Federal immigration officials seized enough fentanyl — one of the deadliest drugs in the world — last year to kill nearly twice the entire population of the United States.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) unit revealed in a year-end report that in total, about 2,737 pounds of fentanyl were seized in Fiscal Year 2018, along with 7,103 pounds of heroin, and 225 pounds of chemicals used to make these deadly drugs.

“At the forefront of the fight, HSI seized more than 11,000 pounds on fentanyl and opioids in Fiscal Year 2018,” the report notes. “Combating the spread of opioids is a key part of the agency’s narcotics enforcement efforts.”

The nearly 3,000 pounds of fentanyl is enough to kill about 600 million individuals, nearly twice the population of the U.S. where about 330 million residents live.

Fact Check: Real Crisis, Real Victims — Human Costs of an Open Borderhttps://t.co/6zoGJMEQk5

— John Binder 👽 (@JxhnBinder) January 9, 2019

Additionally, HSI officials say the amount of fentanyl seized in the U.S. last year is equivalent to seizing more than 4 million pill dosage units.

As Breitbart News’ John Hayward has reported, fentanyl deaths in the U.S. have skyrocketed and coincided with the country’s lax immigration and border enforcement.

“Fentanyl is a powerful and deadly synthetic drug often mixed with other street drugs to make them more potent,” Hayward writes. “It is largely manufactured in China and pushed across the porous southern border into the United States by Central and South American gangs. It kills tens of thousands of Americans every year.”

Drug overdoses in 2017 killed an unprecedented 72,287 U.S. residents, nearly three times the number of individuals killed by global terrorism. Nearly 50,000 of those deadly overdoses were caused by either heroin or fentanyl.

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

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks argued President Trump should have had the fight over funding the border wall when he had a Republican majority in the House.

Brooks said Trump “should have fought this fight, obviously, when the Republicans [were] there. If he really cared about the wall, he should have cared about the wall. I think he was prompted by what he sees as a crisis on the border by all the families…coming across the border. And so, suddenly, he got hyped up about all this.”

He continued, “But, given where we are, you know, he won an election running on the wall. And Nancy Pelosi won an election running on DACA. So, this, to me, is not that complicated. You come — both those sides come together and offer that proposal, and Nancy Pelosi doesn’t give him $5 billion on the wall, but she gives him 2 billion. And we can have an actual government. And, to me, that’s a deal that just seems so obvious.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

Hmm…

Via Daily Wire:

The pilgrimage hub of Saudi Arabia got hit with a plague of biblical proportions earlier this week when a massive swarm of locusts descended upon the Islamic holy site of Mecca.

In several videos posted online, locusts were seen crawling around Mecca’s grand mosque, creeping their way across the stone slabs, providing a small snapshot of what Pharaoh saw during the Passover thousands of years ago. One particularly searing video showed a cloud of flying pests descending their way over the wall, illuminated by the towering floodlights.

Keep reading…

When Amazon was notified of products on its website that were questionably Islamophobic, the online retailer moved with all due rapidity to extirpate them. When notified of products that were definitely anti-Christian, well, not so much.

First, the “Islamophobic” products. CNN reported that the items, which were sold by independent merchants on the e-commerce giant’s platform, included bathmats that were imprinted with Islamic scripture.

“The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, asked the online retailer last week to remove the products, which included doormats, bath mats and other items imprinted with Islamic calligraphy, references to the Prophet Muhammad and scripture,” CNN said.

“The products, which were being sold by independent merchants on Amazon’s website, are deemed offensive because they ‘would be stepped-on or otherwise disrespected by customers,’ CAIR said in a statement on Thursday.”

I’m not particularly certain that the brand of bigot who would enjoy violating Islamic religious tenets by stepping on a bathmat would be the type of individual who would appreciate the offense being given or want a bathmat with Islamic scripture in his house.

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That being said, Amazon probably should take some sort of action if a product is deeply offensive or hateful toward a religious group.

For example, a T-shirt saying “F— Me Jesus” and featuring a woman using a crucifix in perhaps the most profoundly untoward manner possible. That would seem to be more extreme than a bathmat featuring Islamic calligraphy.

Guess which one is still up on the store?

That shirt is official merchandise for the band Marduk, a Swedish black metal outfit that, from my one minute of acquaintance with it on YouTube (and that’s really all anyone should be able to take), I can say with some confidence is hilariously bad.

When you’re that terrible and you need to be taken seriously, you deliberately offend people. Which is what Marduk did with this shirt, which we must warn you is pornographic and beyond offensive. It’s here, if you must see it for yourself.

That’s not all. There’s an “I Hate Jesus” pillow, for when you want your hatred of an entire religion to be totally explicit and throw pillows from Pier 1 just won’t do the job.

And there’s more, according to a letter from a series of conservative leaders to Amazon. (Full disclosure: One of those leaders is Floyd Brown, publisher of The Western Journal.)

In the open letter, written Friday and addressed to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, they noted that “Amazon is selling products containing some of the most disgusting and offensive anti-Christian images and messages we have ever seen.”

Other products mentioned included a shirt showing Jesus at the foot of a toilet and another asking “Who the F— is Jesus?”

RELATED: Apple Bans Christian App, Google and Amazon Urged to Follow Suit

“Amazon’s policies prevent users from selling such ‘offensive and controversial materials.’” the letter continues. “We cannot think of anything more offensive to Christians than these kinds of products.

“Were Amazon to sell similar products targeting Allah instead, one could say with confidence it would trigger a violent worldwide reaction against your company. In fact, even the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has condemned these attacks on Christians as ‘inappropriate.’

