Your Singhs today (Washington state edition) - Out on bail again!

Earlier today Walt posted a story about three Sikhs (and two non-Sikh accomplices) who are free to roam around the GTA once again following their release on bail by female DEI-hire judges. See "Your Singhs today: Guess which one is still behind bars", WWW 18/12/25. 

It wasn't our usual story about atrocious truck driving and/or drug smuggling. The perps were accused of kidnapping and attempted murder. But there are still plenty of dangerous truck drivers out there, graduates of the infamous Singh School of Truck Driving. 

One such is Kamalpreet Singh, an illegal immigrant from India, accused of killing a father of two in a horrific crash on December 11th. Mr Singh has now been released on bail by the woke authorities of Washington state.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a detainer for Mr Singh following his arrest after it was found he was in the country illegally. But that didn't matter to the Washington wokesters, who refused to honour the order. Poor Mr Singh was somehow able to raise $100,00 [not drug $$$, shurely. Ed.] to post bond, and was released from King County jail on Friday last.

The Department of Homeland Security issued a scathing press release Tuesday slamming the move, saying "Washington politicians chose to release this public safety threat back onto America’s roads." DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin told the Daily Caller that she was dismayed by the move, saying that "these demented and dangerous sanctuary policies have deadly consequences.... How many more Americans have to be killed before Democrat politicians start to put the public’s safety ahead of politics?"

But hey, Washington is a sanctuary state, where poor refugees, asylum-seekers and simple illegals are safe from federal immigration authorities. Officials said Singh entered the US of A illegally in 2023 at Lukeville AZ, but was, as Ms McLaughlin said, "'released into this country by the Biden administration."

A spokesthingy for the Washington State Patrol confirmed to the Daily Caller that Singh was driving with a commercial driver's licence issued by California. Just like Harjinder Singh, the asylum-seeker accused of killing three people in Florida in August when he made an illegal U-turn while also on the roads illegally. 

Harjinder Singh is no relation to Kamalpreet Singh. What they share is fellowship in the Sikh religion, as well as a lack of English skills. He was unable to read street signs, but was handed a driver's license by California anyway. 

It is illegal for undocumented immigrants to obtain a commercial driver's licence, but a federal government investigation found earlier this year that California had unlawfully issued 17,000 commercial driver's licences to migrants. 

Commenting on the latest outrage, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that President Trump and Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy "will aggressively enforce our laws to protect the safety of American truckers, drivers, and passengers by ensuring anyone behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle is here legally, properly qualified, and proficient in our national language - English!'"

Mr Duffy threatened to withhold federal funding for highways in Blue states if they refused to respect and enforce the law. "If we’re going to have drivers on American roadways, they need to be the best trained…because if operated incorrectly or inappropriately, these [vehicles] are lethal weapons on American roadways," the Secretary said in a press conference. 

He added, "We will pull every dollar possible from every single state that’s unwilling to work with this administration and these longstanding rules to make sure that when [an] American family gets in a car, they shouldn't be worried that they have an unqualified foreigner operating an 80,000-pound big rig that could endanger their lives."

Biden-appointed WA judge orders 1000s of invaders "resettled" in US

Another tale from the Left Coast of wokeism triumphant. Or maybe we should say, of "the resistance" still trying to enforce its "progressive" agenda against the will of the American people. 

A judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington has just issued an order requiring President Donald Trump to bring into America some 12,000 "refugees" who will be resttled (one hopes) amongst the mostly white folks of that state.

According to the ruling, the government must admit 1000s of refugees who had been approved for resettlement in the US of A before President Trump signed an executive order to halt the refugee resettlement program. Here's the nub of the ruling:

"This Court will not entertain the Government’s result-oriented rewriting of a judicial order that clearly says what it says. 

The Government is free, of course, to seek further clarification from the Ninth Circuit. But the Government is not free to disobey statutory and constitutional law—and the direct orders of this Court and the Ninth Circuit—while it seeks such clarification. 

