Authored by John Cody via Remix News,

“Should the law pass the European Parliament, the FPÖ demands a referendum in Austria on this asylum package, because this agreement does nothing to turn Europe into a fortress”

Conservative European parties, as well as governments like Poland’s, are launching various measures to push back against a new EU law that will lead to forced migrant relocations across Europe. The law could particularly affect nations such as Hungary and Poland that have been traditionally opposed to mass immigration, but other conservative parties from countries like Germany and Austria are also calling for referendums and other actions against the EU’s migrant quota scheme.

In Poland, the country’s parliament has launched a video campaign against the measure and is about to adopt a resolution proposal authorizing the government to exercise its veto power and not accept the proposal on migrant quotas at the next EU summit. There is also talk of putting the question of mandatory migrant quotas to a national referendum, which will run simultaneously during national elections this autumn.

In Austria, meanwhile, an online petition was launched to reject forced resettlement, while the German right has also protested the controversial new measure.

Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has prepared a draft resolution that would give the government a strong mandate to reject the forced resettlement of migrants based on quotas from Brussels.

The forced migrant quotas, as a part of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, were decided last week at the council of the EU interior ministers. According to the plans, EU member states will either accept a certain number of immigrants or be forced to pay at least €20,000 per migrant into the EU coffers. 

Rafal Bochenek, the PiS party’s spokesperson, recalled that the Polish parliament had passed resolutions similar to the current one before, for example in 2016, but they gave the authority to discuss these issues at the EU level. 

“Now, we want to give the Polish government a strong mandate to use a veto in the European Council,” said the spokesperson of the ruling party. The politicians of Law and Justice wrote in the draft resolution that “The Sejm of the Republic of Poland strongly opposes the attempt to introduce mechanisms for the forced resettlement of illegal economic migrants at the EU level.” 

Austria’s FPÖ also calls for referendum

However, Poland is not the only country considering a referendum on the issue, with Austria’s most popular party, the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), also calling for a national vote.

“Should the law pass the European Parliament, the FPÖ demands a referendum in Austria on this asylum package, because this agreement does nothing to turn Europe into a fortress. That is why politicians must do everything we can to implement a ‘Fortress Austria’ and to protect the country from the new migration of peoples,” said FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl.

Kickl has skewered Austria’s government for going along with the proposal, claiming it has “stabbed Austrians in the back.” The FPÖ has long criticized the Christian democrats, the ÖVP, for being weak on immigration and other conservative ideals.

Kickl said the new rules are the EU’s attempt to “take us for a fool,” and although the EU claims to be tightening standards against economic migration, “the truth is the new asylum rules bring additional burdens for Austria. ÖVP Interior Minister Gerhard Karner has failed in his central promise to prevent a redistribution of asylum seekers. He’s stabbing the Austrians in the back with that,” said Kickl.

“Unfortunately, the much-celebrated compromise does not change the overall situation, with the exception that there should now be a distribution mechanism that is at the expense of economically stronger member countries. Because in the future, Austria would have to pay a fine if it refuses to accept asylum seekers. Approval for such a distribution has been an absolute ‘no go’ since FPÖ Interior Minister Kickl. The ÖVP has also always spoken out against it – until Mr. Karner simply fell over on this issue yesterday,” said FPÖ security spokesperson Hannes Amesbauer.

“Yesterday was a black day for the Austrian population in the truest sense of the word,” concluded Kickl.

The FPÖ is now launching an online petition entitled “Austria’s Fortress against illegal mass immigration.”

In promoting the new petition, Kickl noted that Austria has been hit twice in the last eight years by large waves of migration, both of which caused enormous damage across the country.

“Since 2015, the EU has missed every opportunity to protect the citizens of Europe from the import of terror and social tensions,” said MEP Harald Vilimsky, head of the European delegation of the FPÖ. He said he believes that the only hope is that with next year’s EU elections, a fundamental change can be initiated, and then a referendum can be used to deviate from this mistaken path. According to the MEP, help should be provided in the migrants’ homeland so that they do not leave.

The EU missed all the opportunities to address the migration crisis

Sharp criticism also comes from Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which criticized the EU’s adopted draft as extremely dangerous.

“Under pressure from the German government, unaccompanied minors can easily cross the external border without stopping, including via expedited procedure. The same applies, for example, to entire families arriving from Syria. They also do not deal with the problem that 80 percent of those arriving in Germany were previously able to pass through the EU without registration,” said Gottfried Curio, spokesperson for the interior affairs of the AfD parliamentary group.

The politician emphasized that even after the distribution within the European Union, secondary migration to Germany will continue as long as the will and structures for an effective automatic rejection and deportation system are not created in the country. He added that the people of Brussels maintain false principles, for example, that a person can be a refugee when entering the EU even if he has already traveled through many, many safe third countries. In addition, the EU missed the opportunity to tangibly counterbalance the dramatic overload, especially in Germany, said Gottfried Curio.

At the same time, supposedly conservative governments from Czechia and Italy backed the proposal, which many have portrayed as a betrayal.

