Visas For Sale

 

South Korean Companies Have Been Playing Fast And Loose With Visas, Won't Hire American Workers For US Factory Construction

Late last week, 475 workers at a Hyundai / LG battery plant being built in Ellabell, Georgia - mostly Korean nationals - were arrested by US Immigration and Customs (ICE) in a massive raid. The factory was previously touted by former President Joe Biden as a 'win for manufacturing jobs in the United States,' which obviously didn't mean American jobs.

A raid at a Hyundai facility in Georgia on Thursday (faces blurred by source).ATF Atlanta via X

Now we learn that South Korean companies have been using sloppy visa practices for workers sent to the US to build advanced manufacturing sites, according to FT, citing Seoul-based executives and industry groups. 

Within the industry, it's an "open secret" that Korean conglomerates used the B-1 visa, which allows entry into the United States for business purposes - but does not allow the holder to work for payment. The companies are also abusing the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) which allows for short-term business visits.

"The business community, the Korean government and diplomats have been well aware of this problem all along," one industry exec told the Times. "We are very worried that ICE can target other Korean facilities too because they have been following the same practices and have similar problems."

According to a South Korean official, the companies are an "impossible position," after successive US governments pushed them to invest billions of dollars to revive American industry while refusing to facilitate short-term working visas for the projects to be completed on time.

"The US government is two-faced," said Chang Sang-sik, head of research at the Korea International Trade Association. "It is asking Korea to invest more in the US, while treating Korean workers like criminals even when it is well aware that they are needed for these projects to happen."

Or, they could hire Americans?

Of note, South Korea has a free trade agreement with the United States dating back to 2012, however it has no country-specific scheme for working visits - unlike FTA countries such as Canada, Australia and Singapore. The official said Seoul has repeatedly brought up the issue over the past two decades, however various US administrations have told them to pound sand - as the scheme would have to be endorsed by Congress. 

The issue grew in salience during the presidency of Joe Biden, when South Korean companies attracted by generous federal subsidies from the administration’s flagship Inflation Reduction Act, as well as additional state and county-level inducements, pledged tens of billions of dollars to build factories producing chips, batteries and electric vehicles. -FT

District Of Corruption: Fuzzy Numbers

 

 'Massive Scandal' Uncovered In D.C. Crime Stats

Via American Greatness,

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller is warning that an ongoing Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into whether Washington D.C. officials manipulated crime statistics is in the process of uncovering a “massive scandal.”

At an Oval Office press conference, Miller told reporters that when the results of the investigation are finally that, “It will stun you,” adding, “Even though D.C. had the worst crime in America–honestly measured–it dramatically understated how bad it was.”

🚨 BREAKING: In a shocking revelation, Stephen Miller uncovered a massive scandal in Washington, D.C. The Democratic-led police department has been systematically concealing crime statistics, even classifying homicides as accidents rather than murders. pic.twitter.com/WK1jG1tb9c

— TRUMP ARMY (@TRUMP_ARMY_) September 6, 2025

Miller said that DOJ investigators have uncovered evidence that crime data was manipulated to the point that some murders and homicides were falsely reported as accidents.

The White House Deputy Chief of Staff also assured reporters that the full extent of the manipulation “will be uncovered and it will all be brought to light.”

Miller told reporters that he’s had the opportunity to visit with police officers in the city who tell him that members of the public are going up to them and thanking them for finally being able to enjoy their parks and “walk freely at night without having to worry about being robbed or mugged.”

Stephen Miller: DC officials were covering up crime stats and even classifying m*rders as accidents. How many other Democrat-led cities have falsified crime data to this gross extent? pic.twitter.com/Lk6CVl7B62

— War Correspondent (@warDaniel47) August 26, 2025

Last month, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) informed Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief Pamela Smith, in a letter, that his committee is “investigating disturbing allegations that DC crime data is inaccurate and intentionally manipulated.”

Comer told Smith that a whistleblower “with direct knowledge of internal MPD operations and crime data discussions” told his committee that “crime statistics were allegedly manipulated on a widespread basis and at the direction of senior MPD officials.”

