Media Must Stop 'Border Czar' Gaslighting - Michael Shellenberger

[Geee]

X

Over the last week, Republicans accused Vice President Kamala Harris of failing in her job to control the border, calling her Biden’s “border czar.”

 

In response, Time Magazine published an article headlined, “Kamala Harris Was Never Biden’s ‘Border Czar.’” Politifact called the claim “mostly false.” And Axios this morning agreed, writing, “The Trump campaign and Republicans have tagged Harris repeatedly with the ‘border czar’ title — which she never actually had.”

 

However, in 2021, Axios itself referred to Harris as “border czar,” and there was widespread media coverage that year of Kamala’s responsibility for migration issues.

 

To be fair, the person officially in charge of the border was and is Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. In June 2021, when Harris visited El Paso, Texas, with Mayorkas, he said, "It is my responsibility as the Secretary of Homeland Security to address the security and management of our border."

 

And, as Axios noted in 2021, “Harris, appointed by Biden as border czar, said she would be looking at the ‘root causes’ of migration.” As Time Magazine noted yesterday, Harris’ “mandate was much narrower.” Her job was “to focus on examining and improving the underlying conditions” causing the migration crisis.

 

But examining and improving the underlying conditions of migration is not a “narrower mandate.” It’s a wider one. According to Democrats, including Kamala Harris, we can’t understand the crisis at the border as simply a border security problem. The “root causes” are war, oppression, and poverty.

 

“A mother who pays a coyote to transport her child through her country of origin, through the entire country of Mexico, facing unknown peril to come here,” said Harris in 2020. “Why would that mother do that? I will tell you. Because she has decided that for that child to remain where they are is worse.”

 

And the media in 2021 didn’t just claim that Harris was simply in charge of the “root causes” of migration. The media also treated her as in charge of the border. In fact, in a now-famous clip from June 2021, Harris lies to NBC News’s Lester Holt about having visited the border.

 

“The question that has come up,” he asked, “and you heard it here and will hear it again, I’m sure, is, ‘Why not visit the border?’”

[Geee]

Media Coverage of 'Border Czar' Kamala Harris Is Cringe

For the last month, the mainstream media have set their sights on President Joe Biden, generating a massive and unusual amount of negative coverage in order to end his doomed candidacy. Now Biden is out, Vice President Kamala Harris is in, and things have returned to normal. Consider this hagiographic recap of Harris' consequential weekend by CNN's Edward-Isaac Dovere.

"Through all her calls at the Naval Observatory, Harris wore a hooded Howard University sweatshirt, workout sweats and sneakers," reported Dovere on X. "They got pizza and salad for dinner. She went with her favorite topping: anchovies."

 

Nature, in other words, is healing.

Harris is now the beneficiary of a veritable torrent of fluffy, positive press. The Washington Post praised her Spotify playlists and her sense of style—"subtle changes to her wardrobe selections relay a new gloss of power and polish"—while defending her against conservative accusations that she was picked for the veep spot because of her race and gender. Media institutions such as The Guardian, CBS, and NBC also rushed to proclaim Harris as a beloved icon of young people; Politico hailed her as "Kamala Harris: Gen Z Meme Queen." This verdict is largely connected to pop star Charli XCX's endorsement (possibly?) of Harris—the singer wrote on X that "kamala IS brat," which is the name of her hit summer album.

It is not hard to imagine the comparatively energetic, active, and youthful Harris as a more appealing figure than the aged incumbent who occupied the top of ticket until this past weekend. Even so, a recent Quinnipiac University poll showed Harris losing the youth vote to former President Donald Trump. Another analysis, by CNN's Harry Enten, pointed out that Harris has not matched Biden's 2020 numbers in terms of youth approval. These results may be outliers and there's certainly time for her to improve; she has only been the presumptive candidate for a few days, and as the official Democratic nominee for president, she would be expected to ultimately carry the under-35 crowd. Still, it's a cautionary tale: Vibes are not the same thing as votes.

[Draggingtree]

Jul. 30 th , 2024 Immigration Alert

Your U.S. Rep Voted to Condemn Border Czar Harris' "Root Causes" Approach Dear George Adams, Six House Democrats joined 214 Republicans to pass a non-binding resolution declaring Vice President Harris' "root causes" policy a failure. As the House-passed resolution notes, "since Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took office, there have been over 9.7 million illegal immigrant encounters nationwide." The 2 million who avoided encounters entirely in that time are "more known gotaways than in the previous decade combined." Recent encounters have dropped significantly, but are still running at record levels.... More here.:snip:

[Draggingtree]

Texas Scores 'Major Victory' Over Biden Administration

Townhall, by Leah Barkoukis

Original Article

Posted By: Imright, 8/1/2024 1:20:27 AM

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in Texas’s favor, lifting an injunction that ordered the state to remove buoys it placed in the Rio Grande River to deter illegal border crossings. The Biden Department of Justice brought a legal challenge against the Lone Star State last year for installing the buoys without federal authorization. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta claimed the floating barrier was a threat to navigation and presented a public safety concern. It also risked “damaging U.S. foreign policy” with Mexico over the country’s objection to the barrier. https://www.lucianne.com/2024/08/01/texas_scores_major_victory_over_biden_administration_133143.html

[Valin]

Aug 5, 2024 #blazetv #news #politics

For years, Democrats have been calling Kamala Harris the "border czar" to highlight her role in immigration. However, it now appears as though she has done absolutely nothing to remedy the crisis at the southern border. Donald Trump just released a new political ad arguing that if Kamala is unable to handle the border, how will she be able to handle the presidency