The Government’s obligation to process, admit, and provide statutorily mandated resettlement support services to the Injunction-Protected Refugees is immediate. Likewise, the Government’s obligation to restore funding, information, and operational support to its USRAP partners as necessary to process, admit, and provide resettlement services to these individuals is also immediate."

Shortly after taking office, President Trump signed the executive order to suspend the refugee resettlement program. As expected, those contractors whose funding relies on resettling refugees in American communities sued the Trump administration to restore the program. 

In February, the same judge blocked the President from carrying out the executive order to suspend the refugee program, even as he admitted the president holds broad authority over immigration. "The president has substantial discretion to suspend refugee admissions. But that authority is not limitless," he wrote at the time. Now he has said it again.

The judge's name, by the way, is Jamal Whitehead. I kid you not. You probably don't need to be told that he was appointed to his position by Demented Joe Biden. [Was the appointment was signed by autopen? Ed.] Judge Whitehead has a prosthetic leg, so got an extra plus-mark on the DEI qualification checklists. That pretty much explains everything.

"Catholic" governor of WA signs law requiring priests to break the seal of the confessional

The great state of Washington is known to be liberal in its politics and policies, every bit as much as its neighbours of the Left Coast. On Friday, its governor, Bob Ferguson (D - are you surprised?) signed a controversial state law that requires priests to report child abuse to authorities, even if they learn of it during the Sacrament of Confession.

The measure, introduced in the state Legislature earlier this year, adds clergy to the list of mandatory abuse reporters in the state but doesn't include the exemption for information learned in the confessional which was written into the 2023 version of bill. 

The original version carved out abuse allegations learned "solely as a result of a confession." The latest bill explicitly notes that clergy do not qualify for a "privileged communication" exemption. 

Just like Sleepy Joe Biden, Governor Ferguson calls himseslf a Catholic. He told the meejua that as a Catholic he was "very familiar" with the Sacrament of Confession. He did not say, though, when he last availed himself of the sacrament, or whether he intended to do so at the first opportunity, to confess to the grave sin of putting the laws of Caesar ahead of those of God. 

Apparently Mr Ferguson either did not attend RK class at school, or was instructed by some modernist who doesn't know the Faith. Canon law is explicit that any priest who breaks the seal of the confessional is, by so doing, automatically excommunicated from the Church, and, as part of that, is no longer a priest. He can only be reinstated by order of the pope (in practice the local ordinary). 

Most Rev. Thomas Daly, the Bishop of Spokane, issued a statement on Friday saying that the clergy of his diocese would not break the seal of confession, even if required to by law. "[S]hepherds, bishop and priests," the bishop said, "are “committed to keeping the seal of confession — even to the point of going to jail." 

"The sacrament of penance is sacred and will remain that way in the Diocese of Spokane," he added. "As this matter continues to unfold, I intend on keeping you informed and updated. An important element to the greatness of America is our constitutional commitment to religious freedom."

UPDATED: VIDEO: Victor David Hanson on the demise of California

Two news stories related to the decline of America, particularly the Left Coast, and more particularly California, keep bubbling to the top of the tank from time to time.

Item: A number of counties in eastern Oregon and Washington states are thinking seriously about separating from the western parts of those states and joining Idaho. See "'Greater Idaho' movement to absorb rural counties from Oregon gains momentum" and "The Greatear Idaho Movement". (The second article includes insstructions on how to join!)   

Why do you suppose that is? [Suppose, hell! They know this. Ed.] That's right. They're tired of living in states where scabrous "homeless encampments" such as this Bidenville* are spreading across the landscape like great pus-filled cancer lesions, while the state governments -- misruled by Democrats -- stand [sit, shurely. Ed.] idly by.  

Item: Forbes Home reports in "10 States People Are Leaving" that, according to USPS change-of-address data, more people are fleeing than any other state. Not to be racist but let's call them "white flees". 

The Golden State [more like fool's gold. Ed.] saw a net loss of over 101,000 households despite a mostly pleasant climate and robust tech industry. Rising housing costs, rising taxes and politics seem to be driving many people to look for opportunities elsewhere. 

