes ago
Minnesota child-sex sting during Final Four results in 58 arrests and 28 victims rescued, state says http://hill.cm/lPgypdd
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1116074638600232960
Microsoft worked with Chinese military university on artificial intelligence
Concerns raised on research that could be used for surveillance and censorship
https://www.ft.com/content/9378e7ee-5ae6-11e9-9dde-7aedca0a081a
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https://www.ft.com/content/9378e7ee-5ae6-11e9-9dde-7aedca0a081a
Microsoft has worked with a Chinese military-run university on artificial intelligence research that could be used for surveillance and censorship, a revelation that has sparked anger among China hawks on Capitol Hill.
Three papers, published between March and November last year, were co-written by academics at Microsoft Research Asia in Beijing and researchers with affiliations to China’s National University of Defense Technology, which is controlled by China’s top military body, the Central Military Commission.
One of the papers described a new AI method to recreate detailed environmental maps by analysing human faces, which experts say could have clear applications for surveillance and censorship.
The paper acknowledges the system provides a better understanding of the surrounding environment “not viewed by the camera”, which can have a “variety of vision applications”.
Samm Sacks, a senior fellow at the think-tank New America and a China tech policy expert, said the papers raised “red flags because of the nature of the technology, the author affiliations, combined with what we know about how this technology is being deployed in China right now”.
“The [Chinese] government is using these technologies to build surveillance systems and to detain minorities [in Xinjiang],” Ms Sacks added.
The US government is debating whether research collaborations, particularly in sensitive areas such as artificial intelligence and augmented reality, should be subject to stricter export controls.
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After the Microsoft work was reported by the Financial Times, Senator Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican who has emerged as a leading China hawk, warned “we must ensure that American business interests are not enabling the [Chinese Communist party’s] oppression.”
“American companies need to understand that doing business in China carries significant and deepening risk,” Mr Cruz added. “In addition to being targeted by the Chinese Communist party for espionage, American companies are increasingly at risk of boosting the Chinese Communist party’s human rights atrocities.”
Microsoft defended the research, saying it was part of a worldwide effort by its scientists, who were often academics, to work with their international counterparts on cutting-edge technology issues.
“The research is guided by our principles, fully complies with US and local laws, and . . . is published to ensure transparency so that everyone can benefit from our work,” the company said.
But Adam Segal, director of cyber space policy at the Council on Foreign Relations think-tank, noted the revelation comes at a time US authorities, including the FBI, have put academic partnerships with Beijing “under the microscope” because of fears Chinese students and scientists working on “frontier technologies” may end up assisting China’s People’s Liberation Army.
Last week, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology cut ties with telecoms group Huawei and launched an “elevated risk” review process for its Chinese collaborations.
Pedro Domingos, a professor of AI at the University of Washington, said the Microsoft paper on environmental mapping could provide crucial help to authorities seeking to monitor individuals.
“Let’s suppose I’m an intelligence agency and I have pictures of people of interest,” said Mr Domingos. “I can use the system to tell something about the place they’re in that they didn’t realise they were giving away.”
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Microsoft’s research arm in Beijing has collaborated on at least two other papers with NUDT researchers, including in the area of machine reading — a way for computers to understand online text.
“Machine reading comprehension may not seem directly concerning but it could be used for censorship, which is an interest of the Chinese government,” said Elsa Kania, a Chinese military technology expert and a fellow at the think-tank Center for a New American Security. “They see natural language processing as a way to enable censorship at scale.”
The papers underscore Microsoft Research’s long-running links to Chinese military-funded academia, including its operation of several “tech clubs” for students at Chinese universities known to have military links including NUDT, Beihang University and Harbin Institute of Technology.
The US commerce department is seeking public comment to help identify emerging technologies that are essential to US national security because they may improve intelligence collection, weapons of mass destruction, have terrorist applications, or provide the US with a qualitative military or intelligence advantage, according to law firm White & Case.
“[These papers are] at the centre of a perfect storm with . . . issues top of mind as the US is redrawing its relationship with China,” said Ms Sacks.
“There is a massive overhaul of the export regime, and emerging and foundational technology, particularly AI, is a considered category under that,” she added. “Because this is open academic research, the question is to what extent is the Chinese government exploiting the openness . . . and extensive history of joint partnerships.”
https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1116076893919502338
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The White House
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3m3 minutes ago
Up next: President Trump talks American energy and infrastructure in the Lone Star State! http://45.wh.gov/RtVRmD