Tag Archives: Homeland Security

national news

Trial starts … and then ends

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It looks as though Alejandro Mayorkas is going to keep his job as homeland security secretary after all.

You see, the U.S. House impeached Mayorkas because Republicans didn’t like the way he is running his department’s immigration policy. So … lacking a “high crime and misdemeanor,” they impeached him anyway.

The case went to the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats.

The Senate then managed, by a narrow partisan vote, to dismiss the impeachment charges against the DHS boss.

I’m an admitted partisan on this issue. Mayorkas didn’t deserve to be impeached simply because he has done a lousy job of controlling our southern border. To the Senate Democrats’ credit, they managed to hold together to fend off this scam trial.

My hope is that Mayorkas has been issued a wake-up call and tends to the need to protect our southern border against those seeking illegal entry into the United States.

national news

Where is the ‘high crime’?

Alejandro Mayorkas has made history in a fashion he likely never imagined.

He is the first Cabinet secretary to be impeached since 1876 by the U.S. House of Representatives, which made another run at it and got the job done by a single vote.

Here’s the rub … and it’s a beaut. The House GOP caucus, led by the MAGA mob of malevolent misfits, cannot find a “high crime” or a “misdemeanor” to allege against the Homeland Security secretary. It states only that he is derelict in his duty to secure the southern border.

What utter, compete and nonsensical bullsh**!

The House GOP caucus is not interested in the least in governing. It wants to stick it to the Democrats whenever possible. Mayorkas has done his job, but it isn’t nearly good enough to satisfy the MAGA goons in charge of the House’s lower congressional chamber.

Good news can be found. The Senate won’t convict Mayorkas of any so-called crime. Why? Because there isn’t any. More good news: Democrats can use this sh** show as a campaign argument in their effort to solidify their Senate majority and the taking back of control in the House.

We are witnessing a disgraceful hijacking of a once-great political party. It sickens me to my core.

national news, State news

Definition of ‘derelict’?

Rafael Edward Cruz believes Alejandro Mayorkas is guilty of “dereliction of duty,” and should be impeached because he has allegedly mishandled the illegal migrant crisis on our southern border.

Hold on a second.

Cruz is the Republican U.S. senator from Texas; Mayorkas is secretary of homeland security.

Now I want to get down to brass tacks. First, though, is a full disclosure alert: The example of utter hypocrisy I am about to cite comes to me from a reader of this blog; I merely am appropriating it.

Those of us who live in Texas remember full well the Freeze of February 2021, when the state’s power grid failed. Millions of Texans lost power. Hundreds of them froze to death in sub-zero temperatures.

Many of us also remember what Sen. Cruz did in response to that crisis. He decided to take his family to Cancun, Mexico, where it was, um, decidedly warmer. Someone saw him boarding an airplane and ratted him out.

Cruz came back and then decided to blame one of his daughters for talking him and his wife into taking a vacation while his constituents were freezing to death.

Ladies and gentlemen, that right there is the definition of dereliction of duty. Sen. Cruz, therefore, has zero moral standing to lecture anyone on this good Earth about how you should stand your public service post in times of emergency.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

DC riot, Donald Trump, national news

‘Gross dereliction of duty’?

Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham have redefined “gross dereliction of duty,” attaching a partisan label to conduct that should defy partisanship.

The two U.S. Republican senators have sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, accusing him of “gross dereliction of duty,” and suggesting he might be impeached on those grounds if the GOP takes control of Congress after the midterm election. They suggest the “illegal immigrant” crisis has become too much to bear.

Hmm. Interesting, yes? Mayorkas has presided over a Cabinet office that has taken charge of arresting and detaining more migrants than ever. I agree that the situation on our southern border needs immediate repair and reform, but impeach Mayorkas? He’s doing his job.

Ted Cruz says DHS chief could be impeached over rise in migrant crossings | The Texas Tribune

As for the redefinition of “gross dereliction of duty,” I want to remind Cruz and Graham that the immediate past president committed a “gross dereliction” of the duty he assumed when he took office in January 2017. The dereliction of duty occurred during the 1/6 assault on our government, when Donald J. Trump did not a damn thing to prevent the attack.