Other factors that emigrants have cited are the rising threat of wildfires and the constantly increasing cost of living. Forbes, being politically correct, passes over the fact that California's cities have become not just livable, but downright dangerous, thanks to the proliferation of Bidenvilles, like this one on Oakland's Wood Street. 

In this video, Victor Davis Hanson, an American classicist, historian, farmer, and political commentator, details the deliberate process by which the standard of living for Californians has deteriorated over the past decades, and points the bony finger of indignation toward those responsible.

 

* In America, in the Dirty Thirties, collections of shacks and shanties like today's "homeless encampments" were known as "Hoovervilles", after then President Hoover. Nowadays, in France and North Africa, they are called "bidonvilles". 

Wikipedia: Un bidonville est la partie défavorisée d'une ville caractérisée par des logements très insalubres et construits par les habitants avec des matériaux de récupération, une grande pauvreté et sans aucun droit ou sécurité foncière. 

In short (and in English) a shanty town built of oil drums or other metal containers, especially on the outskirts of a city, with great poverty and without right or basic security. In Europe and Africa, bidonville. The Electric Company's Letterman changes just one letter to get Bidenvilles, which is what they're called in Brandon's America.

Further reading (added 21/8/23): "Actually, Joe, all your 'objectives' were failures", by Victor Davis Hanson, on the American Greatness site. 

Black lives matter... only in America?

Darkness falls on Washington

VIDEO: Sunday Funnies with George Carlin

This seems like a good time to give you, dear readers, a break from the bullshit of the impreachment witch-hunt ["hearings", shurely! Ed.]. But we mustn't forget what a steaming load of bullshit is excreted in Washington every day -- past, present and future. To remind us, who better than George Carlin. Here's an old(ish) and long(ish) but good (for sure) video of a speech he made at the National Press Club, in which he spends much time dissecting and rejecting the way politicians talk, thus implicating (as Mr Carlin says) the press corps which faithfully records the bullshit and passes it along to a gullible public.

You can skip the introductions, including Mr Carlin's self-introduction. The good stuff begins at 10:40.

"Earth Hour" fizzles as gun control marchers demand light to go home

The great cities of the Western World were supposed to go dark last night, to show the commitment to all right-thinking ["left-thinking", shurely. Ed.] people to reducing the use of energy produced from horrible fossil and horribler nuclear fuels. Didn't happen, or at least, didn't happen much.

The Eiffel Tower was not lit up for an hour, but the rest of the City of Light was about as light as usual. The Washington Monument may have been darkened but the rest of the area around Capitol Hill was blazing with lights, in case of riots or terrorism following the Children's Crusade Against Guns. (More on that later today.) Canuck meeja today showed this picture of what they called the "darkened Toronto skyline".

The only building visible darker than normal is the CN Tower. The Rogers Centre, right next door, and the big bank towers are lit up as usual. And there, dear friends, you have the "problem" in a nutshell. The biggest users of power are the owners of the big buildings and public spaces -- governments and corporations -- not the millions of Johnny Canucks huddled in their dens watching Hockey Night in Canada.

Aforesaid average citizens have cottoned on to the fact that "Earth Hour" is just another expression of tree-hugging, progress-denying liberal orthodoxy.The "environmental activists" -- that's what they call themselves -- want us to cast aside the modern conveniences powered by electricity, and go back to the days of candles and campfires. Indeed, in Toronto there were a couple of candlelight walks "to raise awareness about climate change and, more importantly, the need for 'climate action'" (whatever that is). As many as 80 people participated!

80 candlelight walkers. What a shock! [Couldn't resist, could you. Ed.] Proof that the other 3,999,920 denizens of the Wormy Apple don't give a shit. Toronto Hydro ["hydro" = "power" or "electricity" in Canajan. Ed.] usually releases information on the drop in power usage during Earth Hour, but declined to do so this year.

