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Pompeo trip to North Korea cancelled; is DPRK slouching toward new missile tests? CNBC reports that the US security situation with respect to North Korea has probably deteriorated since the time of the Singapore summit.

Trump recently and suddenly cancelled Pompeo’s trip.

Analysts see Kim as getting some relief from sanctions through China. Moreover, there is the decoupling issue. Kim seems to want the US to abandon the defense of South Korea completely and sign a treaty first.

There’s a good question, had Hillary Clinton won the election, would Kim have stages his spectacular sequence of missile tests in 2017?  We used to think no, but I’m not so sure.  After all, North Korea staged the attack on Sony back in 2014 under Obama.  A major cyber attack could have been a risk.
 

Quora posts show how Nazism and fascism come from the Left This is a pretty instructive post on Quora, “Why do some conservatives try to claim that Nazis are lefty wing?” There are at least three good answers given.  One of them invokes the Nolan chart, of World’s Smallest Political Quiz.

The second answer shows that Nazi society amounted to socialism for proper Germans, as well as statism (rather like China today up to this point), and but then throwing in anti-Semitism. There does seem to be a focus on managing the individual so that he/she doesn’t benefit from the sacrifices of others without putting his own skin in the game. Note the “we demand” for “the people” and listing what will not be tolerated.
The comparison with the alt-right today is instructive.
 Labels: fascism


A home building contractor in California discusses illegal immigration and its social impact “A House Painter in L.A. Talks About Illegal Immigration and Its Impact”.

A self-employed painting and drywall homebuilding contractor gives a balanced perspective on illegal immigration.

He believes that only legal immigration should support construction or any other industry (like harvesting crops or fruit).  Without illegal immigration, he says, Americans would take more manual labor jobs, and consumers would have to pay more for some items.  Kid would do more chores, he even adds, and have a better understanding of the real value of learning to work (as my father used to say).
 

WSJ reports that MS-13 is getting much more organized in the U.S. Del Quentin Wilber has a booklet-length illustrated article in the Wall Street Journal today about the attempt of MS-13 to organize itself more formally.  The title is “MS-13 gang tries to organize am unruly young membership; Goal of building a cohesive national structure proves elusive so far.”

The tone of the article is a little bit tongue-in-cheek and disturbing, as if “success” would be a good thing. The group’s influence is scattered in various suburbs (particularly on Long Island in and some areas in northern Virginia and Maryland).  More organization could put more Americans at incidental risk, and feed Donald Trump’s narrative that Central American migrants fleeing gang warfare have to be kept out of the country because of Trojan horse concerns, regardless of humanitarian concerns. But it would also feed the mainstream narrative that gang violence should justify asylum, which Sessions has pushed back on.

It is called “Mara Salvatrucha” or “The Program”. Money does get sent back to people in El Salvador, through control of the gangs.  The article suggests the group would move into other US areas, particularly those with former Mafia ties.  It also refers to a recent big meeting in Richmond.

Posted by Bill Boushka at 6:45 PM No comments: Labels: gangs, political asylum


North Korean denuclearization seems to stall more President Trump says we are in good shape in North Korea.

I found a video from CBS where as recently as January Kim had actually threatened a “pre-emptive strike”

Fox News had a routine story that North Korea was threatening to stall denuclearization over the continuation of sanctions.

Kim Jong Un has reportedly sent a second letter to Trump (Washington Times).

David Sanger describes the situation now as a "standoff".

But Michael Gordon of the Wall Street Journal says that the moratorium on missile tests means that Kim doesn't have the ability to test re-entry.  However EMP might be possible. Update: Monday, Aug. 13

Foreign Affairs has a major article by Ankit Panda and Vipin Narang, "Why North Korea's Nuclear Program Isn't Going Anywhere" with the byline "Two months after Singapore, Kim clearly has the upper hand", like in a chess game.
 

House aims on countering Trump, improving immigration for some workers; more on DACA Trump may be rehearsing his usual kudos and threats over an early fall government shutdown over funding to “build that wall”, but the House, in somewhat bipartisan fashion, recently approved a DHS funding bill. H.R. 392, which would allow more flexible in lawful visas for returning workers, including non-seasonal and now non-agricultural.  Furthermore, the bill would make it clear that gang violence and some domestic violence could be considered as credible fear items in asylum applications.

HR 392 is called the “Fairness for Highly Skilled Immigrants Act of 2017”, link here.

David Bier explains in the Washington Examiner July 30, here.

Informed Immigrant has an important post that will help some DACA adults renew their DACA status before fall despite Trump’s rollback on Obama’s order and Congress’s inconclusion on fixing DACA, here.

On my IT Jobs blog Aug 1, I have another post on immigrants who depend on tips for income and a note about Sierra Leone.

Update: Aug 7

Vox (Dara Lind) explains just how complicated DACA has gotten, with litigation in Texas.  Congress needs to do its job.