Cruz and Graham gave Trump a pass.

Dereliction of duty? There you have it. Indeed, I could argue that the senators, too, are guilty of dereliction of duty by refusing to make Trump accountable for inciting the insurrection against the government he took an oath to protect.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Of all the ‘firsts,’ this one stands out

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President-elect Biden has scored a few “firsts” with his initial list of Cabinet and key administration aides.

He has named the first woman to lead Treasury, Janet Yellen; the first woman to become the director of national intelligence, Avril Haines.

However, his choice to lead the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, is truly an inspired “first.” Mayorkas is the first Hispanic to lead the DHS. More importantly, he is the first immigrant, for crying out loud. Mayorkas is a refugee from Cuba.

We’ve been given four years of Donald Trump trashing Hispanics. His immigration policy has been, shall we say, decidedly anti-immigrant, given that he has been advised on that matter by the prince of immigration darkness, Stephen Miller.

Mayorkas worked at DHS for years during the Obama administration, The agency is huge. It deserves someone with a wealth of experience to run it.

Moreover, Mayorkas’s perspective as an immigrant casts DHS in a whole new light. Immigrants by themselves do not pose the existential threat that Trump and his team occasionally seemed to portray them.

As the grandson of immigrants, I am delighted to see President-elect Biden casting about for a diversified and qualified supporting cast that can help him craft a government that represents all Americans.

My strong hunch is that Joe Biden is far from finished providing us with more “firsts” as he forms the new government.

national news

Now the acting homeland security boss hits the road

Surely I am not the only American who has this nagging sense that the Donald Trump administration is continuing to unravel, that it is a ship without a rudder, that the “fine-tuned machine” needs a serious overhaul.

Perhaps it should come at the very top of the chain of command.

The acting homeland security secretary, Kevin McAleenan, is calling it quits. Think of this for a moment: At the time when the president wants to crack down on illegal border crossings, trying to secure the “homeland” against evil doers intent on harming us, the guy charged with running the department is bailing.

Sure, the president said some nice things about McAleenan, who inherited the “acting” gig upon the (forced) resignation of Kirsteijn Nielsen. Then again, he often does even when he doesn’t mean it. McAleenan reportedly had been clashing with other senior Trump administration officials, perhaps even with the president himself, over policy matters.

So now the latest acting Cabinet secretary is hitting the road.

There are damn near too many acting secretaries and senior agency heads to count. We do have an acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, who’s basically taken a powder while the president struggles against the rising tide of evidence that is likely to lead to his impeachment.

But what the heck. Trump has said he likes having all these acting secretaries and senior agency bosses. It gives him “flexibility” in enacting policy pronouncements that pour forth from his Twitter account.

Whatever that’s supposed to mean.

So now the individual charged with protecting our “homeland” is gone. Who’s next, and when will that fine-tuned machine start functioning as one?

I don’t know the answer to the first part of the question. The second part? The executive branch of government will right itself when we get a new president of the United States.

national news

Trump throws lunches with Pence aside

This shouldn’t be a big story, but it kind of is a big one.

Donald Trump and Mike Pence aren’t eating lunch together these days. The president has decided to ditch his “intimate” lunches with the vice president. He is sending aides to break bread with the VP.

What does this portend? It’s anyone’s guess, given the mercurial, unpredictable, whim-whipped decision-making that drives the president.

I am left to wonder: Is the president so angry with the VP that he’s going to toss him over when he runs for re-election in 2020?

The report of Trump and Pence no longer breaking bread comes from The Atlantic, which reports that Trump was miffed that Pence endorsed U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz prior to the Indiana Republican presidential primary in 2016. The Atlantic also reports that Trump chided Pence in 2017 about the endorsement Trump received from former Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight. “I won the primary and now look where you are, Mike,” Trump supposedly told the VP.

Well, so much for the fealty that Pence has exhibited while standing by his man, the president.

I don’t know yet where this will go. Nor do I know whether it portends yet another big political shakeup within the Trump administration. Trump has demonstrated quite a propensity for shaking things up. He has tossed aside the Homeland Security chain of command. Trump has yet to name permanent replacements at several key Cabinet and senior advisory posts.

