Mahmoud Khalil and the Red-Green Assault on American Sovereignty

posted by Josh Hammer at Townhall 

The stock market of late has been on a veritable roller coaster, Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency continues to ruffle feathers, Iran marches ever harrowingly closer to a nuclear weapon, and Russia and Ukraine get tantalizingly close to a ceasefire. But the national political conversation this week has curiously tended to focus not on any of that but instead on the uncertain fate of a lone noncitizen and former Columbia University graduate student, Mahmoud Khalil.

Talk about a misplacement of priorities. Most American media consumers care a great deal about their pocketbooks and retirement accounts. They likely also care about stability on the world stage -- a subdued China, a relatively calm Middle East and a long-overdue peace deal to end the bloodshed in Eastern Europe.

By contrast, here is one thing media consumers probably don't care a lot about: whether a Syrian national and Algerian citizen who was the face of last year's violent pro-Hamas Columbia University campus riots gets deported. You would never know that, of course, from the media's incessant focus on the Khalil saga. Is it any wonder that only 31% of Americans told Gallup last fall they have a "great deal" or "fair amount" of confidence in the media?

In any event, Khalil is, by any metric, a wildly unsympathetic figure. The New York Times described him as the "public face of protest against Israel" at Columbia. He was the spokesman of a pro-Hamas student group called Columbia University Apartheid Divest. CUAD has referred to the Oct. 7 slaughter of Israelis as a "moral, military, and political victory" and asserted that it is fighting for nothing less than the "total eradication of Western civilization." Khalil personally distributed propaganda pamphlets titled "Our Narrative -- Operation Al-Aqsa Flood," borrowing Hamas's code name for Oct. 7.

Even more relevant, Khalil is not a U.S. citizen. He is a green card holder -- a legal alien. And like any alien, legal or illegal, he can only remain on our soil when the sovereign -- in the U.S., that's "We the People" -- consents to it. And when we remove our consent, then the alien must go.

The power to exclude is the singular defining feature of what it means to be a sovereign. Emer de Vattel's highly influential 1758 treatise, "The Law of Nations," described this power as plenary: "The sovereign may forbid the entrance of his territory either to foreigners in general, or in particular cases, or to certain persons, or for certain particular purposes, according as he may think it advantageous to the state." And as Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia noted in his 2001 dissent in Zadvydas v. Davis, quoting Justice Robert Jackson's earlier assertion in Shaughnessy v. United States ex rel. Mezei (1953): "Due process does not invest any alien with a right to enter the United States, nor confer on those admitted the right to remain against the national will."

It's quite simple, really: Any alien, from someone here on a tourist visa to a green card holder, is here solely because We the People -- the citizens of this nation -- consented to it. When the alien violates the terms of their admission, they can be -- indeed, must be -- removed. That alien, moreover, can be removed summarily if so desired; there is no specific level of "due process" to which an alien is entitled.

That brings us back to Khalil -- a foreign national who violated the terms of his sojourn by supporting at least one (perhaps multiple) U.S. State Department-designated foreign terrorist organizations, and by making common cause with an organization clamoring more generally for "the total eradication of Western civilization." The day the United States loses the ability to deport noncitizens who espouse such toxic beliefs is the day the United States ceases to be a sovereign nation-state.

And therein lies the entire point.

The Khalil saga is where we see the intersection of the three menacing anti-Western ideologies I identify in my new book out this Tuesday, "Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West." First, there is the woke angle: Khalil and his ilk believe in the neo-Marxist "oppressor"/"oppressed" dichotomy, and his view of Israel as an "oppressor" underlies his repugnant activism. Second, there is the Islamist angle: Khalil supports Sunni Islamist outfits such as Hamas. Third, there is the global neoliberal angle: Those protesting Khalil's detention see little to no distinction between citizen and noncitizen -- like John Lennon's dystopian song "Imagine," they envision a borderless world.

The drama over Khalil's arrest and detention is thus not really about Khalil. It is about the fate of the United States -- and the destiny of the very West of which the U.S. is the foundational cog.

On Monday, the official X account for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats posted, alongside a corresponding photo, "Free Mahmoud Khalil." But if those Senate Democrats and Khalil's myriad other apologists are being honest, they seek not merely to "free" Khalil from President Donald Trump's Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency. Rather, they seek to "free" him -- and all of us -- from the shackles of Western civilization itself.

Blackburn, Lee Introduce Bill to End Backroom Federal Labor Union Deals

March 13, 2025

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) introduced the Federal Workforce Freedom Act to put a stop to “collective bargaining” agreements between federal agencies and labor unions, which harm productivity, increase labor costs, and reduce investment.

This follows the Trump administration’s recent move to end collective bargaining at the Transportation Security Administration to strengthen its workforce’s productivity and resiliency. 

