‘Free’ College? Green New Deal? Socialist Health Care? Study Finds It’s Impossible to Pay for Them by Only Squeezing the Rich

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Progressives have recently put forward a lot of high-priced policy proposals, but a new study released Wednesday finds that it’s “arithmetically impossible” to pay for the “progressive agenda” by only raising taxes on the wealthy.

The report, authored by David Burton, Heritage Foundation senior fellow in economic policy, ran the numbers on long list of popular progressive policy promises and found that it’s impossible to cover their total costs by taxing only people who make over $200,000 per year.

Burton took estimated costs from a list of proposals, including the Green New Deal proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y, government-backed health insurance supported by 2020 Democrats like Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vt., and taxpayer-funded college tuition proposed by Sanders, and came up with a total aggregate price tag of $48 to $92 trillion over 10 years.

Burton then added the lower cost estimate to the current projected baseline spending level for the next 10 years and found that implementing those four agenda items would put the U.S. somewhere between 3rd place to Finland and France in government spending (on the low end) and spending that would “dwarf” the levels of “any other developed country.”

Burton then looked to tax numbers and concluded that even if the government were to confiscate 100 percent of the incomes of everyone making over $200,000 annually while also confiscating all the income of all corporations, it would raise “at most” $34.6 trillion. That amount is “between only 37 percent and 72 percent of the cost of the progressive agenda,” depending on the cost estimate.

“Even using lower cost estimates, confiscating every dollar earned by every taxpayer with incomes of $200,000 or more would only pay for about half of the progressive agenda,” the report’s summary says.

“And that figure is based on the false assumption that people would continue to work, save, and invest when subject to a 100 percent flat tax,” Burton continues. “The reality is that progressive promises can only be funded by increasing taxes on the middle class from three to 10 times their current level or, for a limited time, by dramatic and unsustainable increases in federal borrowing.”

That all translates to astronomically higher taxes for hardworking families and/or astronomically higher debt for their children to deal with.

The Heritage findings run contrary to the widespread assumption that America’s fiscal woes could be addressed if we just put the screws to the wealthy for more revenue. That’s far from the case. In fact, if the government were to tax every American billionaire for everything they were worth, we’d have enough revenue to make about a 14 percent dent in the national debt or fully fund a 4.75 trillion federal budget for just under eight months. (For more from the author of “‘Free’ College? Green New Deal? Socialist Health Care? Study Finds It’s Impossible to Pay for Them by Only Squeezing the Rich” please click HERE)

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ICE Arrests Convicted Illegal Alien Sex Offender Released by Sanctuary Boulder County

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It’s not just low-level criminal aliens who are released by sanctuary jurisdictions like Boulder County, Colorado, in defiance of federal law. Sanctuaries apparently will not honor ICE detainer requests even for those convicted of child sex charges.

“On Aug. 7, 2019, in Longmont, Colorado, deportation officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Roberto Gutierrez-Hernandez, 59, a citizen of Mexico, who was convicted July 15, 2019, in the 20th Judicial District Court Boulder County of sex assault on a child,” said an ICE spokeswoman in a statement issued last week to local media.

How was someone convicted of sex assault on a child released after conviction?

In July, Gutierrez-Hernandez was sentenced to 10 years of “sex offender intensive supervised probation,” but no jail time. I confirmed this with the Boulder County district attorney’s office. This explains why he wasn’t locked up even after the conviction. The fact that someone convicted of child sex offenses doesn’t serve a day of prison is also peculiar, but has become very common in blue states like Colorado.

But the story is worse than that. There is a history behind the Gutierrez-Hernandez story that has not been released to the public nor reported on by local media. According to ICE spokeswoman Alethea Smock, Gutierrez-Hernandez was arrested twice in 2017. Before being arrested for the child sex offense in November of that year, he was arrested in March. ICE placed detainers both times. Both detainers were ignored and he was set free, which makes the sex offense 100 percent avoidable. He should have been detained and deported after the March arrest. Moreover, this means an illegal alien sex offender was able to remain in the community for nearly two years through the disposition of this case without being removed.

“ICE lodged a detainer on Roberto Gutierrez-Hernandez, 59, a citizen of Mexico, with the Boulder County (Colorado) Jail after Gutierrez-Hernandez was arrested on local charges in March 2017,” said Smock Thursday to a CR inquiry. “The jail refused to honor the detainer and released him back to the community to reoffend. Gutierrez was later arrested for sexual assault on a child in November 2017, and ICE lodged another detainer with the Boulder County Jail. However, the jail refused to honor the agency’s detainer a second time.”

Court records show he was arrested for aggravated assault in March 2017, but charges were later dismissed. However, that should still have led to his removal. Only legal immigrants with green cards require a conviction to warrant removal.

It wasn’t until last month that Gutierrez-Hernandez was finally sentenced. Even then, he was let out on probation, and had ICE not caught up with him, he would have remained undetected. Colorado, in violation of 8 U.S. Code §1324 and §1373, passed a law earlier this year barring local law enforcement from sharing probation records with ICE. §1324 prohibits states from shielding aliens from detection, while §1373 prohibits them from “prohibit[ing], or in any way restrict[ing], any government entity or official from sending to, or receiving from, the Immigration and Naturalization Service information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual.”

The purpose of those federal laws is quite simple. With the recidivism problem among criminals on probation, there is no reason why American communities should be on the hook for future crimes committed by illegal aliens. The entire premise of a criminal alien remaining in this country on probation is a laughable paradox. He should complete his “probation” outside the country, where, according to immigration law, he belongs, even without the criminal record.

Shockingly, even in the case of a convicted child sex offender, Colorado and Boulder County in particular will do everything they can to harbor the ultimate public safety concern.

This is a growing problem. As I reported earlier this month, Oregon has also let out criminal aliens charged with child sex offenses, against ICE detainers. Yet because of the DHS’ strict privacy policies, ICE officials are prohibited from proactively publicizing the egregious records of the criminal aliens shielded by sanctuaries or being heralded as “victims” by many in the local and national media.

In this case, for example, the local media is publishing puff pieces sympathetic to this convicted child sex offender and insinuating that ICE is denying this individual health care in the detention facility, but fails to mention the fact that he was a child sex offender who should long ago have been removed from the country if not for the sanctuary policies. Local media has been posting Facebook videos taken by this individual’s son and treating the convicted sex offender as a victim.

“I don’t feel he’s getting adequate care, no,” Robert Gutierrez said about his father, according to the local NBC affiliate. “From the calls that we’ve received from him, he complains a lot from the way the psychologist and doctors treat him. Yesterday we got reports of the psychologist laughing at whatever he was saying.” A group of activists are protesting treatment at the facility.

This is a case of inmates running the asylum. Illegal aliens can break into the country, be ordered deported, commit the most heinous crimes, and then when ICE does the community a favor and enforces the law, ICE agents get treated like the criminals while the child molesters are treated as victims.

It was only by chance that I came across this story and asked the right questions, which allowed ICE to release the truth about this individual. There are endless cases like these on a daily basis, but the information never gets out to the public. There is therefore no robust debate about how to close the criminal alien loopholes and enforce federal law against sanctuary cities. . .

Obviously, we are a very divided country on many issues, including some of the fundamentals of immigration policy. But by definition, if someone has to be placed on a sex offender registry and is therefore a public safety threat, how could we have illegal aliens knowingly listed by local government and not turned over to ICE? The entire purpose of the registry that we don’t lock up sex offenders forever and are forced to take precautions when they are let out. But illegal aliens can and should be removed from the country. How many other illegal aliens remain in this country in plain sight, listed on sex offender registries?

Why is it too much to ask that we don’t harbor other countries’ child sex offenders? (For more from the author of “ICE Arrests Convicted Illegal Alien Sex Offender Released by Sanctuary Boulder County” please click HERE)

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Medical Professor: Epstein Injuries ‘Likely’ a Homicide; Pedophile Allowed Time Alone With Young Woman in Prison’s Attorney Room

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USA Today Interviews Forensic Pathologist: Broken Hyoid Bone “Almost Always” Murder

By Morgan Hines. Cyril Wecht, a forensic pathologist, told USA TODAY that he’s skeptical [that Epstein committed suicide].

“Fractures of the hyoid bone are almost always associated with manual strangulation,” Wecht said. “Because a hand gets up high underneath the chin of the victim.”

Wecht said that multiple breaks or fractures in neck bones are rare to find in suicidal hangings.

A fractured hyoid is possible from any blunt trauma to the neck. However, it is more common in a strangling than in a hanging, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

“Fractures of the hyoid bone in suicide hangings are rare and when you further keep in mind this was not a suicide hanging from stepping off a high ladder,” said Wecht. (Read more about the Epstein Injuries HERE)

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Medical Professor: “More Likely” Epstein Was Murdered than Committed Suicide

By Law and Crime. According to a new report, Jeffrey Epstein‘s autopsy showed that the hyoid bone in his neck was fractured, indicating possible strangulation.

In a Fox News segment, Dr. Marc Siegal, an NYU Langone medical professor claimed that this bone being fractured increases the likelihood that Epstein was murdered.

“The hyoid bone in the neck being fractured and other fractures in the neck, make it more likely, and again, this is a percentage call, more likely that it was a homicide than a suicide,” Siegal said.

Siegal later qualified his statements saying that it could have been either a suicide or a homicide, but that his suspicions have been raised. He also said that the answer will be revealed as to the nature of Epstein’s death because “if someone is attacked, [one can] see signs of the attack on the body.” (Read more from “Medical Professor: Epstein Injuries ‘Likely’ a Homicide” HERE)

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Jeffrey Epstein Spent Time Alone With Young Woman in Prison’s Attorney Room

By Forbes. The day after he was taken off suicide watch, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein spent at least two hours locked up alone with a young woman, in a private room reserved for inmates and their attorneys, according to an attorney who was visiting the prison that day.

“The optics were startling. Because she was young. And pretty,” said the visiting attorney, who asked that his name not be used because he didn’t want to create friction with the prison administration. He speculated the woman could be a lawyer—NBC News has reported that Epstein paid members of his team to sit with him in a room for eight hours a day for attorney-client meetings, allowing him to avoid his cell.

The visiting attorney went to the Manhattan Correctional Center on July 30, a day after Epstein was reportedly taken off suicide watch and transferred into the Special Housing Unit (SHU). During the hours the visiting attorney was present, it wasn’t Epstein’s main lawyer, Reid Weingarten, or other named attorneys who visited him. (Read more from “Jeffrey Epstein Spent Time Alone With Young Woman in Prison’s Attorney Room” HERE)

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If You Want a Reason Why Israel Barred Anti-Israel Democrats From Entering, Just Look What They Wrote on Their Itinerary

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Well, this was predictable. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) came to the defense of her terrorist-sympathizing colleagues known for peddling anti-Semitic tropes today. The call was made and the anti-Semitism defense league was assembled. Why? Well, as Katie noted, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu barred Reps. Rashida Talib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from entering the country and rightfully so. Both women support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, which is viciously anti-Israel. And by vicious, I mean, these clowns are pushing for the destruction of the Jewish state[.] . .

AOC then accused Netanyahu of supporting a message that only some Americans are welcome (via The Hill):

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tore into Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he announced he would not permit Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) entry for an upcoming trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

“[Members of Congress] are frequently asked to visit Israel to ‘see things for ourselves,’” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “But Netanyahu choosing to ban the only 2 Muslim women in Congress from entering tells the US that only *some* Americans are welcome to Israel, not all.”

(Read more from “If You Want a Reason Why Israel Barred Anti-Israel Democrats From Entering, Just Look What They Wrote on Their Itinerary” HERE)

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My Son’s Freshman Orientation at Virginia Tech Was Full of Leftist Propaganda

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. . .Like many other women, I just sent my youngest child to college. I am so proud of him and his decision to join the Army ROTC and study engineering. He will be attending a revered Virginia institution known for its military Corps of Cadets program.