Starting in May the Biden administration began signaling to European allies that it won’t block their export of F-16 jets to Kiev, in what many saw as the next big escalation which could see things spiral toward direct Russia-NATO conflict. But it remains widely understood that it will take a significant amount of time before Ukrainian pilots are actually in Western advanced fighters in the skies of Ukraine, also given training alone will likely take at least a year or more.

At a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels, the alliance’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said it’s still too early to put an exact timetable on delivery of F-16s. Yet he still hinted the whole process could be expedited. 

“I welcome the decision by several NATO Allies to provide a training of fighter pilots. This is important and it will enable us to, at a later stage, also make decisions to deliver fourth generation fighter aircraft like, for instance, the F-16s,” he said.

“Exactly when a decision will be taken [to deliver F-16s to Ukraine] it’s too early to say, but the fact that training has started provides us with the option to also decide to deliver planes, and then the pilots will be ready to fly them.”

Stoltenberg’s remarks came on the heels of the Netherlands confirming it is fast moving forward with US-backed plans to establish a training center for Ukrainian pilots in Eastern Europe. Breaking Defense reported Wednesday: 

The Netherlands will begin to train Ukrainian F-16 fighter jet pilots “as soon as possible” as part of a three-step plan backed by the US Department of Defense and has stepped up military aid to Kyiv by way of a new €40 million ($43.3 million) air defense package, set to be announced at the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Germany Thursday.

Both the training and spending plans were revealed by Kajsa Ollongren, Dutch minister of defense, in a letter to the country’s House of Representatives today.

But it’s been widely acknowledged that even the language barrier is among key difficulties which must be overcome:

Though no details of air defense equipment to be supplied to Ukraine were shared, the training plan comprises conversion training, followed by language proficiency and initial flight training, and then the establishment of a training center in an unidentified “Eastern NATO member” country.

Likely Poland will be involved, given that Warsaw has long been vocal on sending Western fighter jets to Ukraine. The Netherlands as Europe’s F-16 training coordinator has said initially a “limited number” of pilots will be admitted to the program and that it will expand over time. 

Ukraine has long expressed its impatience over obtaining advanced Western fighter jets. And now Ukraine is reportedly further eyeing dozens of US-made F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets which have been retired by the Australian Royal Air Force, according to the AFP,

Authored by Bryan Jung via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, proposed a “Global Digital Compact,” (GDC) to push sweeping international laws against “hate and lies” online.

“The proliferation of hate & lies in the digital space is causing grave global harm. This clear & present global threat demands clear and coordinated global action. We don’t have a moment to lose,” he wrote in a tweet announcing the compact.

The UN policy brief, which was released on June 12, called for handing control of the internet to international bodies, as part of the UN’s 2030 Agenda.

Guterres also referred to another UN brief, “Information and Integrity on Digital Platforms” (IIDP), which he said will be used as a guide to coordinate global efforts against “hate.”

The IIDP warned about what it calls, the “darker side of the digital ecosystem,” which could enable “the rapid spread of lies and hate, causing real harm on a global scale.”

Guterres said that the internet is being misused to deny science and spread disinformation and hate to billions of people, in a veiled reference to vaccine skeptics and growing populist movements.

“The proliferation of hate and lies in the digital space is causing grave global harm. This clear and present global threat demands clear and coordinated global action. We don’t have a moment to lose,” he declared in his call for global censorship.

UN Calls for Nations to Suppress Online Disinformation

The GDC is focused on eliminating the “divide across regions, gender, income, language, and age groups” regarding internet access and decries the fact that “some 89 percent of people in Europe are online, but only 21 percent of women in low-income countries use the internet.”

“Inequality is rising,” it claimed, adding that “enormous investments in technology have not been accompanied by spending on public education and infrastructure.”

“Digital technology has led to massive gains in productivity and value, but these benefits are not resulting in shared prosperity,” said the brief.

The GDC blamed “hate speech” and “disinformation,” on malicious hackers, criminal activity, authoritarian state controls, and “predatory business models,” calling them “serious risks to human rights.”

It believes that the only solution is to develop “robust accountability criteria and standards for digital platforms and users to address disinformation, hate speech, and other harmful online content.”

IIDP expanded on that point by claiming that “social media-enabled hate speech and disinformation can lead to violence and death. The ability to disseminate large-scale disinformation to undermine scientifically established facts poses an existential risk to humanity.”

However, the writers of the UN report admitted that “the distinction between mis- and disinformation can be subtle and difficult to determine,” without providing any further details.

These statements raised alarm for those concerned with freedom of speech and in countries that have long traditions of free debate and expression.

Some countries with state-controlled media, like communist China, could utilize the international body’s panel on online censorship to crush overseas opposition to its views and policies worldwide.

Climate and Vaccine Skeptics to Be Targeted

The UN policy brief condemned any criticism of international climate change policy, which the international body sees as a settled science.

Skeptics of green policy were accused of being guilty of “greenwashing,” which was defined as “misleading the public into believing that a company or entity is doing more to protect the environment, and less to harm it, than it is.”