A spokesthingy said that while Earth Hour "did spark a movement", the mission to reduce electricity use is now happening "every single day." So, she said, the fact that the drop in electricity use during Earth Hour has become negligible shouldn't be viewed as a negative. "People are making it part of their every day, they are switching over to LED bulbs, our appliances are more efficient these days," she said. "It has become a part of our lives. People aren't wasting electricity any more." Yeah, right.

Walt can't call it

Here we are in the last weekend before the Election of the Century (so far). The candidates are neck-and-neck coming to the wire. Unless one horse (or part thereof) stumbles (and one has been seen on video doing just that), it's going to be close... really close!

Fox News reports that Shrillery Clinton has a 2-point edge over Donald Trump, according to a new national poll of likely voters conducted Tuesday-Thursday. In the four-way race, Mrs Bill Clinton tops The Donald by 45% to 43%. She was up by three points a week ago, and by six in mid-October. Garry "What's Aleppo?" Johnson gets 5% and Greenie (((Jill Stein))) brings up the rear with 2%. Only 4% of those polled were undecided. The other 96% said they'd made up their minds -- some had voted already -- and just wanted to get the whole thing over with.

It's funny to hear the lamestream meeja talking about the polls. After the third debate, when Hellery was in the ascendant, the Clinton News Network and all the others except Fox were crying "Look at the polls. It's all over! Clinton can't be beat!" But since the FBI bombshell, with every national poll indicating a virtual tie -- numbers within the margin of error -- the same gliberals are telling us that national polls don't matter, because what really counts is the vote in the Electoral College.

Looked at that way, Mr Trump has a hard row to hoe. To win the Electoral College, he has to win key swing states like Florida, Ohio and North Carolina. In fact he pretty much has to run the table. But you never know. Not all the electors pledged to vote for a certain candidate can be counted on to do so.

Just today, Fox News reports that a Democratic elector in Washington state says he won't cast his vote for La Clinton if (as is likely) she wins the state in Tuesday's election. Robert Satiacum, a member of the Puyallup Tribe, supported Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary, which the Vermont senator won by approximately a 3-to-1 margin. He said he believes Clinton is a "criminal" who doesn't care enough about American Indians and "she's done nothing but flip back and forth." He told AP, "She will not get my vote, period."

So who knows. I am reluctant to put my sterling record (lifetime pct .991) on the line on this one. I find it hard to be objective, since I believe Mrs Clinton ought be in the prisoner's dock, not the Oval Office. And, even though the wish may be father to the thought, I think there are more Trump supporters out there than the polls would indicate. I have some bets with Trump + 5 points, but nobody's giving me that kind of an edge today. Nope. Can't call it. Stay tuned....

UPDATED: Washington shooter turns out to be Turkish

Apparently random murder spree in a typical suburban American shopping mall. Five dead, ranging in age from a teenager to a senior citizen. "No apparent motive," the cops said. Just random.

Massive manhunt for the suspect, first described as "Hispanic-looking" ensues. Last night, Island County Sheriff's Lieutenant Mike Hawley, on patrol in Oak Harbor WA, spots someone who looks like the guy in the video, and arrests him.

Now in police custody is Arcan Cetin, aged 20, a sometime resident of Oak Harbor, arrested previously for assault, DUI, and more assault. Last December, he was ordered by an Island County District Court judge not to possess a firearm.

Authorities did not say how the suspect may have obtained the weapon -- whether he retrieved it from outside or picked it up in the mall -- but they believe he acted alone. The weapon was recovered at the scene.

"Arcan Cetin?", Walt hears you say. "Doesn't sound Irish or Dutch." Well, no. Mr Cetin immigrated to the Excited States of America from... wait for it... Turkey.

So far, nothing has been said about Mr Cetin's religion (or lack thereof), and nothing has been said about his motive (or lack thereof). Walt suspects nothing more will be said until after tomorrow night's Great Debate. Why make things any more awkward for Crooked Hillary than they are already?