“Nearly 200 TSA officers employed at the taxpayers’ expense spend their workdays focused on matters important to labor unions instead of keeping Americans safe, and I applaud the Trump administration’s action to help make our government more efficient,” said Senator Blackburn. “This legislation would end federal labor unions and immediately terminate their collective bargaining agreements to ensure the federal government is working on behalf of the American people – not labor unions – by increasing the productivity of its workforce.”

“Public servants are not like private sector employees. They should not be able to collectively bargain for leverage over their employers, because they work for the American people,” said Senator Lee. “Even famous Democrat leaders like FDR once recognized this fact, and it is time that we required all federal workers to spend their days working for the public instead of union business.”

BACKGROUND

• According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 25.3% of the federal employee workforce are members of public sector unions. The largest organizations include the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the National Treasury Employees Union, and the National Federation of Federal Employees.

• The federal government acts as a bill collector for federal employee unions, deducting membership dues from workers’ paychecks and transferring them to these organizations. This forces taxpayers to bear the administrative costs, and public sector unions impede government efficiency, fiscal responsibility, and accountability.

• Unions have also played a major role in enabling widespread telework among federal employees. In December 2024, the AFGE secured a five-year contract with the Social Security Administration to ensure employees are only required to work in person for a minimum of two days per week.

• Additionally, federal employees serving as union representatives are currently permitted to conduct union business during work hours rather than performing their government duties. In Fiscal Year 2019, federal employees spent approximately 2.6 million hours on union activities during work hours, costing taxpayers an estimated $135 million.

• Federal employee unions overwhelmingly support Democrats, who in turn support union interests. During the 2024 election cycle, approximately 96% of AFGE’s political contributions went to Democratic candidates and committees.

FEDERAL WORKFORCE FREEDOM ACT

The Federal Workforce Freedom Act would:

• Repeal the statutory framework that currently governs federal labor relations.
• Prohibit federal employees from being allowed to organize, join, or participate in labor unions for the purposes of collective bargaining or representation.
• Ban federal agencies from engaging in collective bargaining negotiations with labor unions on behalf of federal employees.
• Immediately terminate all collective bargaining agreements, whether established before, on, or after the date of enactment of this bill, and dismiss any arbitration, dispute resolution, or grievance proceeding related to the collective bargaining agreements.

Click here for bill text.

https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2025/3/jobs and economy/blackburn-lee-introduce-bill-to-end-backroom-federal-labor-union-deals

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America’s New Tough Love Foreign Policy

posted by Allan J. Feifer at American Thinker 

Ukrainian President Zelensky’s self-inflicted televised Oval Office execution on February 28th marks a watershed moment in American history. A sea change in American policy and direction was revealed to millions of Americans looking on since the inauguration with a range of emotions from glee to foreboding. On that Friday, say what you want, Trump told the world in no uncertain terms that America First was not just a phrase de jour; it was now the law of the land and an end to the kind of fuzzy grey thinking that Washingtonians revel in, allowing the obscuration of…well, everything!

Zelensky—and all nations—realized that President Trump was setting down a marker that we would no longer be the world’s patsy. No matter how right the cause or how bad the suffering, America’s foreign policy will be guided by cold, brutal pragmatism—pragmatism based on self-interest regardless of international norms, treaties, winks and nods, and all the other constraints binding previous American leaders.

This is unsettling but necessary, as we cannot be all things to all people. Even the world’s lone superpower has limitations; we must pick priorities that move us in the direction that gives us the greatest advantage. By doing so, the ultimate benefactors are not only Americans but the world as a whole as America grows stronger and more influential in an uncertain and dangerous world populated by fraudsters, would-be dictators, and manipulators.

Old loyalties must still be respected, but Trump’s words and actions implicitly imply that every family has its flaky members and that enabling them endlessly is neither productive nor likely to rectify the family members’ problems. Tough love is the order of the day. This is hard medicine for a world accustomed to living off American largess.

Zelensky walked into a trap of his own making because he failed to understand the changed dynamics from the Biden days. We are now in an era as different as the one that existed the day after dinosaurs no longer roamed the Earth. It will take some time to adapt as we measure the cost and benefits of everything we do, from the cost of government to our alliances, including whether traditional allies are still worth defending. This is a hard truth that will not come easy to many. Consequently, we are in a period of disarray as the old is swept away in a massive tactical and strategic realignment that favors logic over process and precedent.

Sometimes, we will do things for unclear reasons; other times, we do things symbolically. Trump is not trying to break up the world order as much as he is rationalizing how decisions are made and moving towards an America that can be relied upon in a predictable manner but not as freewheeling as we once were.