Now it’s the vice president — the next in line for the Big Chair — who might be tossed aside for someone else?

If we play that scenario out, I am baffled as to how Donald Trump could have found a more loyal foot soldier than Mike Pence. He demands loyalty. In Pence, he has gotten what he has demanded . . . and then some!

These private POTUS-VPOTUS lunches have become a staple of many previous administrations. President Obama and Vice President Biden met regularly; so did President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Yes, others at the top of the chain of command have met regularly.

To my admittedly distant vantage point, I just haven’t picked up on the body language exhibited by many previous presidents and vice presidents. Let’s face it: Pence is the straightest arrow in the quiver; Trump is, well, let’s just say he has behaved badly for damn near his entire adult life.

I guess that is why news of the end of the Trump-Pence lunches is a big deal. It might become a huge deal.

national news

Trump rattling his fellow Republicans with DHS purge

Donald Trump is on a tear through the agency formed to protect Americans against enemies of our nation.

He has fired (essentially) the secretary of homeland security, gotten rid of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, canned the Secret Service director. There are threats of more dismissals/resignations to come.

Republican senators are shaking their heads, according to Politico. Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa said she thought DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was doing a “fantastic” job.

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said “It’s a mess,” referring to the border situation and the confusion and chaos at DHS.

Yep, it’s a mess, all right.

I believe that is exactly how Donald Trump prefers it.

Cohesion and smooth operation? Forget about it! Yet he calls his administration a “fine-tuned machine.” The president is not hearing the clanks and misfires from the political “engine” he has built.

I guess I’m allowed to wonder how all this tumult at Homeland Security is going to affect the agency’s ability to, um, secure the homeland.

national news

Great job, fella . . . but hit the road

This kind of thing drives me nuts when I hear about matters such as this. A public servant is fired from his or her job and the guy to whom the person reports tells us all what a “great” job he or she did.

If the person getting canned is doing a great job, wouldn’t that person keep his or her job?

They’re cleaning house

U.S. Secret Service Director Randolph “Tex” Alles is heading for the exits. Donald Trump instructed White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to fire Alles. So, he did.

Then press secretary Sarah Hucakabee Sanders said on behalf of the president that Alles had done a great job running the agency that used to be part of the Treasury Department, but has moved to the Department of Homeland Security.

DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen “resigned” effective immediately over differences with Trump on immigration policy. The president thanked her for her service. That’s it. Message received: Nielsen wasn’t cutting it at DHS, in Trump’s view.

But the Secret Service ouster appears to be part a wholesale housecleaning at DHS.

I’ve read the reports that the man/child behind the shakeup is that 30-something whiz kid/maniac Stephen Miller, who seems to believe that the president needs to get even more harsh on immigrants, legal and illegal alike.

This isn’t fun to watch, no matter the president, the party or the policy involved.

International news

Homeland security boss out . . . yawn!

Kirstjen Nielsen is out as secretary of homeland security.

What in the name of governmental competence am I supposed to make of it?

She tussled with Donald Trump over immigration policy. I am trying to grasp what precisely caused the president’s homeland security honcho to resign — effective immediately.

Indeed, the immediate departure tells me that she pushed out the door. Reports indicate that Trump flamethrower Stephen Miller, the senior policy adviser from hell, has been engineering a top-to-bottom overhaul of the Department of Homeland Security.

Truth be told — if you want to call it that — is that Nielsen learned to lie as clumsily as Donald Trump. She had trouble justifying the parent-child separation policy the Trump administration enacted in its hideous effort to curb illegal immigration. Oh, and then this homeland security secretary of Scandinavian descent just couldn’t bring herself to acknowledge that Trump favors immigrants from that part of Europe over those who hail from “sh**hole” countries in Africa.

Now comes word that Trump wants to get even tougher on illegal immigration. So I guess Nielsen wasn’t quite on board. Is that so?

So the president has named an acting homeland security secretary, who will join the ranks of acting defense secretary, acting White House chief of staff, acting United Nations ambassador, acting interior secretary, acting EPA administrator.

Holy cow, man! The “best people” with whom the president surrounds himself keep heading for the tall grass.