The report also called for banning online “disinformation” during key elections, where “the spread of mis- and disinformation can undermine public trust in electoral institutions and the electoral process itself.”

This proposal would definitely interfere with the internal politics of sovereign states, at a time when election disputes are still being hotly debated, such as with the 2020 and 2022 U.S. elections.

The UN further proposed a digital code of conduct, which laid out some of the proposed rules, but provided little detail on how they would be enforced or how violators would be judged.

The code of conduct only suggested that member states “ensure that responses to mis- and disinformation and hate speech are consistent with international law, including international human rights law, and are not misused to block any legitimate expression of views of opinion.”

The paper also called on major tech companies to “invest in human and artificial intelligence content moderation systems,” which could be programmed to block any views in opposition to the globalist agenda.

“Digital platforms should move away from business models that prioritize engagement above human rights, privacy, and safety,” it added.

“From health and gender equality to peace, justice, education, and climate action, measures that limit the impact of mis- and disinformation and hate speech will boost efforts to achieve a sustainable future and leave no one behind,” the report concluded.

Authored by John & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and intolerable.”

– H.L. Mencken

And so it continues.

This entire fiasco—indicting Donald Trump for allegedly violating both the Espionage Act and obstructing justice by improperly handling classified records—is merely the latest in a never-ending series of distractions, distortions, and political theater aimed at diverting the public’s attention from the sinister advances of the American Deep State.

Don’t allow yourselves to be distracted, diverted or mesmerized by the cheap theater tricks.

This indictment spectacle is Shakespearean in its scope: full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Nothing is the key word here.

Despite the wall-to-wall media coverage, this is all just smoke and mirrors.

Mark my words: the government is as corrupt and self-serving as ever, dominated by two political factions that pretend to be at odds with each other all the while moving in lockstep to maintain the status quo.

If you really want to talk about who’s guilty of treason, set your sights higher: indict the government for overstepping its authority, abusing its power, disregarding the rule of law, and betraying the American people.

When we refer to the “rule of law,” that’s constitutional shorthand for the idea that everyone is treated the same under the law, everyone is held equally accountable to abiding by the law, and no one is given a free pass based on their politics, their connections, their wealth, their status or any other bright line test used to confer special treatment on the elite.

When the government and its agents no longer respect the rule of law—the Constitution—or believe that it applies to them, then the very contract on which this relationship is based becomes invalid.

This abuse of power has been going on for so long that it has become the norm, the Constitution be damned.

There are hundreds—make that thousands—of government bureaucrats who are getting away with murder (in many cases, literally) simply because the legislatures, courts and the citizenry can’t be bothered to make them play by the rules of the Constitution.

Unless something changes in the way we deal with these ongoing, egregious abuses of power, the predators of the police state will continue to wreak havoc on our freedoms, our communities, and our lives.

For too long now, the American people have played politics with their principles and turned a blind eye to all manner of wrongdoing when it was politically expedient, allowing the government to wreak havoc with their freedoms and act in violation of the rule of law.

“We the people” are paying the price for it now.

We are paying the price every day that we allow the government to continue to wage its war on the American People, a war that is being fought on many fronts: with bullets and tasers, with surveillance cameras and license readers, with intimidation and propaganda, with court rulings and legislation, with the collusion of every bureaucrat who dances to the tune of corporate handouts while on the government’s payroll, and most effectively of all, with the complicity of the American people, who continue to allow themselves to be easily manipulated by their politics, distracted by their pastimes, and acclimated to a world in which government corruption is the norm.

It’s the nature of the beast: power corrupts.

Worse, as 19th-century historian Lord Acton concluded, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

We’ve been losing our freedoms so incrementally for so long—sold to us in the name of national security and global peace, maintained by way of martial law disguised as law and order, and enforced by a standing army of militarized police and a political elite determined to maintain their powers at all costs—that it’s hard to pinpoint exactly when it all started going downhill, but we’re certainly on that downward trajectory now, and things are moving fast.

The republic has fallen.

The Deep State’s plot to take over America has succeeded.

The American system of representative government has been overthrown by a profit-driven, militaristic, corporate oligarchy bent on total control and global domination through the imposition of martial law here at home and by fomenting wars abroad.

Even now, we are being pushed and prodded towards a civil war, not because the American people are so divided but because that’s how corrupt governments control a populace (i.e., divide and conquer).

These are dangerous times.

These are indeed dangerous times but not because of violent crime or terrorism or illegal immigration.

No, the real danger that we face comes from none other than the U.S. government and the powers it has granted to its standing armies to rob, steal, cheat, harass, detain, brutalize, terrorize, torture and kill American citizens with immunity.

The danger “we the people” face comes from masked invaders on the government payroll who crash through our doors in the dark of night, shoot our dogs, and terrorize our families.

This danger comes from militarized henchmen on the government payroll who demand absolute obedience, instill abject fear, and shoot first and ask questions later.

This danger comes from greedy, power-hungry bureaucrats on the government payroll who have little to no understanding of their constitutional limits.

