Category Archives: mexico
Arizona
While the Supreme Court hears oral arguments over the Arizona immigration law, a Pew study says more Mexican immigrants are leaving the U.S. than entering.
Bully in Chief
President Obama seems to be auditioning for a lead role in the documentary, Bully. He tried to intimidate the U.S. Supreme Court while flanked, in the Rose Garden, by Mexican President Calderon and Candadian Prime Minister Harper. The administration’s Fast and Furious “gun walking” program has contributed to mayhem and death in the Mexican Drug War, and Obama thumped Canada by blocking the Keystone pipeline.
It's Becoming a Pattern
For good measure he later lashed out at House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, calling him a Social Darwinian. So there.
Holder Holds On
Late last Friday the Justice Department dumped 2,000 documents on Congress. The stated purpose was to retract previous statements regarding gun sales to Mexican drug cartels. Despite the furious demands of Daryl Issa and others that he resign, top cop Holder held on during his Thursday testimony before Congress.
Under the supervision of ATF agents, American gun shops have sold over 2,000 guns (oddly a 1 to 1 ratio to dumped documents) to suspected Mexican gang members. The plan was to track the weapons to Mexican drug lords and arrest them. Except government superiors denied requests by agents to track the guns as they “walked” across the border. Why? No one knows, hence all the fury.
Some think it was an evil plot to create drug war violence involving American guns and use the bad publicity to clamp down on gun sales in the U.S. That seems cynical and far fetched. Except Sharyl Attkisson of CBS has come up with what may be a smoking gun:
ATF officials didn’t intend to publicly disclose their own role in letting Mexican cartels obtain the weapons, but emails show they discussed using the sales, including sales encouraged by ATF, to justify a new gun regulation called “Demand Letter 3”. That would require some U.S. gun shops to report the sale of multiple rifles or “long guns.” Demand Letter 3 was so named because it would be the third ATF program demanding gun dealers report tracing information.
On July 14, 2010 after ATF headquarters in Washington D.C. received an update on Fast and Furious, ATF Field Ops Assistant Director Mark Chait emailed Bill Newell, ATF’s Phoenix Special Agent in Charge of Fast and Furious:
“Bill – can you see if these guns were all purchased from the same (licensed gun dealer) and at one time. We are looking at anecdotal cases to support a demand letter on long gun multiple sales. Thanks.”
Furious
Operation Fast and Furious should make you furious. Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms ran a gun running program into Mexico. They expected the guns to lead them to Mexican drug kingpins. One of those guns was used to murder border agent Brian Terry in Arizona.
Ten million dollars for Project Gun Runner, the parent of Fast and Furious, was included in the stimulus bill. Guess you really do need to read the bill to find out what’s in it.
For an additional amount for ‘State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance’, $40,000,000, for competitive grants to provide assistance and equipment to local law enforcement along the Southern border and in High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas to combat criminal narcotics activity stemming from the Southern border, of which $10,000,000 shall be transferred to ‘Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Salaries and Expenses’ for the ATF Project Gunrunner.
Media Matters, which is to Fox News as Hamas is to Israel, disputes this. They claim the money wasn’t spent in Arizona so it’s all a Fox Fib.
