A day of historic impeachment, a Capitol as armed encampment
WASHINGTON — The scene in the U.S. Capitol seemed jarringly disconnected. Inside the House chamber, the nation’s lawmakers spoke with solemnity about democracy, the rule of law and the words of Abraham Lincoln as they undertook a vote to remove the president from office.
They wore masks, a rule imposed by Democrats, as a measure of the pandemic that continues to ravage the country.
But only steps away, outside the chamber doors, there was the look of an armed encampment.
The House impeachment of President Donald Trump for inciting an insurrection on the home of the branch of government created in Article I of the Constitution contained arresting reminders of the violence and death wrought just a week ago and the fears that the Capitol needed enhanced protection to prevent it from happening again.
Where visitors once walked, hundreds of National Guard members camped out, protecting lawmakers still reeling from last week’s violence and preparing for the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.
The Capitol grounds were wrapped in seven-foot fences, and scores of other law enforcement officers and troops kept a watchful eye.
A replica of the dome that stands atop the Capitol, the Statue of Freedom, resides in the Capitol’s visitor centre. Beneath it, soldiers slept on marble floors while others huddled to discuss their marching orders for the day.
They massed together from one end of the giant hall to the other and their numbers made it impossible to follow the signs calling for social distancing. To protect from COVID, they wore masks, and to protect from potential violence, they stockpiled riot shields and gas masks.
Republican Rep. Brian Mast of Florida, a military veteran who lost both legs in the war in Afghanistan, was shocked at the sight and that so many soldiers were deemed necessary to keep the Capitol safe.
“It’s as sad as anything can make me in this world,” Mast said as he gave some of them a tour.
The Capitol always sees stepped-up security precautions leading up to an inauguration, but it rarely looks like the nation is on a war footing.
But along with the signs of fear, there were also signs of gratefulness for those protecting the Capitol. A tunnel leading to House office buildings has become a makeshift tribute to members of law enforcement who protected the Capitol when a violent mob overran the building in an attempt to derail the certification of Electoral College votes in the presidential election. More than 50 police officers were injured in the attack, including 15 who were hospitalized. One was killed.
“Thank you for keeping my mommy safe,” said a poster with smiley faces and stars and signed by “Clair Age 8.”
The thank you signs poured in from all ranks and political parties, including a letter from the office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “We would not be here without you,” said another poster signed “thank you from AOC,” the initials for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D.-N.Y.
Outside of the Capitol, members of the National Guard — many carrying semi-automatic assault rifles — are supplementing the work of the U.S. Capitol Police, forming perimeters around each of the office buildings that lawmakers and their staffs use when not in the Capitol for votes. The number of entrances into the buildings has been dramatically diminished and those approaching must present a credential to get in.
The tensions were also apparent inside the House chamber. Beginning Tuesday, lawmakers had to walk through a metal detector before being allowed to enter the chamber. Members of Congress have previously enjoyed nearly free range at the Capitol, able to bypass security screening stations at most entrances to the building. In the House chamber, there have been Capitol Police officers and civilian door monitors but no screening stations. Reporters had to do the same to enter the galleries above the chamber.
As the debate over whether to impeach Trump ensued in the afternoon on the House floor, one side called for unity, the other accountability. It’s very much unclear whether either will happen.
“This is a moment of truth my friends,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va. “Are you on the side of chaos and the mob, or on the side of constitutional democracy and our freedom?”
“If we impeached every politician who gave a fiery speech to a crowd of partisans, this Capitol would be deserted. That’s what the president did, that is all he did,” said Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif.
No. 3 House Republican Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who created a tempest inside the party by declaring she would support impeachment, quickly left after casting her “aye” vote. But another GOP impeachment backer, John Katko of New York, lingered for a bit near a desk with a terminal that keeps a tally.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gaveled the vote and announced the tally — but only after waiting for California Democratic ally Maxine Waters, a strong opponent of Trump, to cast the 232nd and final vote to impeach him.
As Pelosi announced the vote count, there was hardly a sound, a single clap from one or two in the audience that was quickly replaced by silence as most members headed for the exits.
By Kevin Freking And Andrew Taylor, The Associated Press
Daily Caller
Canada Pivots From ‘Diversity Is Our Strength,’ Locks Down Border Fearing Migrant Influx
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
Canadian officials are bracing for a possible migrant influx into their country because of President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory in the U.S., marking a major pivot in policy compared to Trump’s first White House term.
Canada’s Liberal Party-led government appears to be taking a much more hawkish approach to illegal immigration and the possibility of a surge in asylum seekers, according to the New York Times. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) — the country’s law enforcement arm that patrols the border — is preparing to beef up its immigration enforcement capabilities by hiring more staff, adding more vehicles and creating more processing facilities.
RCMP would use the extra vehicles to help patrol the U.S.-Canada border and utilize newly-established facilities to detain and process arriving migrants, according to the New York Times.
The preparations up north come as Trump — who just won election to a second, non-consecutive term to the White House — has vowed to conduct the largest deportation operation in the country’s history. He is set to re-occupy the Oval Office in January, where he will get to work on his hardline immigration enforcement agenda.
Canadian officials have spoken about the possibility of a migrant surge into their country early on since Trump’s victory.
“We started planning because we knew that there were a lot of people in the United States who will fear to be deported, and if that happens, they won’t wait for the Trump administration to seize power, it’s more likely that they will attempt to cross into Canada from now in the next few weeks until he takes on power,” RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Charles Poirier said on CTV News earlier in November.
