HARRIS SAYS SHE WILL BUILD A BORDER WALL, MAJORITY POLLED DON’T BELIEVE HER

September 11, 2024
Bethany Blankley | The Center Square, contributor

In another policy reversal, Vice President Kamala Harris says she now supports building a border wall after she and President Joe Biden opposed doing so for nearly four years and she vehemently opposed it while she was a U.S. senator.

The majority of Americans polled don’t believe her, with only 32% saying she’s been consistent on the issue of immigration, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll.

Harris continues to claim in remarks that she’d sign a Senate border bill into law, which went nowhere in the Democrat-controlled Senate, that allocates $650 million to border wall construction.

This is after the Biden-Harris administration halted border wall construction in January 2021 and has been fighting a lawsuit against Texas over it ever since, only recently losing in federal court. The administration has fought dozens of lawsuits over border policies against half of the U.S. states, many led by Texas.

While the Senate bill was being negotiated, Harris, Biden’s designated “border czar,” wasn’t involved, according to multiple news reports.

Harris has long openly opposed border wall construction.

After joining the U.S. Senate, in April 2017, she former President Donald Trump's border wall was a "stupid use of money. I will block any funding for it."

In April 2018, Harris urged the Senate Appropriations Committee to reject Trump’s fiscal 2019 funding request to build a “costly and ineffective border wall,” hire new Border Patrol agents, and more U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel.

She urged the committee to “reduce funding for the administration's reckless immigration enforcement operations,” including reducing funding for beds in the federal immigration detention system, which agents argue is critical to holding the most violent criminals before deporting them.

Harris has more than once called for abolishing ICE, The Center Square reported.

She also strongly urged the committee “to reject any funding for President Trump's border wall,” saying “a wall, in fact, would do little to aid federal drug interdiction efforts.”

When she first ran for president in 2019, she described Trump's border wall as a "medieval vanity project." As vice president, in February 2020, she posted on Facebook, "Trump's border wall is a complete waste of taxpayer money and won't make us any safer."

Multiple news outlets recently called out Harris for her policy reversal. “It's the latest example of Harris flip-flopping on her past liberal positions such as supporting Medicare for All and banning fracking – proposals that aides say she now is against,” Axios reported.

One USA Today columnist said she thought Harris’ claim was from The Babylon Bee, a satirical website, “but it wasn’t satire.” Harris “decided she supports one of former President Donald Trump’s signature ideas − and one despised by progressives.”

CNN’s KFile Investigates searched through Harris social media posts from 2017 and found that she criticized Trump’s wall more than 50 times, referring to it as “stupid” and “useless.”

In a campaign ad, Harris claimed to prosecute Mexican cartels and fight border crime but was lambasted by California sheriffs saying they didn’t support her. An image of the border wall was prominently displayed in the ad. But it was a section that Trump built, CNN reported, “in Sasabe, Arizona, in an area where there had not previously been border wall. The other walls feature signs that they were Trump-era walls, such as so-called anti-climbing plates that were built during the Trump years.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has argued if Harris or Biden were serious about border security, they’d drop their fight with Texas in multiple border-related lawsuits including three before the Fifth Circuit. The administration is still trying to halt Texas’s border security law, SB 4, and halt Texas’ construction of concertina wire and marine barriers.

Harris would also reimburse Texas the roughly $12 billion Texas taxpayers have paid for border security efforts through Abbott’s Operation Lone Star and respond to his invitations to come to the border and see the crisis for herself, Abbott has argued.

Within months of the Biden-Harris administration halting border wall construction, Abbott announced Texas would build its own border wall in June 2021. By December 2021, construction began on state land in Rio Grande City.

Texas continues to build its own border wall in Starr County/Maverick County. The wall pictured above is in Maverick County.

Texas continues to build its own border wall in Starr County/Maverick County. The wall pictured above is in Maverick County. Gov. Greg Abbott via X

Texas’ wall is steel and constructed similarly to the Trump wall. The first part was built and erected by a local Texas company, McAllen Strong Steel.

Unlike the federal government, which left millions of dollars of steel on the ground to rust, costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, Texas construction was implemented in record time and with accountability, state officials argue. Texas Facilities Commission Chair Steven Alvis said operations that would have normally taken two-to-three months took two-to-three days because of Texas ingenuity and hard work, The Center Square reported.

