Beltway Insider: Biden’s 2024 Issues, Immigration, Menendez Indicted, Murdoch Retires, Libya Disaster Sparks Violence

Details: Category: Beltway Insider; Published on Sunday, 24 September 2023 09:56; Written by Janet Walker

President Biden was forced this week to deal with the bloated immigration problem at the southern border which has threatened to overwhelm authorities attempting to stay the escalating influx of illegals attempting to enter the United States.

The President's job approval rating, according to the website fivethirtyeight.com, for the period ending September 24, 2023 increased by 0.4% to 41.0% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness decreased by 0.4% to 54.3% of those polled who disapprove of his effectiveness. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.

Beltway Insider: Biden’s 2024 Baggage, VP, Striking Workers, Romney, Pelosi, Libya Disaster

2024 Campaign Issues: Immigration

The 2024 election campaign season is oddly upon us again and as in every election some issues seem to rise above the others. In the 2024 Presidential campaign season, immigration will be that issue.

Weekly, media organizations are filled with stories of illegal immigrants arriving in the United States and in pure political public relations stunt are bussed to northern cities, or to the homes of the political official who have soft views on the exploding southern border immigrant issues.

This week, President Biden, who is running for re-election, moved to release some of the southern border tension by expediting the processing of nearly half a million Venezuelan's who crossed the Texas border illegally.

"The Biden administration said Wednesday it will offer temporary legal status to more than 470,000 Venezuelan migrants in the United States, announcing the move as U.S. authorities struggle to contend with a border influx in Texas that has stretched holding capacity to the brink," reported The Washington Post.

Migrants travel a treacherous path to reach the southern border of the United States, as in every country, paying human traffickers who exploit their vulnerability, subject them to violence, and with the promise of freedom, ferry them across the Rio Grande in over-capacity rafts or force them to walk across the river, which has resulted in a increase in drowning deaths.

Surviving this hazardous journey ends when the migrants reach the United States, where they immediately surrender to Border Control agents, placed in processing centers, which is the first step toward asylum. Many will be returned to their native country; others may be granted temporary asylum.

With the border cities and towns bursting at the arrival of more than 2,000 people per day, Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL, who is seeking his party's nomination for presidential, and Texas governor Greg Abbott, has taken to bussing the immigrants to northern cities.

Welcomed by democratic politics, especially in New York, where New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and Representative Daniel S. Goldman, among several Democrats who applauded the presidents' recent actions. However, "Outraged Staten Island residents took to the street Tuesday night to physically block the arrival of an MTA bus carrying asylum seekers to a newly converted shelter — a move that Mayor Eric Adams called "ugly," even as over 100,000 migrants have been shipped to the Big Apple since last year," reported The New York Post.

As the 2024 Precedential election heats up, it is apparent that immigration will be at the forefront of the voter's minds.

Justice Watch: And They Got Away With It (Part 4)

New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez Indicted

New Jersey Senator Robert J. Menendez, his wife Nadine, and three others were indicted by the U.S. Southern District this week on charges he used his position in politics to leverage favors for individuals associated with the Egyptian government.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams announced the indictments this week detailing the evidence against the senator, who beat similar charges just six years ago, included Gold bars, that have a street value currently of $65,000 each, stacks of cash stuffed in envelopes, "a low-show or so show job," for his wife, home mortgage payments, home furnishings, automobiles, and other high end luxury items. The indictment also states that Menendez and his wife accepted $480,000 in cash, "hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe."

In addition to Menendez, and his wife, the indictment also charges Wael Hana, also known as "Will Hana," Jose Uribe, and Fred Daibes, who were involved with his wife prior to onset of the relationship and once they married, she introduced them to the senator.

The 39 page indictment which can be read here, states, "In the following months and years, HANA and NADINE MENENDEZ worked to introduce Egyptian intelligence and military officials to MENENDEZ for the purpose of establishing and solidifying a corrupt agreement in which HANA, with assistance from FRED DAIBES and JOSE URIBE, the defendants, provided hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes to MENENDEZ and NADINE MENENDEZ, in exchange for MENENDEZ's acts and breaches of duty to benefit the Government of Egypt, HANA, and others, including with respect to foreign military sales and foreign military financing."

With foreign relations strained in the middle east, since the event known as Arab Spring, the transfer of power and instability of governments throughout the region has remained a transient issue. Engaging Menendez to exert his influence to provide advanced technological warfare, would boost the Egyptian military standing in the region.

The United States has long held an amical relationship with Egypt, which included billions in foreign aid, and military sales, however over the recent past, human rights abuses in the nation has cause the U.S. government to withhold considerable aid packages.

