Do Policy-Makers Value the Lives of Our Troops?

/0 Comments/in , /by

What differentiates our soldiers from the way our enemies use their soldiers is that they are not pieces on a board game. Their work is not a game of Risk. They have real lives with families and bright futures ahead of them.

That moral understanding should dictate two overarching principles to policy-makers: 1) Only risk the lives of our troops in war when there is a clear benefit and definitive outcome for the betterment of our security; and 2) Once that decision is made, the war must be executed in a way that prioritizes the survival of our soldiers first before all other political considerations. This should be a doctrine of all who consider themselves Americans, regardless of political views.

Sadly, since WWII, the value of our soldiers’ lives seems to rate very low on the risk vs. return matrix and cost-benefit analysis of most recent military engagements, if any such analysis was even conducted. For if they ranked high in priority, we clearly would not be pursuing so many of these protracted engagements refereeing Islamic civil wars with often contradictory or unknown goals.

George Patton was famous for saying, “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.” The goal is not to sacrifice our soldiers to promote someone else’s values, but to protect our values first, values that are actually worth sacrificing for. As Reagan said on Memorial Day in 1982, of those who died in WWII, “[E]ach died for a cause he considered more important than his own life. Well, they didn’t volunteer to die; they volunteered to defend values for which men have always been willing to die if need be, the values which make up what we call civilization.”

The idea is to fight for our values to ensure that America remains worthy and reflective of those sacrifices. Sometimes it’s inevitable that our soldiers have to make the ultimate sacrifice. But as we remember those fallen heroes this Memorial Day, we must commit to doing everything in our power to advocate for policies that ensure that fewer people make that ultimate sacrifice. And that if they do, they are not falling on the sword of Islam or dying for someone else’s country, but sacrificing for our country to preserve our values.

Sincere people can legitimately disagree over whether various military engagements were in America’s best interests, but it is beyond dispute at this point that before throwing our guys into more meat-grinders with no logical outcome, we need an operational audit of where we are engaged in conflict. We must examine why we are there, identify substantial strategic interests, weigh them against the risk to the lives of our soldiers, and determine what victory looks like. At that point, we need to secure a declaration of war from Congress to get the entire nation on board and better articulate our objectives. Then we must do everything it takes to achieve that mission with no gratuitous risk to our soldiers.

Yet both Republican and Democrat administrations continue to pursue a strategy of “send more troops into the Middle East first, ask questions about the mission, interests, and outcomes later.” We are seeing this again in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Yemen and Somalia.

Those of us who never heard the dreaded knock on the door to inform us of a loved one killed in action could never imagine the pain felt by those patriots. But that feeling is undoubtedly aggravated by the thought of one’s husband or son falling on his sword for the Free Somali Army or the Syrian rebels or the Extortion 17 special operators who fell for the corrupt Sharia-based Karzai government in Afghanistan. We no longer have the focused goals or obvious national interests protected by those who died at Omaha Beach.

We paid a heavy price for the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944, with nearly 2,500 American fatalities. But thanks to meticulous planning, a clearly defined mission, and a no-holds-barred desire to achieve that mission, a continent was freed and the world was saved just one year later. This was all done despite bad luck, dismal weather, and mechanical failures that plagued the assault at Omaha Beach – and all without the enormous technological advantage the U.S. military enjoys today over its contemporary enemies.

To this day, families of WWII veterans can stand on the hallowed ground of Omaha Beach and solemnly reflect with pride on the enormous gains taken and preserved by their parents and grandparents in the fight to protect our national interests and those of all humanity.

What can be said of our modern-day warfare? We have nothing to show for 15 years in Afghanistan but over 1,800 military deaths, 20,000 wounded, and the Taliban controlling more territory than ever before – all to establish a Sharia-compliant government with a constitution (set up by U.S. officials) that fosters the type of Islamic supremacism we are at war with. After 4,400 fatalities and 30,000 wounded in Iraq, the country is controlled by Iranian hegemony, and our troops are now helping Iranian-backed Shiite militias, who are just as brutal as ISIS, take back Mosul from the Sunni Islamists. Then, our air force is bombing those same militias in Syria. Some of these same militias were responsible for killing hundreds of our soldiers when we originally liberated Iraq on their behalf.