In his letter to Smith, Comer notes, “The whistleblower stated this manipulation is accomplished by supervisors — with only a cursory understanding of the facts and circumstances of the crime — ignoring the judgement of patrol officers who actually interviewed witnesses and collected evidence by recommending reduced charges.”

The New Mexico Way

 

Democrat New Mexico Governor Admits National Guard Making Progress In High-Crime Albuquerque

Authored by Allen Stein via The Epoch Times,

In the shade of a tall fence along Central Avenue, a group of homeless people lingered in Albuquerque’s troubled International District as three squad cars and a medical vehicle swept onto the scene.

Police and first responders moved in quickly, scattering the group as a homeless woman began shouting epithets from the middle of the street.

Matthew, a resident of a nearby halfway house, stood at the edge of the turmoil and watched as the situation unfolded.

“They’re just making people leave, man,” he said, frowning.

“They give you a chance to leave. If you don’t leave, they give you another chance. If you don’t leave again, they just run your name.”

He said if the information shows there is an outstanding warrant, handcuffs come out.

Matthew, who did not want to share his last name, said police have been more visible in a neighborhood that has struggled with crime, homelessness, and drug use for a long time.

The display of force by law enforcement is anything but accidental.

On April 8, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham activated the New Mexico National Guard to assist Albuquerque police in addressing increased crime and safety concerns, particularly on busy Central Avenue.

This allowed officers to return to regular patrols and other duties.

The emergency request from the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) cited the fentanyl epidemic and rising violent juvenile crime as issues requiring immediate intervention.

“The safety of New Mexicans is my top priority,” Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, said in a statement.

“By deploying our National Guard to support APD with essential duties, we’re ensuring that trained police officers can focus on what they do best—keeping our communities safe.”

In May, 60 to 70 National Guard members were sent to the city for Operation Zia Shield. Their training was overseen by New Mexico’s Homeland Security, Public Safety, and local police agencies.

National Guard members have been assisting with tasks such as providing aid along Central Avenue, processing and transporting prisoners, maintaining security at Metro Court, and monitoring the city with police cameras and drones.

“The National Guard will serve as a visible, trusted presence supporting law enforcement duties, which will enhance officer presence in high-crime areas and reinforce community trust through visible engagement,” Lujan Grisham said.

Transit Police vehicles line Central Avenue within the International District in Albuquerque, N.M., on Sept. 3, 2025. Allan Stein/The Epoch Times

Criticism

Lujan Grisham and Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller criticized President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., after he declared a crime emergency in the nation’s capital on Aug. 11. The president also federalized the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.

“President Trump’s massive executive overreach in Washington sets a dangerous precedent and undermines safety in our nation’s capital,” Lujan Grisham and Keller said in a joint statement.

Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson during a press conference on Aug. 11, said, “it is disgraceful that we have allowed D.C., to become so incredibly dangerous.”

“I think there’s no more important job for this department than alongside federal law enforcement partners and local police in securing our nation’s capital,” Wilson said.

Ukrainians Being Stabbed In Charlotte?

 

The Image That Killed The Democrats In 2026 And Beyond

Authored by Athena Thorne via PJMedia.com,

And just like that, it's over for the Dems in the 2026 midterms. Maybe even the 2028 general election. Maybe this is even the final nail in their creaky, splintering, mentally ill, Marxist coffin.

Right now, they're trying to ignore it, the way they tried to pretend Hunter Biden's laptop didn't exist back in 2020. They were successful enough that time to push their vote machine over the finish line in Biden/Harris's favor, but that won't happen this time. This story, this image, is already out there.

Still, they're trying to ignore it, hoping it goes away:

The only explanation I've seen anywhere is, "Oh, it was never covered nationally because it was only a local story." Sure. Like George Floyd's overdose in police custody was only a local story. Good luck with that dodge, lefties.

In all fairness to Democrats, their policies have made this situation so common that it may well have disappeared into the din. A violent lunatic with fourteen previous arrests under his belt but who still freely roamed the streets randomly and viciously stabbed a young woman on the train, killing her. The murder occurred over two weeks ago, and they had every reason to believe the "local crime story" was as dead as the beautiful young victim. 