Further reading (and watching -- VIDEO embedded): "'The more Muslims you have, the more terrorists.' (Mark Steyn)" WWW 21/9/16.

UPDATED 25/9/16: From the AP mojo wire... "Cetin also appeared to have blogs on the site Tumblr that had not been updated in many months. They included seemingly random posts about serial killer Ted Bundy, a collection of selfies, the top-secret Area 51 Cold War test site and photos of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The two blogs linked back to each other and one of them linked to what appeared to be his Twitter page." Walt's emphasis. Stay tuned for more....

Where's the Snowzilla?

Weird highway traffic sign allegedly seen not far from the nation's capital yesterday... [Which nation are we talking about here? Ed.]

Poor Len notes that there's not a flake of snow in sight, let alone a "lizzard". They must be talking about a nation of weather wimps!

As for me, I'm sick of the lamestream media crying "wolf!" over the slightest "weather event". And trust me folks, the occasional storm doesn't mean that the climate is changing and that we're all going to freeze or burn in a hell of our own making. It just ain't so.

America's Founding Fathers opposed unrestricted immigration

Ed. discourages me from "retweeting" entire columns or articles by other writers. He calls me lazy and asks, if readers can find the original elsewhere, what good does it do to post it here? I agree, and normally will select a few sentences or paragraphs, add a couple of comments, and provide a link to the original piece. Sometimes, though, nothing less than the entire column or article will do. So it is with "Immigration and our Founding Fathers’ values", by Michelle Malkin. I am a regular reader of her blog.

President Obama claims that restricting immigration in order to protect national security is “offensive and contrary to American values.” No-limits liberals have attacked common-sense proposals for heightened visa scrutiny, profiling or immigration slowdowns as “un-American.”

America’s Founding Fathers, I submit, would vehemently disagree.

Our founders, as I’ve reminded readers repeatedly over the years, asserted their concerns publicly and routinely about the effects of indiscriminate mass immigration. They made it clear that the purpose of allowing foreigners into our fledgling nation was not to recruit millions of new voters or to secure permanent ruling majorities for their political parties. It was to preserve, protect and enhance the republic they put their lives on the line to establish.

In a 1790 House debate on naturalization, James Madison opined: “It is no doubt very desirable that we should hold out as many inducements as possible for the worthy part of mankind to come and settle amongst us, and throw their fortunes into a common lot with ours. But why is this desirable?”

No, not because “diversity” is our greatest value. No, not because Big Business needed cheap labor. And no, Madison asserted, “Not merely to swell the catalogue of people. No, sir, it is to increase the wealth and strength of the community; and those who acquire the rights of citizenship, without adding to the strength or wealth of the community are not the people we are in want of.”

Madison argued plainly that America should welcome the immigrant who could assimilate, but exclude the immigrant who could not readily “incorporate himself into our society.”

George Washington, in a letter to John Adams, similarly emphasized that immigrants should be absorbed into American life so that “by an intermixture with our people, they, or their descendants, get assimilated to our customs, measures, laws: in a word soon become one people.”

Alexander Hamilton, relevant as ever today, wrote in 1802: “The safety of a republic depends essentially on the energy of a common national sentiment; on a uniformity of principles and habits; on the exemption of the citizens from foreign bias and prejudice; and on that love of country which will almost invariably be found to be closely connected with birth, education and family.”

Hamilton further warned that “The United States have already felt the evils of incorporating a large number of foreigners into their national mass; by promoting in different classes different predilections in favor of particular foreign nations, and antipathies against others, it has served very much to divide the community and to distract our councils. It has been often likely to compromise the interests of our own country in favor of another.”

He predicted, correctly, that “The permanent effect of such a policy will be, that in times of great public danger there will be always a numerous body of men, of whom there may be just grounds of distrust; the suspicion alone will weaken the strength of the nation, but their force may be actually employed in assisting an invader.”

The survival of the American republic, Hamilton maintained, depends upon “the preservation of a national spirit and a national character.” He asserted, “To admit foreigners indiscriminately to the rights of citizens the moment they put foot in our country would be nothing less than to admit the Grecian horse into the citadel of our liberty and sovereignty.”