At present, this administration is furthering our involvement in the Yemeni civil war. We already lost a Navy SEAL raiding the compound of an Al Qaeda kingpin who is allied with the Hadi government we are supporting, which is fighting the Houthis, who are fighting Al Qaeda!

The only thing worse than not having a coherent, consistent, and defensible policy in the Middle East is placing our soldiers into harm’s way without such a policy in place. How appropriate to reflect upon the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes in his 1884 Memorial Day speech, in which he explained the significance of this day that “celebrates and solemnly reaffirms from year to year a national act of enthusiasm and faith.” This is significant because “to act with enthusiasm and faith is the condition of acting greatly,” and “to fight out a war, you must believe something and want something with all your might.”

What is it indeed that we believe in? What is it we want with all our might? What are we fighting for in the quagmire of endless Islamic sectarian strife?

This is not a rant categorically opposing any engagement in the Middle East. That is a different discussion. Reasonable people can disagree on the prudence of strategy and strategic interests. But if our policy-makers truly valued the lives of our soldiers the way they should, the failures of the past 15 years should weigh heavily on any decision to intervene further in similar quagmires. The questions are: 1) Who is our enemy? 2) What is their threat doctrine? 3) What are our strategic interests? 4) How are they achieved? 5) Are they worth the cost? These questions should be at the forefront of the minds of the civilian and military leadership, not an afterthought to be sacrificed for the priorities of political interests, political correctness, or the whims of the Saudis. Putting America first means putting Americans first — most importantly, our own soldiers.

If this administration is going to continue in the footsteps of its predecessors and throw more troops into these theaters, the president and his advisers have an obligation to articulate to those doing the fighting and to the American public a common-sense description of our goals, desired outcomes, why they are necessary, and how we will end the cycle of refereeing Islamic civil wars, often in a contradictory way in multiple theaters.

Such a small percentage of American citizens have volunteered to serve in the military, particularly on dangerous missions. As we honor and commemorate those who died for our country, let us commit to honoring and valuing our living service members. As President Coolidge said on Memorial Day in 1927:

Reverence for the dead should not be divorced from respect for the living. If we hold those who have gone before in high estimation, it will reflected in our conduct toward those who are still with us. It would be idle to place a wreath on the grave of the dead and leave ungarlanded the brow of the living. Our devotion to the memory of those who have served their country in the past is but a symbol of our devotion to those who are serving their country at present.

(For more from the author of “Do Policy-Makers Value the Lives of Our Troops?” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

People Are Dying While the FDA Keeps These Medical Apps From You

/0 Comments/in , /by

With the GOP proving itself entirely unwilling to repeal Obamacare in a meaningful way, and the country inching ever closer to health care Armageddon, it’s going to be increasingly important for patients to find ways to get around the Byzantine insurance regulations and to take control of their health into their own hands.

Fortunately, technological entrepreneurship is poised to dramatically decentralize the knowledge and power of the medical profession.

The wild and wooly landscape of mobile apps is beginning to offer a vast array of medical services from the comfort of your smartphone. The inane Apple slogan, “There’s an app for that,” becomes progressively more true with each passing day.

While there have long existed apps that monitor heart rate or list drug interactions, developers are taking things to the next level, with new apps that can predict relapses for cancer survivors, for example. Empirical studies reveal that these apps literally save lives, and represent an amazing advance in patient-centered medicine.

But hang on — before we get too excited, there remain significant governmental roadblocks to these personalized medical services. The FDA classifies these apps as “medical devices,” and therefore claims the authority to regulate them, including subjecting them to its notoriously onerous review process before allowing them to be sold.