This danger comes from greedy politicians and corporations for whom profit trumps principle.

Consider, if you will, all of the dastardly, devious, diabolical, dangerous, debilitating, deceitful, dehumanizing, demonic, depraved, dishonorable, disillusioning, discriminatory, dictatorial schemes inflicted on “we the people” by a bureaucratic, totalitarian regime that has long since ceased to be “a government of the people, by the people and for the people.”

• Americans have no protection against police abuse.

• Americans are little more than pocketbooks to fund the police state.

• Americans are no longer innocent until proven guilty.

• Americans no longer have a right to private property.

• Americans no longer have a say about what their children are exposed to in school.

• Americans are powerless in the face of militarized police.

• Americans no longer have a right to bodily integrity.

• Americans no longer have a right to the expectation of privacy.

• Americans can no longer rely on the courts to mete out justice.

• Americans no longer have a representative government.

I haven’t even touched on the corporate state, the military industrial complex, SWAT team raids, invasive surveillance technology, zero tolerance policies in the schools, overcriminalization, or privatized prisons, to name just a few, but what I have touched on should be enough to show that the landscape of our freedoms has already changed dramatically from what it once was and will no doubt continue to deteriorate unless Americans can find a way to wrest back control of their government and reclaim their freedoms.

Indictments, impeachments and elections will not save us.

History may show that from this point forward, we will have left behind any semblance of constitutional government and entered into a totalitarian state where all citizens are suspects and security trumps freedom.

Even with its constantly shifting terrain, this topsy-turvy travesty of law and government has become America’s new normal.

From Clinton to Bush, then Obama to Trump and now Biden, it’s as if we’re caught in a time loop, forced to re-live the same thing over and over again: the same assaults on our freedoms, the same disregard for the rule of law, the same subservience to the Deep State, and the same corrupt, self-serving government that exists only to amass power, enrich its shareholders and ensure its continued domination.

There can be no denying that the world is indeed a dangerous place, but it’s the government that poses the gravest threat to our freedoms and way of life, and no amount of politicking, parsing or pandering will change that.

It is easy to be diverted, distracted and amused by political circuses and entertainment spectacles.

What is far more difficult to face up to is the reality of life in America, where “we the people” are at a distinct disadvantage in the face of the government elite’s power grabs, greed and firepower.

The Constitution doesn’t stand a chance against a federalized, globalized standing army protected by legislative, judicial and executive branches that are all on the same side.

As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, no matter what political views they subscribe to: suffice it to say, they are not on our side or the side of freedom.

That is the real betrayal.

The ongoing bloodshed in Tijuana, resulting from cartels battling for control over drug smuggling routes into the US, has transformed the border city into one of the most dangerous places in the world. After receiving multiple threats, things escalated recently when the mayor was forced to seek protection at a military base on the edge of town. 

On Tuesday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Mayor Montserrat Caballero has been “protected since about two weeks ago. We agreed to help protect her and will continue to do so.”

Caballero publicly announced her decision to seek protection at a local army base on the southern edge of Tijuana, about 5 miles from the city, after a pickup truck of seven dead bodies was found on Monday. 

“I have received threats, so I am going to live at the base,” she said. 

Threats directed at the mayor by cartels are in response to her administration’s weapon seizure of 1,700 guns plus the arrest of 56 people. 

“They are angry,” she said. “And that’s why I’ve been receiving threats.”

Lopez Obrador said the threats were also directed at the governor of the border state of Baja California. 

The fight over drug smuggling routes by cartels comes as Biden’s border crisis persists. Killings in Tijuana, just miles from San Diego, are up 9% over the last 12 months. Tijuana has more homicides than any other city in Mexico and is one of the most dangerous places in the world. 

The mayor has made the right decision. As for all those San Diegan who cross the border for cheap beer and tequila and the occasional inexpensive Airbnb rental in Mexican beach towns, considering the wartorn conditions, saving a couple of bucks is probably not worth risking your life. 

Perhaps this all means violence is set to erupt in the summer months. 

Submitted by Gun Owners of America,

On June 13th, 2023, the House of Representatives passed a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act to block the Biden Pistol Brace Rule. The final vote was 219-210, with two Democrats joining the Republicans in the effort. 

🚨BREAKING🚨

After months of fighting for the Second Amendment, @Rep_Clyde‘s bill — H.J. Res 44 — has PASSED out of the U.S. House and is headed to the U.S. Senate. pic.twitter.com/trlWuVGZ8U

— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) June 13, 2023

H.J. Res 44 now heads to the Senate for a vote. Due to the nature of this particular resolution, it is not subject to filibuster and, therefore, could likely pass the Senate in a very timely manner.

Of course, many of you smart readers know that once the resolution passes through the Senate, it lands on the President’s desk. 

You might be saying to yourself: “Joe Biden will never sign that.” And you’d be correct.

In fact, the President has already made an official statement about his plan to veto the resolution if it reaches the resolute desk.