Securing an avenue to expedite and eradicate the considerable approvals and red tape associated with government spending, would greatly benefit the Egyptian government who would then not be dependent on the whim, wind or will of the United States and therefore not be held to the strict democratic views which has proven to be the stumbling block for aid in the recent past.

Justice Watch: The Perfect Crime (The Victim X Story Pt. 2)

In what appears to be a typical Honey Pot scam, the Senator's wife, Nadine Menendez, by his own admission, held the friendships that ensnared him for a second time, long before they were married. From the cursory information regarding the relationship, it appears as if she met the senator, seduced him, secured the relationship and as his career continue to advance used these friendships to secure his interest in using his position for financial gain.

His position as the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee afforded him vast leverage and access to information that would benefit the security of foreign governments, including classified clandestine technology.

The Senator denounced the charges as lies, and vindictive prosecution, stating,"The excesses of these prosecutors is apparent. They have misrepresented the normal work of a Congressional office. On top of that, not content with making false claims against me, they have attacked my wife for the longstanding friendships she had before she and I even met," Menendez said in a written statement," reported The Washington Post.

GOP Second Debate

"Former President Donald Trump will skip the debate stage in California on Sept. 27. Instead, he will head to the Motor City that day to join striking union autoworkers as they call for better contract terms from the Big Three automakers, according to a source familiar with the plans," reported NPR.org.

Coronavirus Totals

The CDC has recommended every person from age six months, including senior citizens, should receive at least one shot of an updated covid vaccine.

Mandates have been altered or lifted in most urban areas with limited exceptions, and the population is encouraged to maintain personal protective practices. Masks are optional and tolerated. Vaccines and boosters are still considered the most effective agents against contracting the Coronavirus.

For the week ending September 24, 2023, the total of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide reached 770,563,467 confirmed cases, an increase over the past week of 126,140 cases worldwide. The total worldwide death toll increased by 316 to 6,957,216 deaths. The United States has stopped providing Covid data to the World Health Organization. (Data from The World Health Organization).

COVID U.S. Totals

As hospitalizations and infection rates continue to rise in the United States, some jurisdictions are suggesting new mask mandates. For the 7-day period ending September 24, 2023, the total hospitalizations resulting from new Covid hospitalizations in the U.S. increased by 18,987 to 6,308,630 which represents an 4.5% increase. The coronavirus has claimed 1,141,782 total U.S. deaths, an 10.5% increase, adding 1,504 deaths, over the past week. (Data from CDC).

Pentagon's Diary Gets Personal

Protecting for gain of function knowledge only aides those who initiated the constitutional violations. It does nothing to combat homegrown terrorism.

Justice Watch: Jealousy, Greed, and The Seven Deadly Sins – The Victim X Story Pt.3

Rupert Murdoch Retires

Rupert Murdoch's announcement this week that he was stepping away from his daily duties as Chairman of Fox News, surprised many who assumed the elder stateman of the far-right news organization would never leave his post.

At 92, the move may seem to many as a signal of retirement, a well-earned rest, maybe a moment to pause, others describe the move as strategic, a planned actionable yet to be announced expansion of his media empire. Clearly one that solidifies his son's, Lachlan Murdoch, 52, position as sole Chairman of News Corp and Chair and Chief Executive of Fox News Corp.

"Rupert Murdoch appears to be in good health, but hours after the announcement of his departure on Thursday, some media executives who have worked with him argued that he would not have stepped down without some greater plan in mind that further solidified Lachlan's control over the companies," reported The New York Times.

Libyan Disaster Sparks Protests; Violence

The Libyan coastal city of Derna still reeling from the unfathomable disaster from the Mediterranean Hurricane Daniel which produced excessive rainfall in the arid region causing two earthen dams to breech sending a wall of water rushing through the heavy populated city in the middle of the night, killing more than 20,000.

Distraught residents have taken to the streets in protests, unable to process their grief calling for the international investigation into the disaster that washed away entire sections of the city leaving a muddy swath of debris. The disaster has sparked violence and protestors have set fire to the home of Derna Mayor, Abdulmenam al-Ghaithi.

Libya, an oil rich nation, has long placed its national prominence over the concerns of its citizens and the recent Derna disaster is continuing evidence of a government who cares more for the oil profits than the citizen. Political unrest and a divided nation appear to have contributed to the failure of authorities to warn residents to evacuate.

"It was known for years that the dams protecting Derna, on Libya's northeastern Mediterranean coast, needed maintenance or were insufficient for the storms hitting the country. But Libyan authorities in both the east and west appeared to have ignored warnings about the danger," reported The New York Times.

For more information on President Joe Biden w ww.whitehouse.gov.