53percenter's Blog

I know some of our readers won’t touch anything with a liberal provenance, but I have a very soft spot for the comic “Doonesbury.” Granted, Garry Trudeau and his most famous creation have both become a kind of self-parody as the artist has aged, but reading some of the comics during its heyday can make me laugh in spite of my vehement disagreement with the point.

Of my favorite Trudeau creations is Roland Burton Hedley, a vainglorious reporter so credulous and lacking in self-awareness he’ll pretty much report anything without realizing how imbecilic it makes him — and the narrative he’s trying to push — look.

My favorite gag involved him doing a report on campus student life; one of the protagonists, trying to get Hedley to believe that the mild-mannered liberals on their commune were irredeemable hedonists as part of a joke, is able to pass off a lilac bush as their own personal marijuana plant.

In the world of “Doonesbury,” Hedley was, when I last checked in with the comic, working at Fox News — because of course he was. In the real world, I get the feeling he’s working at CNN and his name is Jim Acosta.

Acosta has had more than one Hedley moment, and I’ve made the comparison before. However, what he managed to do Thursday in McAllen, Texas, was truly a work of Hedleyean art.

TRENDING: Watch as Ex-Secret Service Agent Absolutely Takes Geraldo Apart on Immigration

Acosta was part of the press pool accompanying President Donald Trump down to the border, where the president had a press conference as part of his push for wall funding. He posed in front of seized drugs, weapons and ill-gotten cash, along with law enforcement officers and families of victims.

It was a photo op, and the president admitted as much, but it was an effective one. If Trump is going to have a photo op, however, CNN’s well-coiffed Hedley impersonator is going to have his own as well. After all, if you’ve ever watched a presidential press conference with Jim Acosta present, you know who Jim Acosta thinks the real star is.

For his photo op, Acosta strutted along the border, giving a monologue about just how anodyne life really was there.

“As we’re walking along here, we’re not seeing any kind of imminent danger,” Acosta said in the second half of his 35-second video.

“There are some other businesses behind me, along this highway,” he added. “There’s a gas station, a Burger King and so on. No sign of the national emergency that the president’s been talking about. As a matter of fact, it’s pretty tranquil down here.”

I found some steel slats down on the border. But I don’t see anything resembling a national emergency situation.. at least not in the McAllen TX area of the border where Trump will be today. pic.twitter.com/KRoLdszLUu

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 10, 2019

So, you may have noticed I was coy about the first half of the video. Remember what I said about lack of self-awareness? I’m sorry, Mr. Hedley — you’ve got nothing on Jim Acosta.

In trying to make the case against a border fence, Jim Acosta noted that it was “pretty tranquil down here” in front of a border fence.

“I hope the American people aren’t lost on the irony that he’s standing behind a wall saying it’s peaceful. Because there’s a wall. Think about that, right? The irony there,” Mark Morgan, former head of the Border Patrol, told Fox News.

RELATED: Jim Acosta Goes to Border, Accidentally Proves Walls Work

When I went with President @realDonaldTrump to the border today I never imagined @Acosta would be there doing our job for us and so clearly explaining why WALLS WORK. Thanks Jim! https://t.co/7wC4rdEsZ2

— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) January 10, 2019

The National Border Patrol Council’s spokesman for agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector, meanwhile, said that Acosta ought to stick around when there wasn’t a press pool around and it wasn’t daylight.

“What he fails to realize is he’s out there with cameras during the day. Everything is pretty nice and calm during the day,” Chris Cabrera told Fox News. “If he sees it as so safe out there, why doesn’t he just pitch a tent by the river and hang (there) for a couple of days and get back to us on how safe he feels?”

Cabrera noted another irony: “CNN put on their news feed, not two weeks ago, ‘border crisis.’ Now there’s not a border crisis. We catch the equivalent of one of those caravans they talk about per week in McAllen. We see 5,000, 7,000, 10,000 a week just in our area. Those are people turning themselves in and people trying to get away.”

It’s worth noting even Acosta realized how tin-eared and self-defeating this video was. Along with the video, he tweeted: “The steel slats don’t run the entire length of the border in the McAllen area. We found one part where there is a chain link fence. Occasionally migrants come through, but residents say their community is quite safe.”

Right. Which is why he chose to do the video in front of the slatted fence.

How’s that lilac bush, Roland?

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

If the Democrats thought blocking border wall funding with a partial government shutdown was the right hill to die on, they were sadly mistaken. Their lies about border walls have been exposed, and thus so have they.

This had led some in the party to think twice about being part of the herd.