On Sunday, Abbott posted a video of ongoing Texas border wall construction in Maverick County, saying, “Texas is fighting on the frontlines of the Biden-Harris border crisis.”

Before Labor Day, he posted a video of border wall construction in Starr County, saying, “Texas is the ONLY state in U.S. history to build our own border wall. We will protect Texans and Americans from the unprecedented surge of illegal immigration.”

DONALD TRUMP WARNS MARK ZUCKERBERG COULD 'SPEND THE REST OF HIS LIFE IN PRISON' IF META 'CHEATS' IN ELECTION

Wednesday, August 30, 2024
Ryan King | New York Post

Former President Donald Trump railed against Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in his upcoming book, accusing the tech tycoon of undermining him in the last election and warning of possible jail time.

Trump, 78, recounted meeting with Zuckerberg, 40, and seethed over the 2020 election in his upcoming book “Save America,” set to hit bookshelves on Sept. 3.

“We are watching him closely, and if he does anything illegal this time he will spend the rest of his life in prison — as will others who cheat in the 2024 Presidential Election,” Trump wrote in the book, per a preview obtained by Politico.

The 45th president has lashed out at the Meta chief executive repeatedly in the past. Earlier this year he bucked his own party and expressed support for TikTok, warning, “If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business.”

Congress later passed a bipartisan bill to compel TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to divest from the popular video-sharing platform or face a ban from the top app stores. That legislation came in response to national security concerns.

Underpinning Trump’s warming up to TikTok was lobbying from GOP megadonor Jeff Yass, as The Post has previously reported.

Last month, Trump fumed at Zuckerberg in a Truth Social screed, saying, “ELECTION FRAUDSTERS at levels never seen before, and they will be sent to prison for long periods of time. We already know who you are. DON’T DO IT! 'ZUCKERBUCKS', be careful.”

“Zuckerbucks” is a reference to the roughly $420 million that Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan donated to help state and local governments conduct their elections during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He has since indicated that he has no plans to make similar donations ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election.

“They were designed to be nonpartisan — spread across urban, rural, and suburban communities,” Zuckerberg wrote in a recent letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

“Still, despite the analyses I’ve seen showing otherwise, I know that some people believe this work benefited one party over the other,” he added. “My goal is to be neutral and not play a role one way or another — or to even appear to be playing a role. So I don’t plan on making a similar contribution this cycle.”

Republicans have long scrutinized Meta, blasting it for initially suppressing The Post’s bombshell story about then-future first son Hunter Biden’s laptop and its alleged coordination with the administration to throttle certain COVID-19 content.

“I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it,” Zuckerberg wrote in his recent letter to Jordan. “I also think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today.”

Jordan also chairs the House subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which has had Meta and other Big Tech firms in its crosshairs.

“Like I said to our teams at the time, I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any Administration in either direction — and we’re ready to push back if something like this happens again,” he wrote.

Meta booted Trump from Facebook and Instagram following his actions revolving around the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Trump was reinstated early last year.

During his social media exile, Trump formed a new platform, Truth Social, where he has unleashed his unvarnished thoughts into cyberspace. Trump has also begun upping the tempo of his posts on X.

In his upcoming book, Trump also recounted in a photo caption how Zuckerberg “would come to the Oval Office to see me. He would bring his very nice wife to dinners, be as nice as anyone could be, while always plotting to install shameful Lock Boxes in a true PLOT AGAINST THE PRESIDENT,” per Politico.

“He told me there was nobody like Trump on Facebook. But at the same time, and for whatever reason, steered it against me.”

The Post contacted Meta for comment.

BACK TO THE FUTURE WITH PRICE CONTROLS

Wednesday, August 21, 2024
Jacob G. Hornberger | Power & Market

Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris is demonstrating why monetary debasement has always been a favorite way for government officials to plunder the citizenry. Rather than focusing on the Federal Reserve as the root cause of prices rising across society, she’s blaming rising food prices on grocery-store owners. Consequently, she says that if she is elected president, she’ll get a federal “anti-gouging” law enacted that prevents grocery stores from raising prices.

In other words, she’s going to impose price controls, which inevitably means that we are going to have to deal with shortages of everything in grocery stores that has a price control imposed on it.

Of course, this is what governments have done since the invention of the printing press. Debasing the currency by printing ever-increasing quantities of money and then blaming the resulting rising prices on greedy, rapacious, evil, profit-seeking, capitalist swine has always been the way that government officials plunder the citizenry without having the citizenry figure out what the government is doing to them.