It is instructive and necessary to understand the depth and breadth of the changes by looking at individual pieces of the puzzle. To do that, witness the demise of USAID as the perfect example of Trump’s strategy. Perhaps the world’s largest slush fund at $44 billion, USAID was complicit in some of the worst abuses and absurdities. It’s hard or impossible to explain spending on:

• Hundreds of millions of dollars to fund irrigation canals, farming equipment, and fertilizer that ended up being used to support poppy cultivation and heroin production in Afghanistan, benefiting the Taliban.
• Hundreds of millions of dollars to fund DEI initiatives all over the world.
• Over the past 15 years, USAID granted more than $270 million to organizations linked to fundamentally anti-American Soros.
• USAID has provided over $1 billion to Gaza since the Hamas invasion of Israel, stealing much of that aid.
• USAID has been a conduit to various NGOs such as Catholic Relief Services, which received $4.6 billion over several years, World Vision at $3.2 billion, Save the Children at $2.8 billion, International Rescue Committee at $2.5 billion, and CARE at $2.3 billion. And the list goes on!

It must also be noted that several of the above organizations have organized immigrants attempting to enter the United States. For example, Catholic Charities and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service provided a range of services: They’d provide pathways to get illegal immigrations into America and then give them money and services once they were here. It’s an absurd paradox that Border Patrol Agents were trying to keep illegals out while USAID was paying to get them in!

Americans are not patient and are easily distracted. Everyone understands the ground has shifted, but not exactly the course we’re on. As of yet, Trump still hasn’t articulated his foreign policy principles. He probably believes that “Make America Great Again” and “America First” explain it all, but they don’t.

Trump would serve his interests better by formally communicating with the American people about his goals and aspirations. His recent Joint Session of Congress missed an opportunity to share a cohesive strategy. Clarity would be nice to have! Having said that, Trump may feel he benefits best in foreign policy by keeping both enemies and allies guessing, providing him with greater leverage.

‘Progressives’ and Their Love of Violence

posted by William Marshall at Townhall 

Newton, Massachusetts, provides us with one of the latest examples of progressives’ time immemorial propensity for violence. 

The story of Scott Hayes and the savage assault he suffered at the hands of a Palestinian flag-pin sporting and surgical mask-wearing attacker, Caleb Gannon, on the streets of Newton last September, and the DA’s charging decisions, are so emblematic of all that is wrong with the Democratic Party today. 

The video of Mr. Hayes being attacked is shocking. Mr. Hayes, a non-Jewish, reportedly disabled Iraq War veteran, who was lawfully armed, was attending an outdoor rally in Newton on September 12, 2024, along with other supporters of Israel, protesting the horrific violence visited upon Israelis on October 7, 2023. On that day, of course, over a thousand innocent men, women and children were brutally raped, mutilated, murdered and kidnapped by members of Hamas.

The events in Newton were helpfully caught on video, thanks to ubiquitous cell phone cameras. Mr. Gannon initially stood across the street from the pro-Israeli crowd, shouting at them, accusing them of committing genocide against Palestinians and calling them “sick.” Okay, it’s a free country. 

What happened next, though, was a violent assault initiated from all appearances by Mr. Gannon. He raced across the street and in an NFL-worthy tackle, took Mr. Hayes to the ground, violently beating him. Mr. Gannon continued to pummel Mr. Hayes while bystanders tried to pull him off. Eventually, Mr. Hayes did what any sane person would do, drew his weapon, and shot Mr. Gannon. He then placed his pistol behind him, asked bystanders to call 911, and began administering medical aid he’d learned in the military to Mr. Gannon, as video suggests. 

Looking at the videos, it seems pretty clear that Mr. Gannon initiated events and severely assaulted Mr. Hayes. He appeared to be bashing the latter’s head while on top of him, whereupon Mr. Hayes drew his weapon and fired into Mr. Gannon’s abdomen. The incident bears similarities to what occurred between Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman in 2012, although Mr. Martin’s ending wasn’t as happy as Mr. Gannon’s. 

Immediately after the incident, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan charged Mr. Hayes with assault and battery with a deadly weapon, but she did not initially charge Mr. Gannon. As famed Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz told reporters, “They should have charged him [Gannon] immediately. Self-defense is complicated but assault is not.” Eventually, Mr. Gannon was charged with assault and battery in December, nearly three months after the fact. Both men, of course, should be presumed innocent until proven guilty. 

Mr. Hayes had to wear a GPS monitor pending his legal proceedings and was barred from entering the town of Newton, which was difficult, as Mr. Hayes’ work (from which he was subsequently let go due to publicity surrounding the case) and doctor’s appointments took him to Newton. That restriction was eventually lifted by the court. His next court appearance is scheduled for March 30. A GoFundMe account has been created for his legal defense.