But then, the video emerged. It's chilling and terrifying, the horror that every urban female (and plenty of males) fears. The still image of the moment the madman's knife begins its descent is the most damning optic I've seen in years, and it will now become the face of the modern Democrat party.

It gets worse for Democrats: The victim was not only young, female, and stunning, but she was a refugee from Ukraine — one of their fetish victims. 

The New York Post is one outlet that covered the story:

Haunting new video revealed the terrifying moment a homeless ex-con allegedly fatally stabbed a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee in what police said was a random attack on a Charlotte light rail train.

Iryna Zarutska, who fled war-torn Ukraine for a safer life in America, was on the Lynx Blue Line just before 10 p.m. Aug. 22 when she was ambushed, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

The surveillance footage, released Friday by the Charlotte Area Transit System or CATS, shows Zarutska boarding the train in her pizzeria uniform at 9:46 p.m. and sitting, looking at her phone, unaware of the danger behind her.

Just four minutes later, 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr. allegedly whips out a folding knife and lunges forward, stabbing her three times, at least once in the neck, police said.

Those eyes, that brave smile, her courageous backstory — fleeing war-torn Ukraine for a chance at safety and freedom in America, taking a humble job as a pizza clerk in Charlotte, N.C.

Laken Riley, the young nursing student murdered by one of then-President Joe Biden's illegal aliens, became a poster child for stopping the invasion. The description of her murder was shocking to the public consciousness, but still, it was only words. 

300 Illegal South Korean Workers Busted, In Georgia

 

South Korea Makes Deal With US To Release Detained Georgia Plant Workers

Authored by Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times,

The South Korean government on Sept. 7 said that the more than 300 South Korean workers who were detained during a federal immigration operation at a Georgia Hyundai plant will be released and sent home.

The South Korea and U.S. governments finalized negotiations on releasing the workers, said presidential chief of staff, Kang Hoon-sik. South Korea will send a charter plane to bring the workers back once the remaining administrative steps are concluded, he added.

On Friday, U.S. immigration authorities said they had arrested 475 people at the worksite, most of whom were South Korean nationals. Hundreds of federal agents had conducted an operation at the Korean automaker Hyundai’s large Georgia-based manufacturing plant, where it builds electric vehicles. More than 300 South Koreans were part of the group detained, said Cho Hyun, South Korea’s Foreign Minister.

In video footage released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Saturday, a caravan of vehicles can be seen approaching the site before federal agents direct workers to form a line outside. Agents told several detainees to put up their hands against a bus before frisking them. Some of the workers were shackled around their hands, ankles, and waists.

The plant, which is still under construction, is a partnership between Hyundai and LG Energy Solution to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles. The Hyundai campus is one of Georgia’s largest economic development projects.

The majority of the detainees were sent to an immigration detention center in Folkston, Georgia, near the Florida border. 

Steven Schrank, the lead Georgia agent of Homeland Security Investigations, said during a news conference on Sept. 5 that none of the arrested workers have been charged with crimes yet, as the investigation is still ongoing. The Sept. 4 operation was the largest federal immigration worksite operation in Homeland Security Investigations’s history, he said. 

The South Korean government, a key U.S. ally, said it felt “concern and regret” regarding the operation targeting its citizens and has sent diplomats to the plant. 

The effort continues the Trump administration’s focus on illegal immigration and deportations at businesses and workplaces that allegedly employ illegal immigrants.

Last week, ICE agents arrested dozens of illegal immigrants in the New York townships of Cato and Fulton.

The operation was carried out at a factory run by Nutrition Bar Confectioners, a local food processing company. Between 40 and 70 people were arrested.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul criticized the arrests.

“I am outraged by this morning’s ICE raids in Cato and Fulton, where more than 40 adults were seized—including parents of at least a dozen children at risk of returning from school to an empty house,” Hochul wrote in a statement.

When Media Is The Problem

 

CBS Changes Policy For 'Face The Nation' Interviews After "Shamefully" Editing Noem Interview

CBS News has announced it will no longer edit guest interviews on its flagship Sunday program “Face the Nation,” moving to a live or live-to-tape format following days of criticism over its handling of a sit-down with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

The change comes after Noem accused the network of “shamefully” cutting portions of her Aug. 31 interview in order to “whitewash the truth.”