So why is this a win for gun rights? Because an act of Congress makes it clear that Biden’s pistol brace rule is government by executive fiat.

To create the Pistol Brace Rule, Biden used his “regulatory authority,” aka an executive order, directing the ATF to ban pistol braces. The ATF then made a rule that classified pistol braced firearms as SBRs or Short Barrel Rifles, subjecting them to taxation and registration via the NFA. 

The rule took effect June 1st, and it is estimated that up to 40 million pistols are outlawed by the change. 

Keep in mind ATF is a federal agency. It’s part of the Department of Justice and, therefore, part of the executive branch. The executive branch does not have the power to make law.

But the Biden administration feels that the separation of powers are just barriers to taking away your 2nd Amendment right. So, they’ve ignored the rule of law and used administrative rulemaking to pass “regulations,” subverting the system and effectively creating new laws for ATF to enforce. 

If Congress puts the resolution on the President’s desk and he vetoes it, it’s evident that the executive branch needs to be checked and balanced. It then falls to the courts. 

That’s a good thing for firearms activists. Federal courts have granted preliminary injunctions to the lawsuits focused on the pistol brace rule, like our case GOA & Texas v. ATF. This act of Congress completely disproves ATF’s argument that they’re simply enforcing the will of Congress by regulating pistol brace equipped firearms, using the almost 100-year-old 1934 National Firearms Act as proof.

This resolution sends a strong message to the courts that ATF is wrongfully assuming Congress’s intent. 

Courts would have no choice but to refute ATF’s argument and strike down the pistol brace rule permanently. 

Gun Owners of America has been working diligently with our allies in Congress to make sure H.J. Res. 44 passed. We’re excited to celebrate victory with our members and supporters. 

Aidan Johnston, GOA’s Director of Federal Affairs, had this to say: 

We applaud the House for doing their part to block this rule and to send a message to the Administration and Courts that the ATF went well beyond its statutory authority with this rule. 

Many of these representatives deserve praise, but especially Congressman Clyde for championing the issue, and the House Democrats who joined their Republican colleagues in voting to block this rogue administration from making their constituents felons. 

Now we turn our attention to the Senate, where a discharge petition has already been filed and this resolution can be fast-tracked to the floor without the ability for anti-gunners to filibuster. We urge Senate Democrats to join Republicans in blocking this rule, and we will do everything in our power to ensure this resolution passes as soon as possible.

But the fight is not over yet. While the resolution only needs a simple majority of 51 votes, many weak Republican Senators will be pressured not to vote yes. We’re calling on all gun owners, especially those in Maine, Arizona, Montana, West Viriginia, Alaska, and other states with potential key votes to make their voices heard by letting their Senators know to vote to overturn the pistol brace rule.

*   *   *

We’ll hold the line for you in Washington. We are No Compromise. Join the Fight Now.

Authored by Jana Pruet via The Epoch Times,

Texas will soon deploy a long chain of large buoys in the middle of the Rio Grande to deter illegal immigrants from crossing the southern border.

Gov. Greg Abbott said the first 1,000-foot floating barrier would be placed in the river at one of the crossing hot spots near Eagle Pass in Maverick County. Eagle Pass is about 145 miles southwest of San Antonio.

“We’re securing the border at the border,” Abbott said during a press conference at the state Capitol in Austin on June 8.

“What these buoys will allow us to do is prevent people from getting to the border.”

The initial floating barrier is expected to be installed on July 7, the governor’s office confirmed in an email to The Epoch Times.

The Republican governor’s announcement followed the signing of several bills to strengthen security at the border.

“Even though we’ve done a lot, we recognize that more must be done. Importantly, the Legislature has recognized that also, and they stepped up to begin with $5.1 billion for Texas to do even more to secure our border,” Abbott told reporters.

During the previous session, the state allocated $4.5 billion for border security, bringing the biennial budgeted total to $9.6 billion.

“Texas is spending close to $10 billion to deal with the crisis and chaos caused by the Biden administration,” Abbott said.

The first installation of the water-based barrier will cost “under $1 million,” said Col. Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

How the Barriers Work

The floating barrier is made up of interconnected rotating buoys that range in height from 4 to 6 feet, depending on the depth of the water where they are deployed.

“This is the deterrent for even coming in the water,” McCraw said.

“This has been tested a number of times, a number of ways by special operators, tactical operators, specialists with Border Patrol.”

McCraw said that because of the water and buoyancy, it’s very difficult to get through the buoys.

“There’s ways to overcome it, but it takes great effort. It takes specialized skills and equipment to do it,” he said.

McCraw explained that in the same way that the razor wire can be moved to various areas, the buoys are also mobile and can be gathered and moved to another part of the river as needed.

“It’s something we can do quickly,” he said. “We can put it there, and it deters the large groups of people from moving in that area.”

There is also webbing that will be anchored to the bottom of the river to prevent people from swimming under the barrier to the other side.

Images of the large buoys—created by the perimeter security company Cochrane USA—were on display during the press conference.

Safety Concerns

McCraw said safety was one of the biggest concerns when border patrol was testing the efficacy of the barriers.