“We assume you are unaware vendors sell these products on Amazon. Now that you know, we are sure you are just as disgusted as we are. We are confident that by bringing these violations of Amazon’s policy to your attention, we have convinced you to direct your team to conduct a thorough review of the site and remove any and all anti-Christian products immediately. On behalf of the tens of millions of Americans we represent collectively, we the undersigned await your reply.”

The most offensive products, as of Saturday morning, are still up on Amazon.

Let me first say that I don’t particularly mind the “Islamophobic” bathmats being taken off Amazon, although I question whether some of the products truly intended to insult. (Some of the products, it must be noted, were more explicitly problematic; a toilet seat with Quranic scripture on it is significantly less defensible as an example of accidental ignorance, even if one imagines the market for such a product is limited.)

“I don’t think it would be appropriate to have a toilet seat with the image of a Bible on it either,” CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper told CNN. “It’s just inappropriate stuff.”

I agree. So would most Christians. And there’s stuff on Amazon that’s a lot more offensive than a toilet seat with Ephesians 2 printed on it.

One would have hoped Amazon would have acted proactively on this stuff. Absent that, one would hope they would act quickly.

Neither of these seems to have happened.

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Think that the Democrats’ plan for border security is sufficient? Rio Grande Valley Sector acting Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz would like you to walk in his shoes and see what he sees.

Ortiz appeared on “Fox & Friends” Friday and said that agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector need more resources to keep up with illegal border crossings.

“We have two corridors in south Texas, our eastern corridor and our western corridor,” Ortiz said.

“Our eastern corridor — we account for about 4 percent of our traffic, and on our western side accounts for about 96 percent of our traffic that comes through the Rio Grande Valley.”

One of the reasons why the disparity is so great might not surprise you.

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“Most of our fencing is on the eastern side, we have some technology over there an awful lot.”

Back in the 1990s, Ortiz said, the eastern area was “the busiest area in the country.”

On the western side, there’s currently 55 miles of fence. Ortiz says he wants another 120 miles.

“We’ve got 277 miles of river country, it winds an awful lot,” he told Fox News. “But if we were able to get the infrastructure, a few more agents and certainly the technology, I like our chances against the transnational criminal organizations out there.”

“What I say to anybody who says we don’t need those things, come walk in my shoes,” he added.

Ortiz isn’t the only Border Patrol figure saying that more fencing is needed. In a series of appearances on Fox News earlier this week, former President Obama’s Border Patrol head also backed up President Trump’s take on the wall.

“The president is right, the president of (National) Border Control Council is right,” Mark Morgan said in an appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show.

“The other day when they had the national press conference and they got up and they said, ‘The wall works,’ they are right, and it’s not based on a personal, political ideology,” he added. “That’s based on historical data and facts that can be proven.”

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And why do people oppose walls? “I think it’s a political point they are trying to make,” Morgan said.

In another appearance, he pushed back on the idea that the border problem was a “manufactured crisis.”

“Anybody who says that, Tucker, is misinformed,” Morgan said. “And they’re misleading the American people.”

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For as much of a smug cesspool as Hollywood can be, it’s nice to be reminded that not everyone who is a part of it is a terrible person.

Some, in fact, are actually pretty awesome.

One such individual is “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Jurassic World” star Chris Pratt.

Despite his Hollywood connections, Pratt has often gone against the grain of many of peers. Whereas many Hollywood elitists tend to sow seeds of hatred and division, Pratt goes in the complete opposite direction with messages of love and unity.

“I say I love God. That’s my thing,” Pratt said when he accepted the “Choice Summer Movie Actor” at the 2018 Teen Choice Awards. “I love Him. And you should too.”

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Pratt has made no secret about the love that he has for God and wears his faith on his sleeve.

To call it a breath of fresh air would be a mighty understatement.

Of course, some cynics may wonder if Pratt’s exhibition of faith is just for show on these public forums or if he truly believes what he says.

Based on his latest personal journey that he’s chronicling through his Instagram, it’s safe to say that Pratt is the genuine article.

According to People, Pratt spoke on his Instagram story (which delete themselves after 24 hours) about the “Daniel Fast” he was taking part in.

“OK, hi, Chris Pratt here. Day three of the Daniel Fast, check it out, it’s 21 days of prayer and fasting,” he said in the since-deleted video.

“It’s gonna coincide also coincidentally with the ‘Lego Movie 2’ junkets, so by the time you see me, I’ll probably be hallucinating,” he joked. “Stay tuned.”

“The Daniel Fast is based on the fasting experiences of the Old Testament Prophet. It’s a partial fast where some foods are eaten while others are restricted. Most people use this method of fasting for 21 consecutive days,” the Daniel Fast website explains.

The fast itself includes consuming only foods that come from seeds, including all fruits, grains, vegetables and legumes. Only water can be consumed as well. Meats, dairy and sugar are all forbidden.

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But more important than any dietary part of the Daniel Fast is the prayers aspect. Praying everyday is also a big part of the fast.

“Entering into a period of extended prayer and fasting is like pushing the ‘pause button’ on life so you can draw nearer to God. The Holy Spirit joins you in this experience as you open your heart to receive from the Lord,” the website also says.

Good on Pratt for bringing this into the public eye. Even if the dietary part of the Daniel Fast holds no appeal to you, only good can come from being closer to God.

Pratt knows that and is trying to spread that message. That’s one message I would never mind hearing from Hollywood.

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