As Tom Ozimek reports for The Epoch Times, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the broadcaster removed over 23 percent of her answers, “exposing the truth about criminal illegal alien Kilmar Abrego Garcia, President Donald Trump’s lawful actions to protect the American people, and Secretary Noem’s commitment to fight on behalf of the American people and their tax dollars.”

CBS initially defended its actions, saying that the unedited version was posted online, but the backlash continued to grow on social media and beyond.

Noem and others circulated clips of the missing passages online and accused the network of trying to manipulate public opinion by withholding harsh truths—like when Noem said that Abrego Garcia was a “known human smuggler, MS-13 gang member, an individual who was a wife beater.”

Then, on Sept. 5, CBS said that it will now only broadcast live or live-to-tape interviews, meaning guests’ answers will not be edited in any way—except in situations where legal or national security reasons require it. The broadcaster said it was changing its editorial policy “in response to audience feedback.”

“This extra measure means the television audience will see the full, unedited interview on CBS and we will continue our practice of posting full transcripts and the unedited video online,” a CBS spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.

The Noem interview is the second time in less than a year that CBS has figured into disputes over alleged selective editing.

Last fall, then-presidential candidate Trump sued CBS, alleging that a “60 Minutes” interview with Democratic challenger and then-Vice President Kamala Harris had been manipulated to improve her image and boost her chances in the 2024 election.

CBS defended the editing of the Harris interview, saying that transcripts and videos of the full interview showed that the broadcast “was not doctored or deceitful.”

The uncut transcript showed that some of Harris’s answers were cut roughly in half while also clarifying her full response to a question about the Israel–Hamas war, which Trump’s campaign alleged was deceptively edited to make her look better to potential voters.

Later, Trump amended his complaint to include CBS parent company Paramount Global as a defendant, while doubling the amount of damages sought to $20 billion.

Yeah Baby

 

Ain't No Palestinian's On US

 

U.S. Freezes Visas For Palestinian Passport Holders Amid Mounting National Security Threats 

Weeks after the Trump administration paused approvals of visitor visas for people of Gaza, the New York Times now reports that the administration has broadened the suspension to cover nearly all categories of visitor visas for Palestinian passport holders. 

NYT cited an August 18 State Department cable, sent to U.S. embassies and consulates abroad, detailing new sweeping measures that would bar many Palestinians from entering the U.S. on various types of non-immigrant visas. The cable was obtained by the media outlet and confirmed by four anonymous U.S. officials.

Impacted Palestinian visas include medical treatment, university studies, visits to friends or relatives, and business travel. 

U.S. consular officers have been instructed to invoke Section 221(g) of the Immigration Nationality Act (INA), a legal provision that allows them to refuse visa applications from Palestinian passport holders temporarily.

"Effective immediately, consular officers are instructed to refuse under 221(g) of the Immigration Nationality Act all otherwise eligible Palestinian Authority passport holders using that passport to apply for a non-immigrant visa," the State Department cable said.

NYT spoke with Kerry Doyle, the former lead attorney for Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the Biden-Harris regime, who said the Trump administration should be open about its decision-making:

"If it's a true ban, then it's concerning to me in that they should be transparent about it and then make their arguments for the basis of such a ban." 

Last month, the State Department halted visitor visas for the roughly two million Palestinians from Gaza. This came shortly after Laura Loomer called incoming flights a "national security threat ..." 

The national security threat Loomer could be describing appears to come from one of her X posts: "We have been totally infiltrated by Islamic jihadists. The Palestinian movement is a terrorist movement."

When All Ukrainians are Gone?

A Dark Theory: Russian Strategy In Ukraine

Authored by Armchair Warlord,

A dark theory for the evening...

Let's talk about Russian strategy in Ukraine...

Looking at developments lately, specifically:

(1) the Ukrainian casualty leak showing an astronomical 1.7M KIA/MIA; and

(2) the Ukrainian collapse north of Pokrovsk

I thought should revisit a dark thought I had a while ago, namely that, "maybe the killing itself is the point of all of this."