Supposedly, this is done to protect consumer safety, but there are a number of downsides, too.

First, the FDA has a limited capacity. Currently, they are only on track to approve 20 apps a year. That is clearly not enough to keep pace with the rate of technological progress. Second, the review process is lengthy and prevents life-saving technologies from coming to market for extended periods of time.

Economist Milton Friedman astutely pointed out that while the media fixate on unsafe drugs and devices that harm people, the deaths that occur due to devices not being approved fast enough are much less visible — but no less tragic.

Every regulatory delay for medical technology puts lives in danger, and it is disingenuous to pretend that the FDA is purely about maximizing consumer safety. Lobbying and special interest groups play just as important a role, with established medical incumbents desperate to keep competition down.

Government regulatory power is a convenient way to throw obstacles up that younger and less deep-pocketed companies will struggle to overcome.

As in so many sectors in our economy, innovations are bursting the seams of the status quo, offering new solutions to old problems. But some of these sectors should concern us more than others.

If the taxi unions successfully shut down Uber, consumers lose a convenient mode of transport; if the FDA stalls medical innovation in the form of mobile apps, however, people die. That’s why it’s crucial that medical innovations be allowed to proceed unimpeded, and patients’ access to new technologies not be choked off by bureaucracy.

The mobile app revolution could change the way we consume medical care forever, but only if regulators don’t stop the progress before it starts. (For more from the author of “People Are Dying While the FDA Keeps These Medical Apps From You” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

8 Dead in Shooting Rampage in Mississippi; Suspect Arrested

/0 Comments/in , /by

A man who got into an argument with his estranged wife over their children was arrested in a house-to-house shooting rampage in rural Mississippi that left eight people dead, including his mother-in-law and a sheriff’s deputy.

“I ain’t fit to live, not after what I done,” a handcuffed Willie Corey Godbolt, 35, told The Clarion-Ledger.

The gunfire erupted Saturday night at a home in Bogue Chitto after the deputy arrived in response to a domestic disturbance call, and spread to two houses in nearby Brookhaven, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) south of Jackson. (Read more from “8 Dead in Shooting Rampage in Mississippi; Suspect Arrested” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

ICE Arrests Nearly 200 Illegal Aliens in Los Angeles Raids

/0 Comments/in , /by

Immigration authorities have arrested nearly 200 criminal aliens in a five-day operation across the Los Angeles area, including dozens with prior convictions for sex crimes and domestic violence.

Fugitive operations officers for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) nabbed a total of 188 people in a sweep targeting at-large criminal aliens, immigration fugitives and individuals who had illegally re-entered the U.S. after being deported.

Of the those arrested, 169 — about 90 percent — had prior criminal convictions for a variety of crimes, the agency said Thursday. The most common prior offenses were drug violations, comprising 43 of those arrested, followed by DUI and domestic violence, with 30 and 27 arrests, respectively.

“Operations like this are emblematic of the vital work ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers do every day seeking to locate, arrest, and ultimately deport at-large convicted criminals and other immigration fugitives who pose a threat to public safety,” David Marin, field office director for ICE’s enforcement and removal division in Los Angeles, said in a statement.

“By taking these individuals off the streets and removing them from the country, we’re making our communities safer for everyone,” he added. (Read more from “ICE Arrests Nearly 200 Illegal Aliens in Los Angeles Raids” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

The Left Likely Coordinating Attacks on Those Investigating the Seth Rich Murder

/0 Comments/in , /by

After conservative talk show host Sean Hannity began covering new developments in the Seth Rich murder case last week, the left ramped up its attacks on those looking into it.

Led by Media Matters, the left forced Hannity to stop covering the story by pressuring his advertisers. (Hannity said he was halting coverage out of respect to the grieving family.) Several, including USAA and cars.com, caved this week, saying they were pulling their ads from his shows.

Coordinated Comments

One way the left seems to intimidate those looking into the murder is by leaving coordinated comments after articles and posts. The same comments are left on multiple websites after articles. The wording is often exactly the same. They even have the name-calling down to a science.

The user accounts almost always have very generic usernames and rarely include a profile photo. They’re fond of first names plus a number. They often don’t even take the time to put in a photo of a cat or something else innocuous to provide a semblance of legitimacy.

For example, a generic account with no profile photo, “anne55,” spent a lot of time leaving multiple comments after my most recent article. He or she may be unemployed or paid to leave comments — anne55 insists a few too many times in the comments that she (or he) is not.

Another sign that the comments may be targeted is the ratio of comments to Facebook shares. At the time of writing, that article had 182 comments but only 892 Facebook shares. That’s a high number of comments for the readership indicated by the number of shares. In contrast, an article I wrote about Seth Rich last week had 2,900 Facebook shares but only six comments.

A third sign: the apparent coordination of comments placed on the most popular mainstream sites after articles with positive news for the amateur sleuths. Real Clear Politics reported, “Rep. Blake Farenthold: Federal Investigators Need to Investigate Seth Rich’s Computer.” “Dave781” (as usual, no profile photo) was one of the first to jump in and leave comments. He left many.

A fourth sign is that they say the same things. Dave71 repeated what appear to be the Democrats’ main talking point: that we need to focus on whether the Russians hacked the DNC’s emails and gave them to Wikileaks.

A fifth sign is the way the attacks ignore all the contradictory evidence, even when it comes from their own side. They don’t challenge those. They challenge only the conservative writers. The commenters mostly ignore articles about Bernie Sanders supporters who agree there needs to be a probe. In an article on ThinkProgress, only 15 comments were left after an article entitled “The complicated origin of the Seth Rich conspiracy theory.”

The Clinton Troll Army

Is coordination possible? Of course it is. Everyone remembers Hillary Clinton’s troll army, a paid group of social media activists who tweeted and left comments during the presidential election.

They took on Bernie Sanders in the primary. They took on Donald Trump during the general election. My guess is that many of these activists have transitioned to the effort to suppress reporting on and investigation of incidents involving Seth Rich.

The vaguely named “KW,” whose username on Twitter is “KDub0812,” still uses an image as his or her Twitter background that was given to the troll army, a Hillary campaign graphic. This person responds to people tweeting about Seth Rich all day long with clichéd talking points.

Twitter Bots

This doesn’t happen just in the web’s comboxes. Twitter bots repeat the same tweet en masse. Three days ago, this article, “Fox News staffers ‘disgusted’ over Seth Rich conspiracy theory,” was tweeted out over and over again by many Twitter accounts within a short amount of time. Some stragglers must have gotten the memo late, tweeting it out less often yesterday and today.

One Twitter user took a scrolling video of the barrage of tweets.

One of the accounts that tweeted this out even calls itself “Media bot.”

The Talk Show Hosts’ Response

As a result of the attacks, talk show hosts across the country are banding together to fight back. While Hannity may have stopped talking about the murder “for now,” he tweeted that he is still looking into it. Despite their zealous efforts, the left has not completely shut the sleuthing down.

(For more from the author of “The Left Likely Coordinating Attacks on Those Investigating the Seth Rich Murder” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Girl Gives Genius ‘War Crime’ Response on Teacher Feedback Form

/0 Comments/in , /by

An 11- year-old girl accused her school of “war crimes” under the Geneva Conventions of 1949 in a hilarious response to a teacher feedback form.

Ava Bell, from Glasgow, took issue with her teacher’s use of “collective punishment,” which is when a group is punished for one person’s actions. The form asked students to provide ways in which her teacher could do better, so Bell wrote: “Not use collective punishment as it is not fair on the many people who did nothing and under the 1949 Genva Conventions it is a war crime.”

The Geneva Conventions are a set of humanitarian rules and treaties that apply in times of armed conflict. “No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed,” according to Article 33 of the rules.