Because of this, I was shocked to experience what I can only describe as extreme and overtly leftist propaganda spewed at our children’s orientation. The opening “University Welcome” event for students and parents separated families immediately in the auditorium.

Nobody expected the event to begin with prayer or the Pledge of Allegiance — heavens, no! But one might expect to remember the names of fallen cadets on the pylons or the 32 dead and 17 injured in the 2007 shooting on Virginia Tech’s campus, the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. Nope. Instead, the administration made the stunning choice to open orientation by recognizing two Native American tribes on whose land the college was built (with the implication that it was stolen).

What followed went from slightly bothersome to downright alarming. The college filled the next two hours with speaker after speaker who introduced themselves with not just their names and titles but also preferred pronouns — as in, “Hi my name is Penny Nance, and I identify as she and her.” At first, parents were slightly surprised; by the end, they were mad. . .

At one point, after dinner, they sent parents off to oblivious sleep while they lectured students on not making assumptions about each other’s gender or sexuality. Were they suggesting students ought to be fluidly “exploring” their gender and sexuality, as if it were some expected adventure? In the era of “Me Too,” that seems off message. (Read more from “My Son’s Freshman Orientation at Virginia Tech Was Full of Leftist Propaganda” HERE)

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Bystanders Taunted and Laughed as Police Officers Were Being Fired Upon in Philadelphia Shooting

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A reporter at the scene of an attack on police officers said that bystanders were mocking and taunting police even as bullets rained down upon them.

A video shows a crowd of residents shoving and confronting the police even as they were dealing with a tense hostage situation. . .

Even as six police officers were being treated for injuries by a man barricaded inside a home, the neighborhood residents expressed hostility and antagonism against the police. . .

One officer was shot in the head, while another was shot in the hand. All injured officers have been released from the hospital.

There were reports that the suspect was broadcasting part of the attack on Facebook.

(Read more from “Bystanders Taunted and Laughed as Police Officers Were Being Fired Upon in Philadelphia Shooting” HERE)

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President Trump: ‘It’s Not the Gun That Pulls the Trigger’

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By Breitbart. During his Thursday night “Keep America Great” rally in New Hampshire, President Donald Trump commented on violent crime, saying, “It’s not the gun that pulls the trigger.”

Trump said, “We’ve been working very hard to make sure we keep guns out of the hands of insane people and those who are mentally sick and shouldn’t have guns.”

He noted that, years ago, many “cities and states closed mental institutions for budgetary reasons.” The people who would otherwise have been treated were thereafter left on the streets. He noted that this was especially true in places like New York where “they let really seriously mentally ill people out on the streets.”

(Read more from “President Trump: ‘It’s Not the Gun That Pulls the Trigger’” HERE)

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Gun Control Groups Spend Over $2 Million on Ads Since Recent Mass Shootings, While NRA Talks to Trump

By CNBC. Gun control advocacy groups have dedicated more than $2 million on digital and TV ads, widely outspending the National Rifle Association, since the mass shootings weeks ago in California, Texas and Ohio that left more than 30 dead.

Everytown for Gun Safety — funded mostly by Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire and former New York mayor — is leading the way with a $935,000 ad campaign. Its digital and TV ads call on Congress to require tougher background checks for gun sales along with strong red-flag laws, which are meant to take firearms away from those deemed a threat to themselves or others.

The NRA has spent just $14,000 on Facebook ads since last week. Instead, the group focused its recent advocacy on tweeting and being in direct contact with President Donald Trump. (Read more from “Gun Control Groups Spend Over $2 Million on Ads Since Recent Mass Shootings, While NRA Talks to Trump” HERE)

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D.C. Archbishop Calls for Investigation Into Alleged Homosexual Predator at National Shrine

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Washington, DC, Archbishop Wilton Gregory said Tuesday he hopes to see a full “forensic investigation” into the case of Monsignor Walter Rossi, rector of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, who has been accused of serial homosexual predation.

Meanwhile, Msgr. Rossi’s home diocese of Scranton, PA, has opened a formal inquiry into allegations against the priest that date back to at least 2013, Catholic News Agency (CNA) reported Wednesday.