Let’s assume that the government is spending $2 trillion more per year than what it is bringing in with taxes. Let’s also assume that the government is already $34 trillion in debt.

Where does the government get that $2 trillion? One way is to raise taxes. Another way is to borrow it and add it on to the overall federal debt. But people get angry when taxes get too high. They also get concerned when they see the government’s debt getting excessively high because they know that ultimately taxpayers are on the hook for paying it off.

Thus, the government has to figure out a way to tax people without their realizing that they are getting taxed. That’s where a central bank (i.e., the Federal Reserve) and the printing press come into play. The central bank simply prints up that $2 trillion and the government goes out and spends it.

But that $2 trillion in new paper money has consequences. It lowers the value of everyone’s money. And there is only one way that that lower value can be reflected: through higher prices of most everything in society. In other words, people’s money simply doesn’t buy as much as it did before the government’s monetary debasement. Let’s say it buys 20 percent less than it did before. That’s the same as if the government had taxed people an additional 20 percent of their income.

Except that there is a big difference between raising income taxes by 20 percent and a 20 percent monetary-debasement tax. The difference is that people can see the 20 percent increase in taxes but many of them can’t see that the government is behind the 20 percent debasement tax. Instead, they see the rising prices in the grocery store and blame it on the grocery-store owners rather than on the Federal Reserve, which has lowered the value of their money through monetary debasement.

GEAUGA COURTHOUSE EXPANSION PLAN SERIOUSLY OVER BUDGET WITH THREATS OF RECESSION LOOMING ON HORIZON

Friday, August 10, 2024

Geauga Commissioners decided about late 2018 to move the main location of Geauga County business out of Chardon City to 12611 Ravenwood Drive, otherwise known as the County Administration Building. Displeasure with the lack of upgrades to Chardon Square, Chardon City initiated litigation against the Board of Commissioners in 2020.

After lengthy negotiations in Geauga Common Pleas Court, Commissioners were ordered to initiate expansion on the County Courthouse before December 31, 2023, and Chardon City agreed to pay 10% of the cost, not to exceed $2 million.

Maintaining physical security for judges Ondrey and Paschke and their court staffs in the renovated courthouse expansion was critical in view of courtroom shootings the last fifteen or so years. As a result, Then Design Associates architectural plan added a nine-foot stone security fence, and a sally port to deposit prisoners securely and to facilitate ambulance access. Although Commissioner Jim Dvorak noted that the carving of a meaningful logo (a maple leaf) into the stone security fence created unnecessary expense at a time when “we [BOCC] don’t have unlimited funds. . .[n]evertheless, we’re gonna go with the ultimate deluxe stone wall” at an additional price of about $650,000 and a new pedestrian sidewalk, both in excess of the original $14-$15 million estimate to complete.

The plan, unveiled at a BOCC public meeting on November 7, 2023, was memorialized in a manual constructed by Infinity Construction dated November 17, 2023, to include a courtroom/jury room on each floor so that Judge Paschke and Judge Ondrey will not need to share facilities.

As early as the end of November, 2023, Commissioner Lennon noted his concerns about the creeping expenses that would make the final cost of the expansion prohibitive for Geauga taxpayers. Lennon noted that the original cost estimate “was around $14 million” but already “creeping up closer to about $18 million. . .If we can find ways to bring this cost back down. . . to $15million to $16 million. . .that’s my two cents.”

Already November 28, 2023, Commissioner Meeting, Agenda Item #7 called for approval of Change Order #1, “increasing the Contract with Then Design Architecture for Additional Mechanical and Electrical Fees for the Engineering of a snow melt system for several exterior sidewalk curbs in the amount of $4,400.”

When this writer asked County Administrator Morgan how the $4,400 would increase the original cost estimate of the Courthouse Expansion/renovation, Mr. Morgan attributed the additional cost for design work only of the Courthouse Project and not a part of the total cost on the project for Geauga taxpayers.

As early as December 5, 2023, one week later, Gerry Morgan presented documents to members of the “Statutory Group,” including Judges Ondrey and Paschke, at 9:52 am. He presented amended drawings of the Courthouse Expansion Plan along with “GMP Amendment #1” for a total additional cost amount to taxpayers of $931,002 in addition to the original “CMR Courthouse Expansion Agreement” of $91,000.