I've said before that the Russians have fought an extraordinarily clean war in Ukraine, but it should be understood that there is a very legalistic shade on that assessment.

They've killed very few civilians, and Ukrainian propagandists are perpetually beclowning themselves trying to pretend that the usual single-digit handful of injured civilians that accompany the latest attack using hundreds of standoff weapons fired into city centers (producing secondary explosions visible from outer space as military targets hidden among civilian infrastructure are destroyed with surgical precision) somehow constitute gEnOCiDe rather than some of the most well-controlled warfighting in the history of the business.

There is another and far darker side to Russia's "clean" war, however.

Let us consider the fate of the Armed Forces of Ukraine - legal combatants all, whom the Russians can and do target and kill without limit. I mentioned the casualty leak earlier, but I feel this needs to have a line drawn under it - one point seven million personnel killed or missing in action in the AFU, over the course of the war. 1.7 MILLION. Seven or eight percent of Ukraine's prewar population, probably something like a quarter of the entire national cohort of military-aged males, dead or missing. Casualties on the scale of a genocide, sufficient to permanently cripple any postwar Ukrainian nation.

Casualties multiple times that which I assessed two years ago as sufficient to shatter the AFU based on the experience of Nazi Germany.

This brings me to the Ukrainian collapse north of Pokrovsk two weeks ago, in which a run-of-the-mill Russian attack walked through twenty kilometers of Ukrainian defensive belts and into open country.

The Ukrainian propagandists coped by whining about how the single most important front sector for the AFU had somehow "run out of infantry."

But did the Russians throw in a mobile reserve to collapse the front and chase the AFU back to the Dniper, despite doubtless knowing full well what was going on? No, they did not - they consolidated in the breach and awaited the inevitable, panicked Ukrainian counterattack, in which they would have the opportunity to destroy Ukraine's remaining elite troops.

Which brings me to my conclusion.

The Russians have had countless opportunities to make large advances in this war, especially recently - the Ukrainian front line is an absolute shambles and their "drone wall" tactic will falter against any serious attack. So ineffectual is the AFU that very few Russian moves at the front even face serious opposition these days, with most geolocations of Russian advances showing them already established in place and dealing with harassment by kill drones after having seized positions bloodlessly. The Russians have in fact consistently foregone breaking the front and taking swathes of ground in favor of killing the largest possible number of Ukrainian soldiers on the existing front line under the existing attritional combat dynamic.

This "tactical directive" held true even during the Battle of Sudzha-Korenevo, fought in prewar Russia. Rather than counterattacking aggressively to evict the AFU, the Russians saw the opportunity to kill gigantic numbers of Ukrainians in a trap the enemy wouldn't be able to extract themselves from for ideological reasons, and they took it. That battle ended up being nine months of hideously lopsided butchery that broke the back of the AFU.

All of this makes observing the war more than a little maddening, but it's a consistent pattern of behavior that begs for explanation.

So here's my theory.

The Russian government has consistently sought to end the war via peace treaty with the existing Ukrainian government, not via regime change, outright conquest, or even killing enough of that government to find a more flexible interlocutor among the Maidanites. Putin apparently wants a treaty with Zelensky. The Russians have also consistently made demands of the Ukrainian government - and its NATO sponsors - that are absolute political nonstarters for the Maidan-era regime and which that regime, by its very nature, simply cannot accept. Russian language rights, Orthodox religious rights, demilitarization, large territorial concessions which would see the AFU surrender vast urban areas without a shot fired. And yet the Russians insist, and they're going to continue killing Ukrainian soldiers at ever-more lopsided ratios until they get their way.

Which leads me to the brutal conclusion: Putin doesn't want to see Ukraine conquered. He's never publicly expressed any desire for that.

Lebensraum

 

Israel Sees Sykes-Picot Borders As 'Meaningless' & 'Will Go Where They Want': Trump Envoy

Via Middle East Eye

Israel is not interested in adhering to the Middle East's established borders set by the WWI Sykes-Picot agreement and has the "capacity or the desire" to take over Lebanon and Syria, according to US special envoy Tom Barrack.

Barrack made the assessment in an astonishing and candid interview with online personality Mario Nawfal, which went online late on Thursday. It was just one of many insights that Barrack, who is at the center of US diplomacy in the region, shared. In addition, he said that Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa will not sign the Abraham Accords with Israel and alluded to deeply strained ties between Egypt and Israel, which he said are no longer "talking to each other or cooperating".

Trump-envoy Tom Barrack with al-Qaeda linked Syrian President Sharaa (Jolani). via SANA

Barrack is the US ambassador to Turkey but has become Trump’s envoy to the wider Eastern Mediterranean and the Caucasus. A billionaire real estate investor, Barrack, like his boss at the White House, has chaffed at the traditional US foreign policy establishment - including its preference for maintaining quiet ties with American establishment media. Instead, he has given shoot-from-the-hip style interviews. On Thursday, he called himself an “events-driven mercenary”.

“What’s going on in Gaza makes the rest of the Arab world totally freaked out,” Barrack said. “In Israel’s mind, these lines that were created by Sykes-Picot are meaningless. They will go where they want, when they want, and do what they want to protect the Israelis and their borders,” Barrack said.

The Sykes-Picot agreement was a secret agreement between Britain and France struck in 1916 during WWI that divided the Ottoman Empire’s territories in the Levant, fashioning the modern states of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Mandatory Palestine, the wide swath of land that was later partitioned to create Israel.

'Israel can't be so brutal'

Barrack visited Beirut this week as part of efforts to disarm Hezbollah and has been mediating talks between Syria and Israel. Pressed on whether Israel would conquer Lebanon or Syria, Barrack said he did not mean Israel wants to “take over” its neighbors, but will act against its foes.

“Does Israel have the capacity or the desire to really take over Lebanon? Absolutely. Why didn’t they do it? They have the capacity to do the same thing in Syria,” he said.

“The idea that Israel is really interested in keeping everybody off balance so that they can have more control and command, in my opinion, just as an individual, is ludicrous,” he said.

Barrack is attempting to mediate a deal by which Hezbollah surrenders its heavy weaponry to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). Lebanon wants Israel to withdraw from the south of the country, and for reconstruction funds to flow in from the oil-rich Gulf as part of this deal. 

Israel severely degraded Hezbollah in battle following the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attacks on southern Israel. In November, Hezbollah was resigned to sign a lopsided ceasefire with Israel, which it has used to bomb Lebanon at will without Hezbollah retaliation. 

Israeli forces withdrew from much of southern Lebanon earlier this year, but still occupy five hilltops in the south. Barrack, whose grandparents emigrated to the US from Lebanon, said he made a personal appeal to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting this week, as a man with “Lebanese blood”.

“I’m asking you [Netanyahu] to do something that I know will do you well, and do Jews all over the world well. Give Lebanon a break…give them a whiff of tolerance. You can’t be apparently so brutal on everybody, going anywhere, anytime you want… it's gonna backfire."

Barrack said Netanyahu agreed, but did not provide specifics. Two Lebanese soldiers were killed by an Israeli drone on Thursday. Israel apologized for the strike, calling it a "technical malfunction". 

Disarming Hezbollah

Israel says it wants to see Hezbollah disarmed before it withdraws from Lebanese territory and ends its attacks. Analysts and regional diplomats tell Middle East Eye that Hezbollah is unlikely to give up its arms under Israeli fire. 

The US has been supporting the non-sectarian LAF as a counterweight to Hezbollah. But in the interview, Barrack ruled out the LAF forcibly disarming Hezbollah. “There is not going to be a LAF military movement to go blow them (Hezbollah) away,” he said.

A Castrated Germany

 

German Political Parties (Ex-AfD) Sign 'Fairness Pact' That Prevents Criticizing Immigration

Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,

In Cologne’s upcoming local election campaign, all major parties except the Alternative for Germany (AfD) have pledged to speak only positively about immigration and avoid linking it to social problems.

The CDU, SPD, Greens, FDP, Left Party, Volt, and Die Partei signed a “fairness agreement” initiated by the “Cologne Round Table for Integration” association.