“We don’t want anyone to get hurt,” the DPS chief told reporters. “In fact, we want to prevent people from getting hurt and prevent people from drowning.”

McCraw said that any time migrants decide to cross the river between the ports of entry, they are putting themselves and their family members in harm’s way.

“The only one that benefits, the only one that is enabled and empowered, is the Mexican cartels when that happens,” he continued.

The governor signed into law six bills passed by lawmakers during the 88th legislative session, which ended May 29.

“Thanks to the leadership and hard work of Director McCraw, General [Thomas] Suelzer, and their teams, Texas has pushed back against the swell of migrants and held the line to keep people out of Texas—but there’s more to be done,” Abbott said in a press release.

Abbott signed the following bills into law:

• Senate Bill 423 authorizes the Texas military to use drones for search and rescue missions after natural disasters and for monitoring the Texas-Mexico border (pdf).

• Senate Bill 602 expands the authority of border patrol agents to include arrest, search, and seizure at border checkpoints and points of entry for felony offenses under Texas law. Agents are only allowed to detain certain individuals under current law (pdf).

• Senate Bill 1122 creates a grant program to compensate agriculture landowners up to $75,000 for damage caused to their property by border crimes (pdf).

• Senate Bill 1403 allows the governor to coordinate and execute an interstate compact with other states without seeking congressional approval (pdf).

• Senate Bill 1484 creates a collaboration between DPS and local law enforcement agencies to share expertise in the fight against transnational criminal activities (pdf).

• Senate Bill 1900 designates Mexican drug cartels and criminal organizations as foreign terrorists. It increases the penalties for the distribution of illegal drugs and those operating stash houses. And it adds foreign terrorist organizations to intelligence databases (pdf).

Crisis at the border

In March 2021, the governor launched Operation Lone Star, a multi-agency effort to stop illegal crossings, drug smuggling, and human smuggling at the Texas-Mexico border.

Since its inception, Operation Lone Star has apprehended more than 381,000 illegal immigrants entering the country. Nearly 30,000 people have been arrested, with more than 26,000 felony charges reported, the governor’s office said.

“Washington D.C. has failed to do its job to secure our border,” Abbott told reporters. “As a result, Texas has had to take unprecedented steps in responding to the border.”

A former morgue manager at Harvard Medical School was indicted on federal charges for stealing body parts of donated cadavers and reselling them to individuals in a nationwide human-remains trafficking scheme. 

Cedric Lodge worked at the medical school’s morgue in Boston. He allowed buyers into the school’s morgue to create a shopping list of body parts, able to choose from skin, brains, heads, and bones, according to the five-count indictment filed Tuesday in US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Lodge “stole dissected portions of donated cadavers, including…heads, brains, skin, bones, and other human remains, without the knowledge or permission of (the school) and removed those remains from the morgue in Massachusetts and transported them to his residence in New Hampshire,” the indictment said. 

“Some crimes defy understanding,” United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam wrote in a statement. 

Karam continued: “The theft and trafficking of human remains strikes at the very essence of what makes us human. It is particularly egregious that so many of the victims here volunteered to allow their remains to be used to educate medical professionals and advance the interests of science and healing. For them and their families to be taken advantage of in the name of profit is appalling. With these charges, we are seeking to secure some measure of justice for all these victims.” 

The indictment alleges Lodge and his wife, Denise, sold body parts to others, including Katrina Maclean and Joshua Taylor. 

Maclean owns Kat’s Creepy Creations, a store in Peabody, Massachusetts, where the indictment says she sold the stolen body parts to others. 

Investigators claim Maclean asked Lodge for human skin so a mortuary and crematorium employee in Little Rock, Arkansas, could tan the skin to create leather.  

Harvard University officials said: 

“We are appalled to learn that something so disturbing could happen on our campus — a community dedicated to healing and serving others.” 

The medical school said they’re working with federal authorities “to attempt to identify victims and contact as many of the victims’ families affected by this case as possible.” 

Authored by Michael Wing via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The younger woman spoke through tears, telling Patsy Levang how a biological male had been admitted into Kappa Kappa Gamma, the on-campus women’s sorority house where she lives at the University of Wyoming. The newly-minted male member has free access to areas where men are strictly banned: that includes hallways, lockless bathrooms, and changing areas. “I don’t think anyone cares,” Hannah Holtmeier told Levang, the former Kappa Foundation president who bid the organization farewell in 2012.

The women were “shocked” and “caught off guard” by the 6-foot, 2-inch, 260-pound individual, Artemis Langford, 21, who identifies as female and gained unfettered access to the girls-only quarters of the second floor. Witnesses reported seeing him couched in the common area, not studying, for hours; sidling in and standing silently in the corner of the room while the women changed; becoming visibly aroused—mind and body reacting as a man—while watching them. His distinctly male response was visible through his leggings, they allege. Other times he kept a pillow on his lap.