Trudeau’s government did not have the same response to Trump’s first-term crackdown on illegal migrants.
“To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada,” the Canadian prime minister posted on social media on Jan. 28, 2017, just days after Trump was sworn into office.
However, in the years since Trudeau made these public overtures, the Canadian government has recognized the need to change course. The change in policy is largely reflective of less tolerance in the country for mass migration, public opinion surveys have shown.
“To be clear: all newcomers are valued in Canada,” Marc Miller, Canada’s immigration minister, said during a September speech in Ottawa before announcing the rollout of immigration enforcement measures. “But we also need to recognize that this can impact communities, such as the increases in unemployment amongst youth and newcomers.”
“We are introducing changes to further recalibrate international student, foreign worker and permanent resident volumes. That work has already started,” Miller continued.
In addition to beefing up its border infrastructure, Canadian officials also plan to make use out of an international agreement that will allow them to send asylum seekers back into the U.S., according to the New York Times. The “safe third country” agreement — which the Trump administration heavily enforced onto Mexico at that time — designates both the U.S. and Canada as safe countries for asylum requestors, meaning a migrant that arrived in the U.S. must first seek asylum there before attempting to do so in Canada.
“We expect that agreement to continue to be fully enforced,” Miller told reporters earlier.
The RCMP did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
From the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
Average compensation for a federal bureaucrat is $125,300. Cutting back the bureaucracy to population growth would save taxpayers $9 billion every year
Dumb government spending doesn’t stop at the 49th parallel.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced the creation of a Department of Government Efficiency, with a mandate to “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies.”
Those marching orders sure would sound good in a prime minister’s mandate letter to a finance minister. And here’s the blueprint they should follow.
Begin with crazy research Canadian taxpayers are forced to subsidize.
The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council spends $1 billion a year supporting “research and research training in the social sciences and humanities.”
Here’s a little taste of the reports it funds with your tax dollars:
- Gender Politics in Peruvian Rock Music ($20,000)
- Cart-ography: tracking the birth, life and death of an urban grocery cart, from work product to work tool ($105,000)
- My Paw in Yours: Dead Pets and Transcendence of Species Divides in Experimental Art-Making Practice ($17,500)
- Playing for Pleasure: The Affective Experience of Sexual and Erotic Video Games ($50,000)
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Parks Canada put Mr. Magoo in charge of its hunting operations. It spent four years and $10,000 capturing a single bullfrog and dropped $800,000 hunting 84 deer on a B.C. Island. How can a simple hunt cost $10,000 per deer?
Well, hunting gets more expensive when instead of your grandpa’s old rifle, you use prohibited semi-automatic weapons, instead of a box of shells, you get a crate of ammo, and instead of your buddy’s old pickup, you rent a helicopter for $67,000.
Or how about the $8-million barn at Rideau Hall. Or $12,500 live senior citizen sex story shows. Or the $8,800 sex toy show in Germany. Or the millions wasted producing government podcasts no one listens to.
Then there’s government officials living high on the hog.
Governor General Mary Simon spent $71,000 on limo services in Iceland. Bureaucrats spend $76,000 a month renting art. Global Affairs Canada spends $51,000 on booze a month.
Now, the big stuff.
The size and cost of the government is out of control. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hired 108,000 new bureaucrats. That’s a 42 per cent increase in less than a decade.
Had the bureaucracy only increased with population growth, there would be 72,491 fewer bureaucrats today.
Average compensation for a federal bureaucrat is $125,300. Cutting back the bureaucracy to population growth would save taxpayers $9 billion every year.
It’s time to stop rewarding failure with bonuses.
The feds dished out $1.5 billion in bonuses since 2015.
And the bonuses flow despite federal departments only managing to hit half of their performance targets once in the past five years.
Government executives overseeing ArriveSCAM took $340,000 in bonuses.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation rubberstamped $102 million in bonuses amid the worst housing crisis in Canadian history.
The Bank of Canada printed $20 million in bonus cheques in 2022, as inflation reached a 40-year high.
The CBC dished out $132 million in bonuses since 2015.
The next thing on the chopping block? Corporate welfare.
Trudeau put taxpayers on the hook for $30 billion in subsidies to multinational corporations like Honda,Volkswagen, Stellantis and Northvolt.
Federal corporate subsidies totalled $11.2 billion in 2022 alone.
Shutting down the federal government’s seven regional development agencies would save taxpayers an estimated $1.5 billion annually.
True efficiency would also mean eliminating failing government operations altogether. The feds should sell any Crown corporation that can, or should, be left to the private sector.
Here are a few examples.
The CBC, which takes more than $1 billion from taxpayers annually.
Canada Post, which lost $1.2 billion in the last two years and forecasts “larger, unsustainable losses in future years.”
VIA Rail, took $1.8 billion in taxpayer cash during the past five years just to cover operating losses.
The bad news for taxpayers is we pay too much tax because the government wastes too money. The list of wasteful spending in this article is far from exhaustive.
Other examples include the multi-billion dollar gun confiscation that police officers say won’t work, the $25-billion equalization scheme and taxpayer-funded media bailouts, among others.
The good news is a champion of taxpayers could make massive cuts and barely anyone outside the Ottawa bubble would notice.
This is the blueprint to slash Ottawa’s wasteful, bloated bureaucracy. All we need now is a prime minister with the guts to pick up the scissors.
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