The pact commits the signatories not to blame migrants or refugees for unemployment, crime, or security concerns. It also promises an active fight against racism and antisemitism, with compliance monitored by Protestant and Catholic church representatives. Citizens are encouraged to report possible breaches of the agreement by party campaigners or candidates.

The agreement explicitly excluded the AfD from the process, with those involved insisting the right-wing party does not share their values and should not be welcomed to sign, not that there was any suggestion that the party would do so.

The deal has sparked sharp criticism from both academics and political rivals. Political scientist Werner Patzelt told Bild that the decision was “tactically stupid,” arguing that leaving migration concerns unaddressed hands the AfD an open goal.

“Our parties are so stupid that they don’t see the tactical disadvantage and are so weak-minded that they don’t see that they themselves are damaging our democracy by not wanting to talk about important issues,” he said.

The AfD condemned the agreement as an attempt to silence debate.

The party’s Cologne district spokesperson, Christer Cremer, told RTL, as cited by T-Online:

“I view this fairness agreement somewhat critically, because I believe it is intended to suppress debate. Especially during the election campaign, it must be possible to address all issues, including issues of migration, but also many other things.”

Taking to X, the local AfD party wrote:

“The AfD is not going along with this. We won’t allow the left to forbid us from saying what we say. We address problems and propose solutions.”

The CDU has already been accused of violating the agreement with the distribution of a flyer opposing a planned initial reception center for 500 refugees in Cologne’s Agnesviertel district. While church ombudsmen monitoring the pact stopped short of calling the flyer discriminatory, they warned its wording was misleading. Claus-Ulrich Prölß of the Cologne Refugee Council went further, calling it a “gross violation of the fairness agreement.”

CDU leader in Cologne, Serap Güler, rejected the accusations as “absurd,” adding that the CDU had no intention of stirring hostility toward refugees, but insisted: “At this point, we simply believe a facility of this size is wrong.”

A Focus Online analysis of reader comments found most focused on criticizing the party’s strategy to avoid talking about the issues linked to mass immigration, while others highlighted the security concerns related to the topic, and the third most popular response expressed concern over hindrances to free speech and democratic debate.

The local elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, including Cologne, are scheduled for September 14.

Read more here...

via zer0hedge

Invested In War

 

Europe On Path To War Economy: Rheinmetall Opens Continent's Largest Ammo Factory

Submitted by Thomas Kolbe

In Unterlüß, Lower Saxony, Europe’s largest ammunition factory began production yesterday. What started clandestinely is now being publicly scaled with full firepower: the European Union is building its own war economy.

In the good old days in Germany, recessions were typically masked by state-funded infrastructure programs. The concept worked as long as the state did not overgrow, overregulate, or force the private sector into a destructive ideological agenda, as is the case with the green transformation. In other words: the economy was always able to clear away the debris left behind by the state.

Southern Europe Could Never Recover
In Southern Europe, where the state’s role has traditionally been high, monetary policy generous, and handling of public funds notoriously lax, this policy left nothing but infrastructure ruins and industrial wastelands. Local economies were never able to productively absorb the artificial credit distributed by Brussels. The fatal consequences of this pseudo-boom still shape the landscape today.

For economic historians, present-day Europe has long been a fascinating study object. Crisis followed crisis, with the public sector intervening each time with increasing volume. The attempt to install the Green Deal, a Keynesian pseudo-economy, must be understood in this context. That Germany’s defense company Rheinmetall yesterday launched Europe’s largest ammunition plant in Unterlüß fits into this narrative.

The company invested half a billion euros to provide an annual capacity of up to 350,000 rounds by 2027. 500 new jobs are to be created, celebrated by politicians as a turning point and the beginning of a pan-European defense architecture.

Ceremony and Half-Truths
Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger expressed satisfaction: “It was not easy for us to invest half a billion without orders. I am very grateful to you”—the words were directed at Defense Minister Pistorius—“for keeping your handshake agreements. You are a man of word and deed.” A heavy dose of pathos and self-congratulation is evident here—politics and the defense industry are long intertwined.

Of course, this is only half the truth. Beyond the usual behind-the-scenes deals, politics has made it clear that it is ready to mobilize all means to build a German defense industry and provide sector companies with guarantees and subsidies where necessary. Big business, no risk.

After the collapse of the green economy, politics is now betting everything on the next pseudo-economy. The aim is to loosen dependence on America while exploiting the media spin that stylized Vladimir Putin’s Russia over years as a potential European invader. Whether this fear campaign will work in the long term remains to be seen.

No One Will Fight for Merz or Macron
Given the deep economic depression in

Stirring The Pot

 

Watch: Mexican Senators Brawl After Heated Debate Over US Intervention Vs Cartels

With cameras rolling, tension over potential US military intervention against Mexico's drug cartels erupted into a shoving-and-slapping bout between legislators at the podium of the Senate chambers on Wednesday. 

Senator Alejandro “Alito” Moreno, who leads the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), was apparently incensed over the refusal of his demands to participate in the floor debate, which featured accusations that PRI and the National Action Party (PAN) had called for the US military to strike the cartels inside Mexico -- which both parties deny.

Sen. Alito Moreno (left) slaps Mexican Senate President Gerardo Norona after a heated session in which Moreno's party was accused of backing US military intervention against drug cartels (AFP / Getty Images via CBS News)  

Earlier this month, President Trump reportedly issued a new directive authorizing the Pentagon to conduct direct military operations against select Latin American drug cartels designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). Last week, PAN member Lilly Tellez told Fox News, that "help from the United States to fight the cartels is absolutely welcome, and that is how the majority of Mexicans feel. The only ones who don't like that President Trump is sending help...are the narco-politicians, and that includes President [Claudia] Scheinbaum."  

Tellez compounded the tension in Wednesday's debate, saying she had "a clean record," unlike what she labelled "the Morena mafia." She condemned members of the ruling Morena party as "narcopoliticians" and "narco-Satanics," and credited her faith in God and Mexicans for giving her the resolve to "make the Morenarcos tremble." Her barbs prompted shouts of "sellout" and "traitor." 

As the session was ending, the 50-year-old Moreno strode to the podium and accosted 65-year-old Senate President Gerardo Fernandez Norona, of the Morena party. Along with the rest of the Senate, Norona was singing the national anthem, in accordance with the custom for closing out sessions, but Moreno continued shouting at him. After the anthem ended, Norona turned to talk to Moreno, and the ensuing shouting match grew violent after Moreno grabbed Noreno's arm. 

As the two engaged in a shoving match, a cameraman stepped in front of Moreno, and was greeted with a firm, two-armed shove that sent him to the floor. Another man proceeded to pummel the cameraman on the ground, and Moreno's fellow PRI member, Carlos Gutiérrez Mancilla, pursued the Senate president out of the hall, grabbing him by the suit-jacket and punching him. El Pais reports that the cameraman was injured, with medics putting him in a neck brace. 

"What confrontation? He hit me and said, 'I'm going to kill you'," Norona told reporters later. Chumming the waters, Norona added, "Today, when (opposition legislators) are exposed for their treason, they lose their minds because they were exposed." Norona said he would pursue an emergency Friday session to expel Moreno and three other PRI legislators. He also said he will file a complaint against Moreno for attacking him and the cameraman, and ask authorities to revoke Moreno's legislative immunity.

Meanwhile, Moreno took to X to blame Norona: "He was the one who started the attack; he did it because he couldn't silence us with arguments. The first physical aggression came from Norona. He threw the first shove, and he did it out of cowardice."

Both senators are involved in separate controversies. Moreno faces possible impeachment proceedings for alleged corruption during his tenure as governor of Campeche state from 2015 to 2019. Norona has been criticized over reports that he owns an expensive house at a time when Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has urged public officials to live modestly. -- CBS News

Scheinbaum has firmly and repeatedly rejected any U.S. military presence on Mexican soil. "The United States is not going to come to Mexico with the military. We cooperate, we collaborate, but there is not going to be an invasion. That is ruled out, absolutely ruled out," she told the New York Times. “It is not part of any agreement, far from it. When it has been brought up, we have always said no.”

Meanwhile, one can't help but wonder how strong Sen. Tellez's security is, as she repeatedly rails against the cartels and accuses members of the Mexican government of working directly with them...

via zer0hedge