By January 30, 2024, "GMP Amendment #2” was approved for an additional cost of $18,664,744. The total investment as of that date was already pushed to $19,686,746, already a massive inflationary addition to the original $14-$15 million county investment.

The project is still progressing. As of six months later, on July 23, 2024, there have been three Change Orders dealing with Construction : Change Order 1 for an additional $9,562, bringing the total investment to $19,696,308; Change Order 2 for $210,345 bringing the current but incomplete cost to $19,906,654; and Change Order 3, for an additional $72,853.

As noted by County Administrator Morgan, the “SUBTOTAL” to-date (July 25) with the project not totally finished is a whopping $19,979,507.

This writer received received this requested update from Mr. Morgan on August 6, 2024, effective July 25, 2024.

Okay, readers, how many ways can you increase the original $15 million to $20 million, an increase of 33 1/3%? This accounting certainly reeks of poor stewardship of both Geauga taxpayers’ funds and trust. The rate of inflation on this still-incomplete project makes the rate of inflation on purchases of homes, vehicles, insurance, and even meat and necessary grocery items look laughable by comparison, but nobody is laughing about poor Geauga County stewardship of scarce taxpayer funds. Will the Geauga County Bureaucracy wait until the old mother goose who laid that pure gold egg for them is finally ravaged? What has happened to the earlier county fiscal budget concerns about “recession just around the corner”?

Geauga County Bureaucracy, when you break the goose that laid the golden egg for you, you may deposit in your midst another Great Recession “just around the corner.”

IS THE U.S. ECONOMY ON THE BRINK OF RECESSION?

Monday, August 5, 2024
Orphe Divounguy | The Center Square

The Federal Reserve held its key interest rate steady last week and hinted at the possibility of a rate cut in September.

What happened next seemed straight out of a poorly written movie script. Softer-than-expected economic data began to pour in, as if to admonish Fed officials for not acting sooner to lower the Fed funds rate. The prophets of doom and charlatans of gloom did not waste any time, emerging with claims that the economy, which was growing at 2.5% due mostly to strong consumer spending, was on the brink of a calamitous economic downturn. Fear began to set in. Stocks and treasury yields plummeted as financial market participants became convinced that central bankers had made a grave policy error and that the Fed was once again behind the curve.

The June construction spending data showed another decline, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported that the manufacturing sector remained in contraction territory, and the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report revealed another sharp increase in the unemployment rate.

The unemployment rate moved up to 4.3% from 4.1% in June. Wage growth moderated to 3.6% year-over-year, down from 3.9%. Employment gains remained concentrated in just a handful of sectors.

The reality is that the labor market is just cooling, expanding at a slower pace but not crashing. Most of the increase in the unemployment rate is due to a large increase in America’s workforce. And that’s a good thing.

As more workers join the labor force, some find work immediately while others end up unemployed, essentially just looking for work. As a result, total employment and the total number of unemployed workers rise. Since hiring rates have also moderated from the torrid pandemic pace, the increase in unemployment has outpaced employment gains, thus raising the unemployment rate. Layoffs remain low, and the labor market hasn’t cracked yet. Instead, employment may simply be reaching a ceiling, as Ernie Tedeschi, the director of Economics at The Budget Lab at Yale, so eloquently put it.

While hiring has slowed, this labor market started cooling from a very strong position. The last time the employment rate of America’s prime working-age population was this high was in April 2001. In other words, if you are between the ages of 25 and 54, you are more likely to be employed today than at any time in the past 23 years.

With inflation moderating fast, the Fed has garnered enough evidence that the time for a less restrictive policy rate has come. The shift to a more neutral policy stance will help support aggregate demand and keep the U.S. economy growing at a more sustainable pace.

Shortly after the jobs report, traders began to price in a 50-basis Points rate cut at the Fed's September meeting. But by the end of the trading day, expectations had shifted back to just a 25- basis Points rate cut in September. Despite higher volatility last week, market participants still expect three 25- basis Points rate cuts this year, beginning in September.

The 10-year treasury yield - that mortgage rates tend to follow - is now at its lowest level since December 2023. Don't be surprised to see yields move back up in the weeks ahead.