Ms. Ryan proudly boasts on her website of her “restorative justice practices” and her office’s “diversionary programs.” This is all Progressive-speak for: Let’s keep the bad guys on the streets as much as possible.   And on another fawning webpage, we see, “Under her leadership, the Office implemented the practice of not requesting cash bail in low-level non-violent offenses to avoid the impact of pretrial detention.” Right. That whole no-cash bail thing has worked out so well. Just ask the beleaguered citizens of New York City.

Why is it that almost all political violence these days seems to come from the Left? Whether it is a homicidal maniac stalking the home of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, intent on murdering him and his family over the Dobbs court decision, or the 2020 “Summer of Love” that saw entire cities burn because a drug-dealing thug named George Floyd died of heart failure with a lethal level of fentanyl in his system while in police custody, or Leftists setting Teslas on fire over DOGE (or something), there seems to be a violence gene in those who call themselves “progressive.” 

The truth is that those who cast themselves on the Leftist end of the political spectrum - whether “liberal,” “progressive,” “socialist,” “Marxist” or “Communist” - have historically been politically violent. The Jacobins in the lead-up to the French Revolution in the late 18^th century ushered in unspeakable violence during the Reign of Terror as they sought to overturn the French monarchy and establish La Republique. That would mean execution for over 10,000 French citizens, including King Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antionette. Many of those unfortunates, including most of the leftist characters who kicked things off, would end up losing their heads to that most efficient of inventions, the guillotine. That device, actually invented by German engineer Tobias Schmidt, was promoted by French physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, who viewed it as a “humane” form of execution. Sadly for Dr. Guillotin, he would eventually lose his own head to the “national razor” in the spasms of French leftist violence. C’est la vie.

Leftist violence would only increase by orders of magnitude in succeeding centuries, as millions would be killed in the Soviet Union by the communist Josef Stalin, and many millions more by China’s communist leader Mao Zedong. Liberals reading this will say, “But! But! But! Hitler! He was a fascist right-winger and he killed millions!” Well, Hitler led a party called the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. Yes, the Nazis were a socialist party. More leftists, historical revisionism notwithstanding. 

I'm concerned that America’s leftists will only continue their violent legacy in the coming years, and I fear greatly for the safety of President Trump and Elon Musk. When the Director of the FBI, Kash Patel, is so distrustful of his own agency that he had to request a security detail from outside the FBI, then Houston, we have a problem. 

Sane Democrats, if any there be, must soon take control of their party and bring its more radical members to heel, or they will forever remain in the political wilderness.

President Trump Honors ‘Heroic’ Service Dogs On K-9 Veterans Day

 

On Thursday, President Donald Trump issued a statement honoring National K-9 Veterans Day, which celebrates dogs for their critical role in assisting first responders and service members.

“Dogs are not only man’s best friend, offering companionship and loyalty, but also guardians, instinctively protecting their loved ones with unwavering devotion,” Trump wrote.

“On National K-9 Veterans Day, the First Lady and I join our Nation in honoring the dedicated service of those working dogs serving alongside our military and law enforcement to defend our citizens and our Homeland,” he continued.

The K-9 Corps was established on March 13^th, 1942, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The 13^th of March is now recognized as National K-9 Veterans Day, honoring over 50,000 police and military dogs on active duty service, along with those that have served in the past.

“These heroic dogs use their unique abilities to perform a variety of critical functions that help reduce the dangers posed to our men and women in uniform. From carrying messages and laying telegraph wire to detecting explosives and acting as guard and patrol dogs, MWDs (Military Working Dogs) have a storied history of assisting the world’s greatest fighting force in carrying out their missions.”

 

 

President Trump honored notable K-9’s like Conan, who played a role in the operation that led to the death of terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

“Conan, a military working dog from 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, played a key role in eliminating Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi—the world’s number one terrorist leader. Conan chased the terrorist into a dead-end tunnel where, trapped, he met his rightful demise. Many of our bravest and most adept military personnel were involved in the raid that brought this evil ISIS leader to justice, and Conan bravely worked by their side.”

“Thanks to Conan, no American personnel were lost in the operation, further demonstrating the vital role K-9s play in safeguarding our national security,” Trump added.

Additionally, the White House posted a photo of Conan alongside President Trump in the Oval Office from his first term. Conan was also previously awarded with a medal and a plaque for his efforts.

“After Conan retired, he was adopted by his former handler and, after many years of pleasant walks and peaceful naps, he passed away in 2023,” Trump’s message stated. 

 

 

“There was also Cairo, a member of the U.S. Navy’s SEAL Team Six, who participated in the raid on Osama Bin Laden; and Rex, who saved countless lives by detecting explosives in combat in Iraq,” the message continued. “These dogs, along with so many others, exemplify extraordinary courage and dedication to supporting our military service personnel.”

 “As a Nation, we will continue to support our working dogs who loyally protect the American people and our way of life.”

 

https://www.oann.com/newsroom/president-trump-honors-heroic-service-dogs-on-k-9-veterans-day/