“Bishop Joseph Bambera, Bishop of the Diocese of Scranton, has commenced the process of launching a full forensic investigation into the concerns that have been raised,” regarding Msgr. Walter Rossi, the diocese said in a statement. The Scranton diocese will work “jointly and cooperatively” with the Archdiocese of Washington, DC, in its “comprehensive investigation.”

“Approximately one year ago, concerns were raised in the public sector regarding Monsignor Walter Rossi, a priest who was incardinated in the Diocese of Scranton but who has served more than 20 years at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.,” the diocese said.

“The Diocese of Scranton referred those initial concerns to the Archdiocese of Washington, which investigated certain specific allegations and determined them to be unfounded,” the statement said. “Additional concerns have now surfaced, however, requiring a broadened investigation.” (Read more from “D.C. Archbishop Calls for Investigation Into Alleged Homosexual Predator at National Shrine” HERE)

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WATCH: MSNBC Guest Calls for White Trump Voters to Be ‘Destroyed’

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So, we’ve had two mass shootings recently. They were committed less than 24 hours apart in different parts of the country. In El Paso, a white supremacist that hated Mexicans killed 20+ people at a Walmart. In Dayton, Ohio, a self-avowed leftist who supported gun control, Antifa, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) shot and killed nine people. Scores more were wounded in these incidents. The calls for gun control have heightened, but also one would think it would be a time to maybe temper the rhetoric, especially since the Left has gone off the deep end. Prior to these incidents, an Antifa activist attacked an ICE facility in Tacoma, Washington. Two ICE offices in San Antonio, Texas had shots fired at them as well. ICE blamed heated rhetoric and misinformation for the Texas shootings, which the FBI is investigating and have labeled them, targeted attacks. Well, over at MSNBC, that wasn’t the case. In fact, one guest said the Left needed to “destroy” Trump voters, specifically whites who support the president (via Washington Examiner):

MSNBC guest Elie Mystal, who is the executive editor of AboveTheLaw.com, advocated for nonwhite voters to mobilize to defeat President Trump in the 2020 presidential election, saying “you do not negotiate with” with his white supporters. . .

“You don’t communicate it to them — you beat them. You beat them,” Mystal said. “They are not a majority of this country. The majority of white people in this country are not a majority of the country. And all the people who are not fooled by this need to come together, go to the polls, go to the protests, do whatever you have to do. You do not negotiate with these people, you destroy them.”

(Read more from “MSNBC Guest Calls for White Trump Voters to Be ‘Destroyed'” HERE)

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Trump Considering Buying World’s Biggest Island

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President Trump made his name as a real-estate man, and now he is reportedly contemplating the biggest purchase of his life: buying Greenland.

The Wall Street Journal reports, “In meetings, at dinners and in passing conversations, Mr. Trump has asked advisers whether the U.S. can acquire Greenland, listened with interest when they discuss its abundant resources and geopolitical importance, and, according to two of the people, has asked his White House counsel to look into the idea.”

Denmark owns Greenland, although Greenland is self-ruled, At over 836,000 square miles, Greenland is the world’s largest island (Australia and Antarctica are considered landmasses.) Despite its enormous size, only 56,000 people live in Greenland; that’s because three-quarters of Greenland is covered by a permanent ice sheet.

Greenland came under the Norwegian crown in 1262; the Portuguese briefly claimed it at the start of the 16th century. In the early 1700’s, Denmark and Norway, which were joined under one crown, owned the island, but in 1814 when the union was dissolved, Denmark took control. In 1979, Denmark granted Greenland home rule. Denmark now handles Greenland’s foreign and security policy.

Trump is due to visit Copenhagen in September. The Wall Street Journal notes, “A decades-old defense treaty between Denmark and the U.S. gives the U.S. military virtually unlimited rights in Greenland at America’s northernmost base, Thule Air Base. Located 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle, it includes a radar station that is part of a U.S. ballistic missile early warning system. The base is also used by the U.S. Air Force Space Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command.” (Read more from “Trump Considering Buying World’s Biggest Island” HERE)

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