RECOVERING FROM COVID

THE EMPEROR’S OLD AGE: BIDEN AND THE DEEP STATE CON

Friday, July 19, 2024
Adam De Gree | Charlemagne Institute

In Hans Christian Andersen’s classic folktale “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” a vain monarch pays two con artists to make an expensive suit of clothes that cannot be seen by fools. When the emperor and his ministers can’t see the clothes, they don’t say anything—after all, they don’t want to be taken for fools. When the emperor’s subjects can’t see the new “clothes,” they don’t say anything either.

It’s only when an innocent child laughs at the emperor strutting around half-naked that everyone realizes they are the fools. Yet the emperor doesn’t end his parade. In fact, he swaggers more arrogantly than ever.

On June 27, 2024, millions of Americans realized that they had been fooled. The supposedly wise men and women of the regime promised the country that the president was “sharp,” “focused,” and “vibrant.” As the first presidential debate unfolded, the con was exposed. And just as in Andersen’s story, the imperial president Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. is strutting about more confidently than ever before.

But as it revealed the human tragedy that has befallen a confused old man on the world’s biggest stage, the debate put the spotlight on a deeper issue. If Joe Biden cannot reliably string sentences together, then there is no way that he is the one exercising the authority of the presidency.

The most powerful elected official in a government of the people, by the people, and for the people is incapable of exercising any of the powers vested in him by the Constitution.

If the commander in chief is not leading the executive branch, who is?

The question has a very simple answer: No one knows.

While it is possible that the executive branch is currently being run by Vice President Kamala Harris or by the president’s cabinet, the most likely possibility seems to be that bureaucrats in agencies like the FDA and CIA—the so-called “Deep State”—are in charge. After all, even when presidents are of sound mind and body, most government decisions are not in their hands. Rather, they have been handed over to the “experts” who staff regulatory agencies.

Many of those experts cycle between the agencies charged with regulating business and the businesses they are supposed to regulate—but that’s another story. What is relevant here is that none of these people have been granted, constitutionally,  the powers that they now hold.

The Constitution is crystal clear as to who rightfully holds executive power. As Article II opens, “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” According to the supreme law of the land, the president is the only person who can run the executive branch. Neither the Vice President, nor the cabinet members, nor the managerial elite have that authority.

For nearly 10 years, a substantial portion of American citizens have gone to the ballot box with one goal in mind: to scale back the administrative state. Many are willing to support anyone who promises to fight back. So it is that the political party that claims to champion family values has elected a morally unsavory candidate for the simple reason that he set out to “drain the swamp.”

After all, as I’ve written elsewhere, some 70 percent of Americans believe the system is rigged in favor of the rich and powerful. Rooting out the corruption of the regime is so important that even a controversial former president seems preferable to a zombie controlled by shadowy elites.

Until now, the men and women of the media and the current administration have slandered those who oppose administrative overreach as “conspiracy theorists.” On debate night, the conspiracy was laid bare for all to see. And now, only one question remains:

Do Americans want a government run by people they elect, or a government run by people they cannot name?

“COUNTY WILL BE HOLDING THE BAG...WE ARE NOT SIGNING OFF. . .”

Tuesday, July 16, 2024

Prosecutor Jim Flaiz and Chief Assistant Prosecutor Laura LaChapelle showed up at approximately 10 am today for “a discussion . . .regarding the Purchase and Sale Agreement,” a vague and meaningless reference unless the reader has been following the acquisition of the perfect property that will eventually become the Geauga County Senior Center under the auspices of the Geauga County Department of Aging. Flaiz and Chapelle made their appearance after about a five-minute Commissioner commentary at the conclusion of the July 9, 2024, Commissioner meeting .

It has become apparent that either there are a large number of elected officials who are not privy to all the details or it is simply more important for these individuals to act first without doing the necessary research. Those individuals whom we expect to provide the correct answers have managed to miss the next public sessions for one reason or another (most recently, we understand the reasons for delaying an important answer are vacation days). Given repeated days of absence, the officials that we look to for final resolution of questions, along with those seeking the answers, may forget their issues altogether. To be clear, 2024 is an important election year. Intended or accidental forgetfulness of diligent research and facts is inexcusable.

One of Prosecutor Flaiz’s assets is his ability to make his voice audible and his logic coherent. These were not always his strong points, but his 25-minute “ discussion regarding the Purchase and Sale Agreement” provided much clarification. As noted by Assistant County Administrator, Linda Burhenne, Gerry Morgan (the County Administrator on vacation) was not present to defend himself.