While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who declared the border wall “immoral,” and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer try to keep the Democrats in line, cracks are starting to show.

The Washington Free Beacon compiled numerous examples of Democrats speaking out in favor of a border wall.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York said, “There are areas along the border where there are currently fences that are put up or barriers that are put up that need to be enhanced.”

TRENDING: Watch as Ex-Secret Service Agent Absolutely Takes Geraldo Apart on Immigration

Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark echoed that sentiment, saying, “I think there are parts of the border that would benefit from repairing fencing and other barricades that already exist there.”

Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland took it a step further, saying, “Certainly you need barriers and we support barriers.”

But there is even more to this story of Democrats showing some unwillingness to continue with the battle that Pelosi and Schumer seem so dead set on fighting.

According to The Hill, some Democrats have even stated their support for President Donald Trump declaring a national emergency so the government shutdown can finally come to an end.

For example, while Virginia Rep. Don Beyer is hoping for “another creative solution” to the problem, he said, “Right now it looks like the only way out that people are talking about.”

Beyer said he isn’t all on board, but “it does seem like a way for him to reopen the government and yet save face. And I’m not against him saving face.”

Speaking of “saving face,” Beyer’s suburban D.C. district is home to many workers affected by the shutdown.

Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin also represents a district in the Washington suburbs impacted by the shutdown. He said he’s not sure a national emergency declaration is a good fit for what is going on at the border but it might be the best way, under current circumstances, to bring an end to the shutdown.

RELATED: When a Border City’s Local News Anchors Expose CNN Live on Air, You Know We’re Winning. [Watch]

“I would much prefer if this whole debate over the wall were relocated from the political branches, where the president has been promising to hold his breath until his face turns blue, to the judicial branches, where we can have some kind of calm dissection of the actual circumstances on the ground at the border,” Raskin said, according to the Hill.

“If this is what it takes for the president to reopen the government of the United States, then most people will say, ‘So be it. Let him attempt his administrative emergency workaround to the Constitution and the Congress,’” Raskin said. “This might be the best of the bad lot in terms of the options left to us.”

Even some in Hollywood are abandoning support for the wall battle. One notable example is the outspoken leftist and singer Cher. Her Twitter feed is filled with Trump bashing, but on the government shutdown, she seemed to echo the president to a degree in telling Pelosi to end the battle.

In a tweet Wednesday, Cher called the House speaker a “hero” for her stance but said, “REAL PPL ARE REALLY SUFFERING‼️ … LET HIM HAVE HIS F-NG MONEY!!”

Many would see the Democrats as “heroes” if they ended the shutdown. They could use their willingness to give in on this as a “See, we compromise and work with the other side” talking point.

If they did so, everyone would win. The wall would get funding, the shutdown would end, and the Democrats could stop having to do damage control that everyone sees through on why they are against the wall funding.

Trump has made it clear he is not going to roll over on this issue. He has everything to win by standing firm. Meanwhile, the Democrats have everything to lose by continuing to test his resolve by fighting him on this particular issue.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Former wrestling Champion-turned Hollywood superstar Dwayne Johnson criticized the contemporary “snowflake” generation of young people, arguing that “if you are not agreeing with them then they are offended.”

In an interview with Britain’s Daily Star, the Fast and Furious star said that this generation’s penchant for being offended is taking humanity backward.

“I don’t have to agree with what somebody thinks, who they vote for, what they voted for, what they think, but I will back their right to say or believe it. That’s democracy,” the Jumanji star said. “So many good people fought for freedom and equality – but this generation are looking for a reason to be offended.”

Dwayne Johnson went on to argue that the propensity of many young people to take offense is only taking humanity backward rather than forward.

“If you are not agreeing with them then they are offended — and that is not what so many great men and women fought for,” he explained. “We thankfully now live in a world that has progressed over the last 30 or 40 years. People can be who they want, be with who they want, and live how they want. That can only be a good thing — but generation snowflake or, whatever you want to call them, are actually putting us backwards.”

The 46-year-old actor has long expressed an interest in political debate and has previously revealed how he is considering a run for the presidency. Last year, he argued that America needs a return to leadership of people who have a comprehensive understanding of American history and politics, as well as prior political experience.

“What I’m sensing now is that we have to pivot back to people who have a deep-rooted knowledge of American history and politics and experience in policy and how laws get made. I think that pivot has to happen,” Johnson said in an interview with Rolling Stone. “I think in a lot of people’s minds, what Trump has proved is that anybody can run for president. And in a lot of people’s minds, what he’s also proved is that not everybody should run for president.”