The women spoke of more awkward moments: his allegedly photographing them during a sorority slumber party; repeatedly questioning them about female body parts; refusing to leave said slumber party until “after you fall asleep.” It felt “weird” and “gut-wrenching” being around him, they said, and “quite a few” Kappa Kappa Gamma members, particularly from Langford’s batch, had left.

Having heard similar complaints from other women’s Greek and sport groups, Levang has since decreed the trans movement “the women’s rights issue of our time.” If headquarters pushed Kappa Kappa Gamma to become co-ed, breaking with 151 years of tradition, they would surely see the organization “go down the drain,” she told The Epoch Times. “We had to step up and do something.”

Levang listened, and shortly thereafter joined Holtmeier and half a dozen other Kappa women to launch a lawsuit against the sorority’s national leadership. They claim they were promised a sisterhood and a haven where they would feel safe in their own homes while forging lifelong female friendships. By inducting a male member, they added, the sorority not only violated its own guidelines, but the bylaws.

The University of Wyoming newspaper, Branding Iron, previously quoted Langford saying, “I feel so glad to be in a place that I think not only shares my values but to be in a sisterhood of awesome women who want to make history” and, “They want to break the glass ceiling, trailblazing you know, and I certainly feel that as their first trans member, at least in the chapter in Wyoming history.” Plaintiff Allison Coghan would tell Fox News’ Laura Ingram, “No, we certainly did not [sign up for trailblazing]” when they joined Kappa Kappa Gamma.

In March 2023, the women filed a legal complaint in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming, which reads:

An adult human male does not become a woman just because he tells others that he has a female ‘gender identity’ and behaves in what he believes to be a stereotypically female manner.

The Fraternity Council has betrayed the central purpose and mission of Kappa Kappa Gamma by conflating the experience of being a woman with the experience of men engaging in behavior generally associated with women.

Pushing for Kappa’s First Trans Sorority ‘Sister’

Levang alleges Langford didn’t measure up to join the sisterhood, yet was given preferential treatment by national headquarters. Since its founding in 1870, Kappa Kappa Gamma has aimed to level the playing field for young women competing in academics against men, yet there are checks at the gate; not just any woman can enter. Like a job interview, a formal recruitment process seeks quality applicants. “He was non-communicative, he didn’t engage,” Levang said. “The women found him not to be a fit; he just didn’t mesh in well, so … he was removed from the formal recruitment process.” Langford entered through a loophole and pressuring from the sorority’s national leadership, but it was done improperly.

The girls were supposed to have a closed-ballot vote whether to accept Langford, but that wasn’t followed. “They were forced to have their ballot open on email and then they were told that if they didn’t have their vote open, or if they voted no, that they would be visited with,” Levang said. “I would say it was bullying, intimidation, kind of a threat against them if they didn’t vote yes.”

Ordinarily, the sisters have to live at the fraternity house they belong to. Langford was granted a special exemption allowing him to join while living off-campus. “It’s quite costly to pay for your living at Kappa house because you’re paying for food; you’re paying for a place to sleep at night; you’re paying for the living room; a place to do your studying,” Levang said. “He’s getting exemptions that nobody else is getting; they’re giving him partial treatment.” Now there are plans for him to move in with the women before fall 2023.

Langford received other exemptions. Despite his 1.9 GPA falling well below the requisite 2.7 GPA to join Kappa, he was given a pass.

Mary Pat Rooney, the fraternity’s council president, and the members of Kappa council in 2018 reportedly issued a memorandum titled, “Guide for Supporting our LGBTQIA+ Members,” requiring sorority chapters to admit “individuals who identify as women.”

The complainants now allege the University of Wyoming chapter was pressured to induct its first transgender member to raise its prominence and curry favor with the national sorority leaders.

Incensed by all this, the sisters and several witnesses turned to Long Horn Legal. Arguing that said guide alters neither the bylaws nor other governing documents, such as Title IX, they accuse the sorority of breaching its fiduciary duty to its female members. The women are suing for the court to ban Langford’s membership and declare that men cannot join. The Epoch Times contacted the defendants for comment. In a response, the sorority told Fox that the lawsuit “contains numerous false allegations” and that “Kappa Kappa Gamma values diversity and does not discriminate based on classes protected by state, local or federal law.” The hearing is expected to be held this fall, Levang says.

More Women Fighting the Left for Women’s Rights 

A traditionally progressivist domain, women’s rights have become a battleground, again, with transgenderism encroaching on women’s sports, and now, it would seem, academics. Yet more women have started pushing back. Last month, 12-time All-American female swimmer for the University of Kentucky Riley Gaines broke silence about a race where she tied with trans swimmer Lia Thomas in 2022 where the judges decided in his favor for the sake of a “photo op;” while female swimmers have been chilled from criticizing Thomas, Gaines has spoken out loudly and, recently, has inspired female swimmer Paula Scanlon, a teammate of Thomas’s at Penn State, to follow suit; in June Scanlon revealed that the NCAA wrote her team in an email “you will regret it” if they dared to raise objections to Thomas. The trans swimmer, they stated, was to be accepted in the name of inclusivity.

Levang understands how employing words like “inclusivity” or “diversity” aims to control nomenclature—harnessing the power meaning has—to dominate conversations about transgenderism. The former head of a woman’s sorority foundation, Levang offers her take on that particular word, inclusivity, and how it pertains to the present conversation.

“We have always, as an organization, been very diverse. We’ve had lots of women from all different kinds of backgrounds,” she said. “If you look at inclusion, that’s one of our pillars. To be inclusive and kind and caring.” Langford being someone having both X and Y chromosomes—a man, that is—he would have been welcomed inclusively to stay as a guest on the main floor like everyone else, she added, “but to come and live with them and be part of the group? No, that’s not appropriate.”

(Tr)anheuser-Busch InBev’s Bud Light brand has lost its spot as the number one selling beer in America. The historic, unprecedented self-sabotage at the beermaker by an underqualified, woke, virtue-signaling idiot marketing executive has sparked ten weeks of crashing demand as beer drinkers ditch Bud for Mexican lager Modelo Especial.

According to NielsenIQ data from consulting firm Bump Williams, Constellation Brands’ Modelo represented 8.4% of US retail-store beer sales in the four weeks that ended June 3, compared with 7.3% for Bud Light. The Wall Street Journal first reported these findings. 

Dave Williams, vice president of consumer insights and analytics at Bump Williams, told USA Today that Modelo dethroning Bud Light is “a pretty big deal.” However, he pointed out that Bud Light continues to surpass Modelo in volume sales and remains the top-ranking beer brand based on dollar sales year-to-date. 

“There’s a lot of volume from Bud Light still moving out there. The number of cases being moved surpasses any other brand,” Williams said, adding that he expects Bud Light will face further declines this summer as Modelo and other domestic lagers continue to gain market share. 

 “Our year is screwed,” one Anheuser-Busch distributor told WSJ. That person said they don’t carry Modelo. 

The sudden shift comes as Bud Light faces a consumer boycott after the brewer embraced ‘trans’ influencer Dylan Mulvaney in early April. 

And it appears the brewer has yet to learn its lesson, as we noted days ago, “Bud Light Appears In Promotional Material For “All Ages Drag Show Party” In Flagstaff.”

In what’s become a remarkable cautionary tale for businesses keen on embracing woke ideology, Harvard-educated Bud Light marketing VP Alissa Heinerscheid thought it would be a great idea to use a clownish, male-to-female trans TikTok star as a brand ambassador for what’s long been seen as a manly beer for hard-working, blue-collar people. 

Her idea was bad enough on its face, but the particular means of executing it was even more absurd, as Dylan Mulvaney’s coming-out as a Bud Light ambassador was tied to the beer’s position as a major sponsor of NCAA March Madness.

Note that Mulvaney doesn’t act like a woman — he instead performs a demeaning caricature of one. In the now-infamous video, Mulvaney displayed a Bud Light can with his image on it and said:

“I kept hearing about this thing called March Madness, and I thought we were all just having a hectic month, but it turns out it has something to do with sports, and I’m not sure exactly which sport, but either way, it’s a cause to celebrate. This month I’ve celebrated my Day 365 of womanhood, and Bud Light sent me possibly the best gift ever — a can with my face on it!” 

Bud Light and Mulvaney weren’t just making a mockery of women, but of an immensely popular sports event that Bud Light was paying an enormous sum to associate its name with, and one they should want real women to embrace alongside men. It was so multi-dimensionally stupid that many understandably concluded it had to be some kind of a joke:

Dylan Mulvaney has become the new brand ambassador for Bud Light. 🍺

The beer brand even made a special edition Dylan Mulvaney Can 🥤celebrating his 365 days of girlhood.

(This is not April Fools, it’s actually real)

🍺🍻🍺😒🍻🍺🍻 #dylanmulvaney #trans #transgender pic.twitter.com/xuu87WxrvZ

— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) April 1, 2023

Months later, the backlash has proved as enduring as it was swift. For the week ending June 3, Bud Light sales were still down 24%, while Modelo Especial was up 12%. The latest numbers follow Memorial Day weekend images shared on social media showing desperate retailers marking 18-packs of Bud Light all the way down to just $2.99. 

The new numbers don’t include bars and restaurants, where Bud Light’s results are almost certainly even worse, given consumer wariness that ordering and drinking the beer may be interpreted by others as an endorsement of the company’s LGBTQ push. 

Joe Rogan recently marveled at consumers’ power to deliver an crushingly-punitive “no” vote against brands force-feeding them LGBTQ culture:

“People are tired of this woke agenda, they’re tired of it being shoved in their faces by corporations and BOOM…Bud Light loses $27 billion by sending a can with a face on it of an attention whore…to that attention whore. And all of a sudden everybody is like…’hey, ENOUGH.” 

“Enough. What are you doing?”

Joe Rogan on the public’s response to the Woke corporate marketing failures at Bud Light and Target. pic.twitter.com/Lu5fXHXOuT

— Mythinformed (@MythinformedMKE) June 9, 2023