It was vacation days at the Prosecutor’s Office the previous week that had frustrated the Commissioners when they could not get answers regarding the potential “Purchase and Sale Agreement.”

Flaiz prefaced his public comments regarding the “Purchase and Sale Agreement” with a request that the two commissioners present, Spidalieri and Dvorak, sign off on any Attorney/Client privileges.” Thereafter, Flaiz recalled the multiple edits, deletions of language, and amendments that Laura La Chapelle made to the “Purchase and Sale Agreement” as long ago as March 2024. Flaiz was also concerned why the seller required a $50,000 non-refundable deposit when the Commissioners had apparently demonstrated that the purchase was to be Cash. Referring to the “Cash is King” deal, Flaiz expressed his skepticism about the motives of the seller and/or the defects that the vacated Dollar General building property might contain, such as oil drums or stripped wire/metal as a result of property vandalism.

Inability to sign off on any inspections in a very short period of time might “thrust us into another lurch,” according to Flaiz. If the seller was not eager to deal with a cash customer, what dark secrets about the property might he also be hiding?

Before the 25 minute “discussion” was over, Spidalieri claimed to “see the light” by offering the seller one (and only one) 15 day extension to disclose all possible defects or to void the contract once and for all and move on.

Perhaps if Gerry Morgan is back, stays organized, and can address the issues regarding the “Purchase and Sale Agreement,” he will not need the Assistant County Administrator to defend his absence and lack of answerability. . .

HOUSE COMMITTEE SUBPOENAS MAYORKAS OVER TERRORIST DATA, NATIONAL SECURITY THREATS

Saturday, July 13, 2024
Bethany Blankley | The Center Square contributor

U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn. subpoenaed Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Friday seeking information he and other House Republicans have requested for over a year about the record number of known or suspected terrorists (KSTs) illegally entering the U.S.

The subpoena follows several unanswered requests previously made by Green and the Republican chairs of the House Oversight and Judiciary committees. They and others have expressed concerns about the skyrocketing number of KSTs who’ve been apprehended after attempting to evade capture between the ports of entry at the Southwest border under the Biden administration.

If they hadn’t been apprehended, they’d be among the more than two million gotaways who illegally entered the U.S. since the president’s been in office. Gotaways is the official CBP term that refers to foreign nationals who evade capture after illegally entering the U.S. The number is a “best guess,” law enforcement officials have explained to The Center Square, and is underreported by between 10% and 20%. DHS and other officials have no idea who the gotaways are or how many or where they are, The Center Square has reported.

Since fiscal 2021, more than 370 KSTs have been apprehended after illegally entering between ports of entry at the southwest border compared to 14 between fiscal years 2017 and 2020, according to CBP data.

Overall, more than 1,700 KSTs have been apprehended illegally entering the U.S. since fiscal 2021 as of July 12, with the majority apprehended at the northern border (1,054), according to CBP data.

The subpoena was issued after more than a year of DHS “stonewalling and failure to satisfy the Committee’s document and information requests related to the record number of inadmissible aliens on the Terrorist Screening Data Set who are crossing the Southwest border between ports of entry,” Green said in a statement on Friday.

“President Biden and his now-impeached DHS secretary’s refusal to secure our borders or comply with our laws is putting our country in rapidly growing peril,” Green said after numerous officials have continued to warn about increased terrorist threats because of the Biden administration’s “open border policies.”

“The Biden administration has utterly failed to safeguard the American people by allowing millions of otherwise inadmissible aliens into the country with limited screening and vetting, including tens of thousands of special interest aliens,” Green said. “Secretary Mayorkas has continued to stonewall congressional oversight and clearly will not comply unless compelled to do so – because he knows this information places the blame squarely at his and President Biden’s feet.”

The subpoena was also issued after 21 Republican U.S. senators demanded answers from Mayorkas and FBI Director Christopher Wray about federal agents releasing illegal border crossers into the U.S. who weren’t properly vetted and were later discovered to have alleged terrorist connections. They demanded answers after the U.S. House Intelligence Committee chairman and a retired CIA director warned that potential terrorist attacks could occur on U.S. soil before the end of the year, The Center Square reported.

Wray testified earlier this year about potential terrorist threats connected to the Islamic terrorist organization, ISIS. Soon after, NBC News reported that DHS had identified more than 400 foreign nationals from countries of foreign concern in Central Asia who were connected to an ISIS-affiliated human smuggling network and illegally entered the U.S., The Center Square reported.

The senators also highlighted examples of “multiple recent releases of aliens on the terrorist watchlist into the United States,” including from Afghanistan, Jordan, Somalia, Uzbekistan and others.

The majority of the KSTs who illegally entered through the southwest border and were released into the U.S. were released because CBP said they weren’t on the terrorist watchlist, “according to the three officials, and the agency did not have information raising concerns at the time,” NBC News reported.

The OIG's report contradicts this argument, noting in a recent audit that DHS’ “ineffective practices and processes for resolving inconclusive matches with the Terrorist Watchlist led to multiple mistakes.” Agency deficiencies have allowed KSTs to illegally enter the U.S. and “potentially threaten national security and public safety,” the OIG warned.

GEAUGA COMMISSIONERS SEEK RETURN OF TAX-ABATEMENT DOLLARS FROM PARKMAN PROPERTIES #30

Wednesday, July 10, 2024

Gina Hofstetter, Geauga Community and Economic Development Director, reported on July 9, 2024, to the full board of Commissioners, her recommendation for immediate cessation of “exemption from taxation” due to the failure of Parkman Properties #30 LLC to meet its contractual obligations to create twelve new full-time permanent job opportunities, . . . to retain thirty full-time equivalent jobs, and generate additional annual payroll” as required under its Community Reinvestment Area Agreement.

Incorporated in 2015, Parkman Properties went through a vetting process with the County Community and Economic Development Department in late 2015 to qualify for a tax abatement; the company was to be exempt from paying real-estate taxes, chalking up about $199,000-$200,000 in the ten year period. Parkman Properties has continued to receive the “exemption from taxation” in spite of the 35,000 square foot area not being fully occupied nor being in contract-compliance.

Ms. Hofstetter further identified plans of the Geauga County Prosecutor’s Office to send an official letter to the owner of Parkman Properties with further legal action a direct response of continued non-compliance.. Hofstetter reported bringing Parkman trustees with her for support.

Commissioner Dvorak wanted the Commissioners to “go after” any tax dollars lost to Geauga County as a result of any failure of Parkman Properties #30 LLC to comply with the terms of the Community Reinvestment Area Agreement.

This snafu is not the first time that Geauga County taxpayers have suffered as a result of a Community Development plan gone haywire. Some may remember Blue Tractor, the recipient of a low interest revolving loan set up by the then Economic Development Department circa 2012-2015. Blue Tractor subsequently abandoned its Geauga County and its obligation to pay off its low interest loan granted by taxpayer generosity. Prosecutor Jim Flaiz spent several years tracking down most of the funds due to Geauga County taxpayers through legal recourse, but the total “low-interest” debt was never paid back to Geauga County. Currently, a county-owned parcel at 8200 Cedar Road in Chester Township is the subject of an upcoming Geauga Board of Revision hearing to determine the correctness of an expiration of tax-exemption from payment of real-estate taxes.

During these troubled inflationary times when it is becoming more and more difficult to make allotted dollars stretch, good stewardship of budgets is an absolute necessity for individuals, families, townships, school systems, libraries, and county and state governments.

It’s TRUE-UP Time. Fiscal insolvency resulting from spending beyond one’s means is an imminent way for government officials to burn their little candlesticks from both ends.

Stay tuned.

OHIO CITY FACES 'SIGNIFICANT HOUSING CRISIS' DUE TO MIGRANT FLUX

Thursday, July 11, 2024
Therese Boudreaux | The Center Square

Large numbers of people entering or living in America illegally are exacerbating the housing crisis, including in areas like Ohio far from the border.

City Manager Bryan Heck of Springfield sent an urgent letter requesting federal aid to U.S. Sens. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. Despite the city’s ongoing advancements in housing projects, the sheer number of migrants arriving and residing in the area has strained resources to their limits.

“Springfield has seen a surge in population through immigration that has significantly impacted our ability as a community to produce enough housing opportunities for all,” Heck wrote. “Springfield’s Haitian population has increased to 15,000 – 20,000 over the last four years in a community of just under 60,000 previous residents, putting a significant strain on our resources and ability to provide ample housing for all of our residents.”

Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, presented the letter in a Senate Banking Committee hearing Tuesday as an example of how the swelling numbers are reducing the supply and increasing the cost of housing.