Follow Ben Kew on Facebook, Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart.com.

Six Republican Senators have failed to develop a coalition for their plan that exchanges a fifth of border wall funding for an amnesty for illegal aliens and increased immigration.

The plan, described to Breitbart News, was a creation of Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Susan Collins (R-ME), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Rob Portman (R-OH), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and would have tied $5.7 billion in funding for President Trump’s proposed border wall to an amnesty for illegal aliens enrolled and eligible in President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Also included in the plan was a provision to provide amnesty to foreign nationals who are in the United States as Temporary Protected Status (TPS) beneficiaries. The amnesty would have been rewarded to anywhere between 1.2 and 3.5 million DACA-enrolled and DACA-eligible illegal aliens, as well as the roughly 325,000 TPS foreign nationals.

The GOP Senators’ plan would have additionally increased the number of non-agricultural foreign workers that U.S. companies can import to take blue-collar American jobs. Already, the H-2B program gives business 66,000 cheap foreign workers every year.

In statements to the media, Graham said the plan had failed to come to fruition and garner support:

Sen GRAHAM says efforts to find a compromise path to reopen the government aren’t working: “I see no path forward…”

— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) January 10, 2019

GRAHAM: “I’m done.”

Q: So you’re saying there are no more conversations happening on finding a compromise?

GRAHAM: “I don’t know who to talk to and I don’t know what else to do.”

— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) January 10, 2019

As Breitbart News most recently reported, blue-collar Americans in landscaping, conservation work, the meatpacking industry, construction industry, and fishing jobs have had their wages dragged down by foreign workers imported through the H-2B visa program.

The DACA amnesty-for-wall funding plan is despised by Trump’s most loyal supporters who have warned the administration against caving to the big business lobby and billionaire donor class, both of which have pushed for an amnesty for illegal aliens for the last two years.

Supporters of Trump had told Breitbart News that a DACA amnesty would nullify a border wall.

“Any support of DACA amnesty, before, after or during construction of a border wall is a betrayal to his campaign promises,” ALIPAC President and activist William Gheen said before the amnesty deal fell apart.

The ‘Amnesty First’ Trap: Trump Supporters Concerned Trade to End Shutdown Would Cause Illegal Immigration Surgehttps://t.co/X7IXb7kdMX

— John Binder 👽 (@JxhnBinder) January 8, 2019

The plan came as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, along with the billionaire Koch brothers, have urged Republicans, Democrats, and Trump to pass an amnesty for DACA illegal aliens.

Corporate interests and the big business lobby have the most to gain from granting an amnesty to DACA illegal aliens, as legalizing millions of low-skilled foreign workers would drag down wages for Americans, drive up profit margins for corporations, and leave U.S. taxpayers with the costs.

A DACA amnesty would put more U.S.-born children of illegal aliens — commonly known as “anchor babies” — on federal welfare, as Breitbart News reported, while American taxpayers would be left with a $26 billion bill.

Additionally, about one in five DACA illegal aliens, after an amnesty, would end up on food stamps, while at least one in seven would go on Medicaid.

The chain migration inflow from a DACA amnesty has the potential to reach nine million foreign nationals arriving in the country, as every two newly naturalized citizens bring about seven foreign relatives to the U.S. with them. This is possibly nine million additional foreign nationals who would be admitted to the country, in addition to the 1.5 million illegal and legal immigrants that arrive annually.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is reportedly planning to replace embattled Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel with the county’s first black sheriff.

Politico reports that the new appointee will be Coral Springs Police Sgt. Gregory Tony.

Tony was recommended by Andrew Pollack, father of the late Meadow Pollack, who was killed in the February 14, 2018, Parkland school shooting. Pollack said, “[Tony’s] a law-and-order-type policeman who wants to do right by the community and keep the community safe.”

News of a replacement for Sheriff Israel comes just days after he told his staff that DeSantis was suspending him over his office’s handling of the Parkland schooting.

On January 8, 2019, Breitbart News reported that Israel was convinced his suspension was inevitable. The Miami Herald quoted BSO union chief Jeff Bell saying, “We know that he is telling everyone at the public safety building that he is going to be gone.”

Israel has taken heavy criticism for allowing former deputy Scot Peterson to retire following the Parkland shooting. Peterson stood outside the school building and listened to shots being fired instead of going inside to confront the gunman. By not firing Peterson, and allowing him instead to resign, Israel was ridiculed for allegedly contributing to scenario in which the former deputy, aka the “Coward of Broward,” now draws over $100,000 a year in pension.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange