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Harris was asked a question about immigration at the Oprah Winfrey event, how she would secure the Border. Harris said- "So it’s a wonderful and important question. You know, my background was as a prosecutor and I was also the elected attorney general for two terms of a border state. So this is not a theoretical issue for me. This is something I’ve actually worked on. I have prosecuted transnational criminal organizations for the trafficking of guns, drugs and human beings. I take very seriously the importance of having a secure border and ensuring the safety of the American people. Sadly, where we are now can be traced most recently back to the fact that when the United States Congress, members of Congress, including some of the most conservative Republicans, came up with a border security bill. And here’s what that border security bill would have done. It would have put 1,500 more border agents at the border. Let me tell you, those border agents are working around the clock. It would have just been about giving them some support and relief, which is probably why the border agents actually endorsed the bill. It would have allowed us to stem the flow of fentanyl. And I’m looking at people from all over the country here. So I don’t need to tell the folks who are watching this what fentanyl has done to families, to kids in our country, and the need to take seriously stemming the flow coming into our country and addressing that extraordinary and tragic issue in terms of its effect. The bill would have allowed us to have more resources to prosecute transnational criminal organizations. And it would have been part of the solution. And Donald Trump called up those folks and said, don’t put that bill on the floor for a vote. He blocked the bill. And you know why? Because he preferred to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem. And he has put his personal political security before border security. Because understand, even in the intervening months, what that bill would have done to give support to folks who care about this issue. And this, again, gets to the point about what does leadership really look like? ...

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Failing states pose immigration issues in the US at the border with Mexico. With a collapsing economy there are 7.1 million refugees from Venezuela. Many have settled in Latin America. Others hundreds of thousands want to cross illegally into the US. As the US has no diplomatic relations with the US making harder to deport them. When Ukraine war started Ukrainians were kept from crossing from Mexico by setting up a legal path for them to come. 78000 Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans were crossing in December 2022, this dropped to hundreds by July by setting up a legal path for these people to get a work permit for 2 years legally. Venezuela will require a similar innovative solution at the border.

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The Guardian in its Editorial on Keir Starmer on February 10, 2026, says Labour was in the political wilderness for 18 years, and yet it has taken only 14 months for the project which put it into power to implode. It is referring to the project of McSweeney from County Cork, Ireland, and others to put a centrist to replace Corbyn, and selecting Keir Starmer. This was a weakness from the start as a candidate has to emerge on his own merits not be put in place by handlers like McSweeney, as he would not be able to govern on his own thinking and make his own decisions.  McSweeney was a campaign organizer and not successful at that as portrayed as Labour could have taken more than the 34% of the vote it received after 18 years of Tory rule without the likes of McSweeney. The Guardian says "excessive power and influence" was given by Starmer to McSweeney, and that the outsourcing of Britain's direction served neither the prime minister or the country well.  This is aserious flaw. McSweeney did not have the long experience of advisers that backed up Biden in the White House. And even the long experience of Biden group of advisers failed Biden when it came to immigration policy and the Border. And yet the question remains why was there such a lack in the talent pool for good governance for Labour, as it was for the Conservatives, for 3 decades since the 1990's? Similar to the situation with Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama governance in the US, why is there not a good talent pool for effective governance in the UK and the US? The Guardian goes on to question the judgement of Starmer and the clique around him including McSweeney for their attitude towards helping the working class in support payments during a cost of living crisis- what it calls a contempt filled approach of the cliques to the normal priorities of a Labour party. The Editorial concludes that Labour has lost control of the trajectory of events- as more Mandelson emails are expected- and that it is hard to see how this trust can be won back. For Britain having 5 prime ministers over 4 years is a shocking lack of the talent, of confidence, that once prevailed in the nation that once led the world with the Industrial Revolution, and in science and technology. ...

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During the primaries Trump appealed to blue collar voters of a white working class that felt neglected by leaders and policies of both parties that did not seem to work for ordinary people. Having caught onto this early long before Republican candidates, Trump registered a series of wins in the Republican primaries. He continued this theme in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016, saying- "The forgotten men and women of our country- people who work but no longer have a voice: I am your voice." The idea was to couple this with the theme of law and order and put perception of Hillary Clinton as part of the rigged system of the past that Trump would change, with Clinton's legacy described in terms of "death, destruction, terrorism and weakness." As a change agent Trump described his entering the political arena in terms of coming into this election only to help blue collar people "so that the powerful can no longer beat up on people that cannot defend themselves." The two themes for the rest of the election season- law and order, and blue collar lives- and who can best defend them a traditional Democratic politician with a fighting spirit for traditional Democratic values, or a blustery newcomer adept with slogans and the public mood and ironically representing the Democratic values of representing the working class to become the  Republican nominee, with the law and order theme thrown in. The voter or independent listening in to all this will hopefully ask what all this means. As the WSJ, July 19, 2016, pointed out in a recent look at economc policies under the two candidates- on Glass Steagall Act being reinstated to increase safety of the banking system that caused many of today's problems through the 2008 financial crisis both Trump and Clinton are similiar, on opposing trade agreements similiar except that Trump's bluster is a riskier approach, on infrastructure building similiar with Clinton's $275 billion plan spelled out out for source of financing and Trump's unclear as to source of financing. On immigration the candidates are different, on the minimum wage which impacts low income people Clinton supports $15 minimum wage and Trump has not taken a stand. On ISIS and the Middle East Clinton is in reality a hawk and not much difference in the candidates, on law and order more chance of divisions in the country with Trump than Clinton. Overall for the working class and blue collar voter his life will take a decade or more to rebuild, with both candidates commiting to go in that direction. And the bluster and ads to come- just that.  ...

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The border with Mexico and the surge in immigration over the last two decades is an issue that has been tackled in largely the same manner by administrations of both Republicans and Democrats. It had one intent- to discourage illegal immigration and migrants flow across the border. Intentions have been well meaning for the Biden administration yet the goal is the same- discourage and send a signal to migrants so that there is no surge in migrants. A problem that is not easily resolved.

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This report in the Washington Post uses Frequently Asked Questions to give readers an understanding of the India China border conflict. The roots of the conflict lie in  China's claim to Tibet based on Chinese troops going to aid Tibet in 1792. This based on the Qing dynasty sending troops to aid Tibet after a Nepalese invasion of Tibet. Tibet and Nepal are neighboring countries in the Himalayan mountains,  Nepal has a border with Indian state of Bihar, and Tibet is north and northeast of Nepal, all in close proximity of several hundred kilometres from India but four thousand kilometres from Beijing near Korea and Japan. The Sino Nepalese war, called the Gurkha war in Chinese, was the result of a dispute between Nepal and Tibet over debased silver coinage supplied by Nepal to Tibet and Tibet's demand for compensation, as well as a dispute about salt supplied by Tibet to Nepal. Chinese forces were repelled by  the Nepalese Gorkhas, and eventually the conflict was settled with a peace treaty between Nepal and Tibet with Chinese mediation for the Tibetan side. When the British East India company intervened in the region in 1815 China was not present, and when Nepal and Tibet had another war in 1855 China was not present.  For the first half of the twentieth century Tibet printed its own stamps and was an independent country negotiating treaties with Britain. China's brief intervention in 1792 is the fact cited by China for its claim to Tibet. Crossing the high mountains to get to Tibet from China's western frontier was for most of history and during this 1792 intervention, a journey that took 3 or 4 months with yaks and mules. Because of the sheer logistics China was present only in a symbolic way in Tibet or Nepal, both regions far more autonomous and remote from China than say a Finland near Russia. It takes 5 hours to go from Helsinki to St Petersburg in Russia. This is about the distance between the border with Nepal in Bihar, India, to Tibetan border with Nepal. By contrast it takes four thousand kilometres journey from Beijing to Tibet and over steep mountain ranges and rivers which would took months of journey with mules and yaks all the way into the twentieth century.  Finland was part of Sweden till 1809 when it became part of Russian Empire, till 1917 when it became an independent country. The Soviet Union invaded Finland one more time before World War II and was repelled, but this is attributed to Russian fears that Finland could be used as a base for an invasion of Russia. Tibet was a buffer between the British Empire and China. Chinese Nationalists party and Communist party thinking may have changed after Japan's invasion of China in the thirties, making extending China's western frontiers to the borders of India as part of the new nationalist idea.  How else can one see Beijing in East Asia throughout its history suddenly at the border with India after its takeover of Tibet in 1950. The period in 1950 when India was just coming out of the partition and tackling millions of refugees on the border with newly created Pakistan.      ...

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A government shutdown is averted as president Trump removes border wall funding from the budget and puts that off till later in 2017.

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The India China border clashes in the Tawang area of Arunachal are covered in this discussion by experts in United States Institute of Peace. The Tawang area it says is unique because of connections with the Dalai Lama of Tibet and China has special concerns about this area that go back to its invasion of Tibet in the 1950's soon after the British left India and the civil war in China ended with Mao and Communist China in 1949 taking control with the defeat of the Japanese. That chaotic period and Indian unpreparedness along a border that stretches for as long as the US border with Mexico. The lack of Indian infrastructure and roads and military modernization from that period to the last decade is now being corrected on the Indian side in an accelerated effort. Global trade and the economic needs of China in relation to the US, and India's efforts to focus on modernization, common challenges of climate change and pandemics, are leading to a new dimension that is being recognized by all sides. This limits the extent of the clashes and the swift return to normalcy of sorts. ...

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Landler and Barry say in this report in the NYT that the situation of government paralysis in the U.S. parallels the one in the UK with no-deal Brexit around the corner. President Trump wants a border wall (steel or other kind) on the border with Mexico as a campaign pledge. In the UK Conservative party faction supporting Leave from the European Union, including supporters of Boris Johnson, seek Leave at all cost. Johnson called the shortage of Mars bars a small inconvenience, as the Theresa May government prepares to push its own Brexit deal through Britain's parliament. In a separate report the NYT tries to show that over 80% of the drugs come in through entry ports and the border crossings are largely families or unaccompanied children. For the first time -since the 1950's and the segregation struggles in the U.S. -populists battle the elites in the large cities, say Barry and Landler. The rural urban divide, is seen in both sides of the Atlantic, in Europe and the U.S. ...

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The $1.2 trillion bill that was negotiated a day before March 22 deadline will be voted in the House on Friday. Senator Ms. Murray of Washington state and Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut secured spending on child care and education programs- a 9% increase in Child Care and Development Block Grant, and a $275 million increase for Head Start, $120 million for cancer research.For the Border the spending bill puts in a 25% increase in funding for technology at the southern border, 8000 more detention beds (Congress funded 34,000 beds), 2000 new Border Patrol agents. Shalanda Young, Janet Yellen and Jared Bernstein of the Biden economic team went before a Appropriations committee in the House. Rep. Steny Hoyer said the Congress that passed the Inflation Reduction Act, the Science and Chips Act and other Biden legislation to aid the economy was the best he has seen in 40 years in the US Congress.

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Tensions on the India China border as India builds roads and infrastructure in the mountainous Himalayan area close to the border in Ladakh to match the Chinese buildup of roads in the region over the last decade. India has also built up its troop presence in the region to match China's troop presence along the border in Ladakh.

India has supported a call from Australia for an investigation into the early origins of the coronavirus. The call was supported by many countries around the world and by the U.S., Japan and France. The 350,000 deaths from coronavirus and the 5.5 millions confirmed cases, the economic damage, most of them in western nations in North America and Europe, have  led to growing tensions between China and the rest of the world. 

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Provo, Utah university shooting of Charlie Kirk on campus September 10, 2025. It has aroused the whole nation because it happened on campus while talking to students and debating issues. Kirk was founder of Turning Point a student focused organization that has worked on campuses all across the US since 2016 for debating alternative ways of tackling problems facing the US on issues relating to the Border, Jobs, cost of living and immigration.

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Chancellor Merz New Year Message to Germany 2025, reflects on the events of 2025 with the DJT US administration distancing itself from Europe in favor of a peace agreement in the Ukraine war- with Europe left to take responsibility for defending it's region. By December 2025 the US asserted the Monroe Doctrine and made securing the western hemisphere the top priority, not Europe. Merz and SPD's Lars Klingsbeil removed the constitutional brake on spending placed by Merkel and passed a bill in parliament by December 2025 for a one trillion dollar infrastructure buildup and defense buildup. “Germany is a great country that has, time and again, reinvented itself, emerged stronger from crises, given rise to new cohesion and offers all of its citizens a livable and lovable home.” “We are not the victims of extraneous circumstances. We are not at the mercy of great powers. Our hands are not tied.” A similar situation is happening in South Asia as India faces China over a long border in the Himalayas and India puts up roads, bridges, tunnels and airstrips in the Himalayan border regions.   ...

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Chris Cillizza of the WP says there simply is no "new Trump," as mentioned in the meeting with president Nieto of Mexico. The speech on the same day in Pheonix, Arizona, following the meeting with Nieto, showed the Trump of the election primaries in which he talked about the criminal activities by undocumented immigrants and about building the wall on the Mexican border. Cillizza says Trump had left the impression that he was trying to expand his base with Hispanic voters through a meeting with Nieto, but it appears that it did just the opposite with Trump's reaffirming old positions on deportation and the wall in his speech. 

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Germany temporarily reintroduced border controls at the Austrian border on September 13, 2015, and supended rail service to Austria by Deutsche Bahn for 12 hours. About 40,000 migrants were expected to Germany on the weekend of September 12-13, making it hard for Germany to cope in such a short time. Economics Minister Sigmar Gabriel told newspaper Der Tagesspiegel "Europe's idleness in the migrant crisis is starting to push Germany close to its limits." This was also meant to send a message to Eastern European countries Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, that have resisted cooperation in accepting refugees that the Schengen Agreement itself was at stake. The Schengen Agreement of 1985 is one of the key achievements for European unity by allowing free movement without passports within the 26 countries of the European Union. Germany's Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, described the move for border controls as a "signal to Europe that the German government will live up to its humanitarian responsibility, but the burden connected with the large number of refugees must be distributed in solidarity throughout Europe." A provision in the Schengen Agreement allows for border controls to be temporarily reintroduced in a emergency situation. ...

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The effort to impeach US Homeland Secretary Mayorkas fails in the House of Representatives with a vote of 216- to 2014 with 4 Republicans voting with all Democrats. Constitutional experts say there are no grounds for impeaching Mayorkas and no cabinet official has ever been impeached before. The WSJ Editorial Board also says there are no impeachable offences. A Senate bipartisan effort to change asylum and parole laws to end the migrants flow over the US border with Mexico with president Biden's support to close the border the day it is passed is now stalled because of Republican opposition. This also keeps aid to Ukraine and Israel in a bill before Congress in a state of uncertainty.

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When Whitmer in Michigan said "FIx the Damn Roads" that is exactly the kind of language people wanted to hear. Harris and Walz should do the same. They should take up Border Security in a big way face the issue head on. President Biden has already used executive action to cut migrant flow at the border. The next step is take up the issue and defuse it for good. It was evident in Arizona today when Harris said she would sign into law the legislation negotiated by Republican Senator Lankford that passed the Senate and was held up by Trump for making it an election issue. Lankford says in today's NYT August 10 interview shown in this page that the bill would have passed in December 2023, once Trump became the nominee in February 2024 he realized it had no chance. Harris needs to repeat that at every rally "We will Pass the Lankford -Biden Immigration Bill" "Smash the Gangs" that is the message Starmer took from Labour Together think tank paper "Migration and Insecurity." Keir Starmer studied the issue of immigration carefully and told the public he was different - he would tackle illegal immigration head-on. He said he would "Smash the Gangs" benefitting from illegal migrants. In his first week the setup the Border Security Command. That week it was shown that Tories wasted time and money on Rwanda scheme that had deported hardly a couple of migrants. ...

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British prime minister Starmer has introduced new legislation to "smash the gangs" that have people smuggling networks and made 150,000 illegal small boat crossings into the UK since 2018. Small boat crossings have started in 2025 with more people packed into small dinghies and 1098 making the crossing in January 2025.

The bill includes counterterorism powers to Border Force, police, National Crime Agency to target gangs. 

Migrants at sea in the Channel who refuse rescue by the French will face five years in prison as part of a new set of offences inthe bill- The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.

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Who is Caludia Sheinbaum, expected to be new president of Mexico? What would a Sheinbaum administration in Mexico look like? What would interaction with the US look like on immigration, the border and the economy? WSJ's Jose Cordoba, Santiago Perez and Steve Fisher try to answer these questions in this detailed report from Mexico City. Sheinbaum was mayor of Mexico City and was environmental chief during Lopez Obrador's term as Mayor of Mexico City. Obrador has remained popular throughout his 6 years as Mexican president with favorable ratings consistently of over 60%. Mexico limits a president to one six year term. Obrador's party Morena derives from Mexico's indigenous culture and reflects Mexico's history in the 20th century of passion for protecting its national assets including the oil industry from foreign domination or influence, and ardently seeks respect for dignity of Mexicans and Mexican culture. Under Obrador Mexico reached a level of living with organized crime gangs after decades of war against these gangs. The US needs support from Mexico for its border policies and control of border. Obrador was a son of a provincial shopkeeper and spent little time outside Mexico.  Sheinbaum sees him as her mentor after work supporting migrant welfare in California with Carlos Imaz, during a period when she finished doctoral work at UC Berkeley and Stanford. Her father was a chemical engineer and her mother a biology professor. Her grandparents were of East European Lithuanian and Bulgarian origin. Sheinbaum says she follows Obrador's principles, yet it will be Claudia that will run the government. Her policies include setting up 100 industrial parks for Mexico's development, and setting up professional police services to control crime throughout Mexico's different states. ...

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Counting only people who voted in 2020 Biden is ahead 2 percentage points. 2024 Biden campaign is complicated by irregular and disengaged voters. Will disengaged mostly younger voters stay home or will they vote? What will happen with the churn- how many of the irregular voters from the last election will turn out and how many stay home. Many are Democrat leaning and as the election campaign progresses they may become more aware and vote but this is by no means certain. Many are younger voters or minority voters who are disengaged and do not follow what is happening. The economy not abortion or the border is important to these voters. President Biden has secured the vote of only 75% of these voters and has to find ways to reach them all. 

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The new president of India Droupadi Murmu is from the state of Odisha, formerly called Orissa. She is from a tribal community in the state and brings a new face for development through "sab ka vikas sab ke sath" new India's slogan today of development for all Indians through their own efforts, as it brings to the forefront the tribal communities all over India. The tribal communities in India have a population of 106 million or about 9% of India's population. In Orissa percentage of tribal is over 25%, in most of the northeast it is at least 25%, and in borders areas with China Arunachal 70%, Sikkim 34%, Jammu & Kashmir 12%. In key states of Madhya Pradesh 20%, Gujarat 25%, Rajasthan 13%. The strategic nature of the decision for the unity of India can be seen on how the tribal communities are critical parts of the northeast, the border areas,  and even of the central, eastern and western regions of India which most people are not aware of. Bringing in the tribal communities through respected leaders is part of the unfinished work of Mohandas Gandhi in getting the delivery of services to the last man in the line, and the tribal communities are a forgotten part of this.   ...

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The US budget spending bills were delayed right up to a deadline- when government would lack funds to operate- on March 22. The US Congress had no choice but to agree on passage of the $1.2 trillion funding bill, yet only about half of Republicans 101 Republican House members supported it to pass 286-134. To get it passed at the last minute a 3 day opportunity to go over a 1014 page bill was suspended by two thirds majority. It was decided by senior members of Congress on the Republican side with Biden Democrats in a negotiation between Speaker Mike Johnson and NY Senator Pat Schumer. Additional funding was authorized for border immigration control- the Senate immigration bill that passed 70-30 in the US Senate changes the asylum and parole policies that are the root of the immigration problem at the US border with Mexico, yet it  remains stalled in the House as the Republican nominee for president has blocked it. The border will get 2000 more agents and more detention beds, increase in technology budget by 25% and a cut for State Department of 6%, as a temporary measure. A cutoff of funding for UNRWA refugee relief agency. Additional money was provided for child care programs and education with bipartisan support .  ...

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DJT executive orders include one ending birthright citizenship. “It was really meant for children of slaves." DJT is referring to the 14th Amendment that was passed in 1868 by Congress and ratified by 1868 by the states. It came after the Civil War and Emancipation of slaves and was intended without any doubt for one and only one purpose to make slaves citizens of the United States Look at Section 4 of the 14th Amendment which says the United States will not allow any claim for the loss of any slave. "But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void. The only SC decision in US vs Wong Kim that gave citizenship in 1898 to Wong Kim was not intended to go beyond that particular case, it was only meant to make an exception to the Chinese Exclusion Act  of 1882 after which till 1960 (JFK's election) Chinese immigration to the US was stopped, and the same for all Asians. Only immigrant labor allowed in was from Mexico for agriculture till 1960. And in 1954 Operation Wetback wwas conducted by Eisenhower to return about 1 million illegal immigrants to Mexico. DJT says- “It was not meant for everyone to come into our country by airplane, or charging across the borders from all over the world and think they’re going to become citizens.” The millions that came illegally across land border  and the flow of drugs is a new situation that Congress and the Supreme Court are only facing since 2014 a period in which wars in Afghanistan and Iraq took time and resources away from problems at home. ...

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 Harris's role for the Border was limited to telling Central American migrants to stay home. Much of the migration was a result of wars started in the Reagan years in Central American states of Nicaragua and San Salvador. This destabilized the region and led to gangs taking over parts of the country in San Salvador and entrenching Castro style regime in Nicaragua, leading to outward migration of young people. As this report points out Harris was supposed to take on decades of such misguided policies in Central America in a few months. A drought hit agricultural coffee regions of Guatemala increasing migration. Her role instead was to ensure several wins. Win No.1 to generate stability setting up the peaceful transfer of power in Guatemala, singling out corrupt regimes. Win No. 2 to generate jobs. US AID and IFDC loans were increased, foreign investment attracted to generate 250,000 jobs. Win No. 3 the increased stability led to gradually declining migration from Central America. What replaced it was Venezuela. And that is a repeat story of Reagan style wars in Central America. Under the Trump Administration the US did not take up the Monroe Doctrine and act directly to support a stable fairly elected government in Venezuela, an obvious solution. Instead going half way- destabilizing the government but then left it on its own. The result about a third of the population leaving the country in these years to Colombia and other parts of Latin America in a immense humanitarian tragedy.  In 2023 Venezuelans not Guatemalans entered at the US Border in large numbers, most of them middle class families that left Venezuela after hyperinflation and mismanagement of the economy. Realizing the danger by January 2024 Biden negotiated with Senate Minority Leader McConnell and his Republican representative Senator Lankford to pass legislation in the Senate closing the Border. All that was needed was the House to act and 30 years of Border problem would be solved.This was blocked in the House by new Speaker Mike Johnson on advice from former president Trump who chose to use the issue in the 2024 election. Biden then used his executive powers to close the Border leading to lower numbers of migrants under Biden by July 2024 than under Trump. Migration Border Czar was never a term used by Democrats in the Obama and Biden years. Biden who also served in a role given migration as one of the issues to handle under Obama, had this as only one of his assignments. Biden played more important roles in foreign policy with his experience as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for decades. Border policy was made by president Obama and his advisers. The same is true of Harris, Border policy being done by president Biden and his advisers. Similar to Biden's role as VP Harris was given assignment to cover foreign policy and was the US representative at 3 Munich Security Conferences in 2021-2024 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Chancellor Scholz of Germany said of Harris last week that he had full confidence in Harris as both competent and experienced. ...

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Photographs and descriptions of a picturesque cycling tour through some of the best scenery in New York state all the way to Canada. From New York City head straight north by bicycle through Poughkeepsie and Albany to Rouse's Point and the Canadian border for a cycling route of 400 miles. The NYT shows Jane Margolies doing this bicycle route in small sections and having her husband drive her back, till she had reached the Canadian border. It is actually 2 sections- a Hudson Valley trail and a Champlain Valley trail that takes one to the Canadian border. A separate trail takes one from Albany to Buffalo. The entire stretch is 750 miles which was completed at a cost of $200 million. It showcases New York's history and natural beauty,