On Thursday, a bipartisan majority of U.S. senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee adopted a stunningly radical amendment by Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., to undermine the national interest in favor of suicidal political correctness. The measure would prevent the federal government from ever taking religion into account in immigration and entrance decisions “as such action would be contrary to the fundamental principles on which this Nation was founded.”

This pathway to a global right to migrate runs contrary to our founders’ intentions as well as decades of established immigration law. As Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., pointed out in a scathing speech opposing the Leahy amendment: “It is well settled that applicants don’t have the constitutional right or civil right to demand entry to the United States. … As leaders, we are to seek the advancement of the Public Interest. While billions of immigrants may benefit by moving to this country, this nation state has only one responsibility. We must decide if such an admission complies with our law and serves our national interest.”

Put simply, unrestricted open borders are unwise, unsafe and un-American. A country that doesn’t value its own citizens and sovereignty first won’t endure as a country for long.

Gay students seek to oust Catholic chaplain for being, errr, Catholic

Unlike Gonzaga University -- see previous post -- George Washington University doesn't hold itself out to be a Catholic institution. (It is, however, within spitting distance of Georgetown University, which is about as "Catholic" as Gonzaga.) Although a private, non-denominational school, GWU has a Newman Center, complete with chapel in which Catholic students are free to worship. Non-Catholics are welcome to join in devotions if they wish, so there's no discrimination there, right?

Errr, well, not according to at least a dozen GWU students, including seniors Damian Legacy and Blake Bergen, who say they have left the Newman Center because its chaplain, Rev. Fr. Greg Shaffer, is "anti-gay" and "anti-abortion". Imagine that! Next thing you know, they'll be saying he's actually Catholic!

According to a report in The GW Hatchet, the students lambasted Father Shaffer’s counseling sessions, in which he is said to have advised students who are attracted to members of the same sex to remain celibate for the rest of their lives. They also criticized the priest for a blog post he wrote last May, calling gay relationships "unnatural and immoral" (in response to the Prez's support of same-sex marriage).

Here's what Father Shaffer actually said: "As Vatican II states, God is the author of marriage. He has defined marriage as between a man and a woman. So, marriage is between a man and a woman. Period. This is not just divine law, it is natural law (the law imprinted on each of our hearts about good and evil). Every single rational person knows that sexual relationships between persons of the same sex are unnatural and immoral. They know it in their hearts."

Hey, this is Obama's America! The gay gang doesn't have to take those insults bending over! ["Lying down", surely. Ed.] And the offended LGBT types are doing a lot more than just throwing a hissy!  They've started a campaign to have Father Shaffer removed from not the Newman Center and any connection whatsoever with GWU.

They're also going to complain to Cardinal Wuerl, the Archbishop of Washington, in hopes of getting Father Shaffer run right out of the Archdiocese, if not burned at the stake. Will they be successful? Is the Pope a Jesuit? Oh... wait...

"Gay marriage" and recreational pot now OK in WA. Funny?

A small sidebar to the re-election of the Prez was Washington state's approval of homosexual marriage and the "recreational" use of marijuana. The new laws went into effect this week. Things that were formerly unnatural and/or illegal are now permissible -- according to the law -- in the far northwest of the Excited States of America.

Agent 9 says it all makes sense now, if you remember your Bible. Specifically, Leviticus 20:13: "If a man lays with another man he should be stoned." We've just been interpreting it incorrectly all these years! We should have understood it more literally!

Haha! Very funny, Dr. Jones! But the joke depends on which version of Holy Writ you read. Agent 9 must have got hold of some modern translation, edited by someone with a sense of humour [and a problem with proper English usage. Ed.] The older and better Douay-Rheims version says "If anyone lie with a man as with a woman, both have committed an abomination, let them be put to death."

The King James version uses almost identical language. Sorry, queer folks, but God doesn't see any reason to celebrate.