Vance cited how Springfield is “trying to build 5,000 new housing units, which is a very Herculean task in a town of about 55,000 people, but it's also hospital services, it's school services. There are a whole host of ways in which this immigration problem, I think, is having very real human consequences.”

Since January 2021, an estimated 12 million people have entered the country illegally, coming from more than 150 countries.

4 IN 10 COMPANIES HAVE POSTED A FAKE JOB LISTING THIS YEAR. HERE'S WHY

Tuesday, July 2, 2024
Alex Arger | Scripps News

Still waiting to hear back from that job you applied to eons ago? There's a good chance you won't, and in some cases, your resume won't be at all to blame.

A new report from ResumeBuilder.com found more companies are posting fake job listings, meaning you had no shot at a callback in the first place.

After surveying 649 hiring managers in May, the site found as many as 4 in 10 companies said they'd posted at least one fake job listing this year. Of these, 26% posted up to three fake listings, 19% posted five, another 19% posted 10, 11% posted 50, 10% posted 25 and 13% posted 75 or more fake listings.

And of those companies who posted a "ghost" listing in the last year, 79% currently have one fake listing active in everything from entry-level (63%) and mid-level (68%) roles to senior (53%) and executive-level (45%) roles.

According to these hiring managers, the idea to post fake job listings primarily came from human resources (37%), senior management (29%), executives (25%), investors (5%), or consultants (4%). Further, fewer than 1% say the idea came from other sources, and about 1% of hiring managers were unsure where the idea originated from.

SO WHO IS DOING THIS?

Well, every action starts with an idea, and the hiring managers involved in the Resume Builder survey said human resources employees came up with the fake job listing idea in 37% of cases, followed by senior management at 29% and executives at 25%.

Plus, 7 in 10 hiring managers believe posting fake job listings is morally acceptable, despite 66% of them saying people who weren't supposed to find out about the practice, have found out.

"It's a concerning scenario, particularly when these misleading postings originate from HR departments — the very entities entrusted with shaping accurate perceptions of their organizations," said Stacie Haller, Resume Builder's chief career adviser.

BUT WHAT'S THE GOAL?

The top two reasons hiring managers gave Resume Builder as to why their companies were posting fake job listings were so that they could appear open to external talent or to act as if the company was growing.

But other top reasons were more targeted toward their employees, including to make them believe new hires would lessen their workload or to make them feel replaceable. Additionally, respondents said some companies keep your resume on file for when they do actually need you at a later time.

"Employees deserve transparency about the companies they dedicate their time to rather than being led astray by false representations," Haller said. "Any tactic aimed at undermining employees' sense of value and security is deplorable. Ultimately, fostering an environment of trust and honesty not only benefits individual employees but also contributes to the long-term success and reputation of organizations."

DOES IT ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING?

While the applicants may argue the ghost listings accomplish a negative amount of anything, 68% of the hiring managers told Resume Builder that their fake job postings positively impacted their revenue, while only 7% reported a negative impact.

They reported similarly for employee morale and productivity, with 65% reporting a positive for the former — though 12% reported a negative impact — and 77% positive for the latter.

But a fake job listing doesn't always mean the whole thing is a wash. Resume Builder said around 84% of hiring managers said the candidates who applied for these jobs were always or sometimes contacted, so I guess the bright side would be ... interviewing practice?

Still, critics argue the practice is deceptive and compounds an already tumultuous task.

"The frustration candidates experience due to fake job postings exacerbates the already stressful job search process," Haller said. "Companies engaging in this practice not only tarnish their reputation but also sabotage their long-term prospects. Deceptive practices erode trust, dissuading potential applicants from considering them in the future as viable employers."

HOW CAN WE TELL THE REAL FROM THE FAKE?

Some fake job postings may look exactly like a company's real ones, so deciphering the two can prove difficult. But Forbes has a few tips:

1. Check how long it's been posted: Forbes says if the role has been open for two months or more, you might want to do a bit more digging, as most roles are filled within 44 days, according to research.

2. Ensure there's a detailed job description: Companies want the right person for the job, which means the listing will likely include many qualifications. If it doesn't, that's a red flag.

3. Research the company's standing: There won't be new roles posted during a hiring freeze.

4. Contact the company: The only way to make your interest really known is through direct contact. Forbes recommends this as another method to discuss your qualifications with someone involved in the hiring process.