“My daughter actually submitted this feedback at school. Not sure if I should ground her or buy her ice cream,” Mason Cross, Ava’s father, shared a picture of her answer on Twitter.

“I thought it was really funny and absolutely typical of Ava, who I haven’t managed to best in an argument since she turned six,” Mason told the Daily Mail. (Read more from “Girl Gives Genius ‘War Crime’ Response on Teacher Feedback Form” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Health Cops Now Calling for Regulation of Caffeine

/0 Comments/in , /by

The health police are turning their sights to energy, calling for tobacco style regulations on caffeine and bans on energy drinks for young Americans.

Nutrition experts are calling on the federal government to heavily regulate the levels of caffeine permitted in energy drinks out of fear that the beverages are harming public health, particularly the youth.

Advocates are concerned there are no rules restricting energy drink manufacturers from marketing to those who face potentially fatal consequences from consuming the beverages, according to an op-ed in The Washington Post.

Pat Crawford and Wendi Gosliner, researchers with the University of California’s Nutrition Policy Institute, want the Food and Drug Administration to crack down on energy drinks with restrictions similar to those placed on alcohol. They argue that the FDA must “ban the marketing of energy drinks to young people of all ages,” and launched a public education effort on the dangers of caffeine.

“Caffeine is a strong and potentially dangerous stimulant, particularly for children and adolescents,” Crawford and Gosliner said in the editorial. “Making matters worse, consumers do not know the risks of the high levels of caffeine in an energy drink. Unlike coffee, energy drinks are widely marketed to adolescents, putting them at risk of extreme caffeine overload with potentially devastating cardiovascular and neurological consequences.” (Read more from “Health Cops Now Calling for Regulation of Caffeine” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Appeals Court Deals Blow to Trump Administration Travel Ban

/0 Comments/in , /by

A federal appeals court dealt another blow to President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban targeting six-Muslim majority countries on Thursday.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that blocks the Republican’s administration from temporarily suspending new visas for people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th Circuit is the first appeals court to rule on the revised travel ban, which Trump’s administration had hoped would avoid the legal problems that the first version encountered. (Read more from “Appeals Court Deals Blow to Trump Administration Travel Ban” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Trump Signals New US Approach to China With Tough Actions

/0 Comments/in , /by

Two developments in the past few weeks suggest that America’s China policy is on a cusp.

The more publicly discussed event involves the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Dewey, which conducted a freedom of navigation operation near Mischief Reef in the Spratlys island group.

This is the first freedom of navigation action conducted by the Trump administration. It is the first true freedom of navigation conducted since at least 2012.

By contrast, the Obama administration had undertaken a handful of “innocent passage” activities in the South China Sea, which failed to demonstrate the critical issues at stake.

The actions carried out in the previous administration were intended to argue that the U.S. did not need permission from China to enter the waters around its artificial islands—while ignoring the bigger question of whether China’s artificial islands exerted any sovereign claim to water at all.

Recommitting to Freedom of Navigation

The contrast is telling. With the Obama administration actions, there was an implicit endorsement that China’s artificial islands were, in fact, islands, because “innocent passage” involves rapid transit through the territorial waters of another nation.

Moreover, in an “innocent passage” operation, the transiting ship cannot conduct any kind of military activity, in deference to the idea that the waters being transited are not international in nature.

The Obama administration further muddied the waters by choosing features whose sovereignty was in dispute—and therefore could claim that it was not singling out Chinese-claimed features.

Even after the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that the various features in the South China Sea were not, in fact, islands and therefore could not lay claim to a 12-nautical mile territorial sea, the Obama administration nonetheless refused to reinforce the point by conducting a genuine freedom of navigation operation.

By contrast, the USS Dewey not only transited within 12 nautical miles of Mischief Reef, but more importantly, conducted a “man overboard” drill. Such an action would contravene an “innocent passage” exercise, but is perfectly within the scope of a “freedom of navigation” operation. Indeed, it underscores the message that Mischief Reef is not an island, and therefore does not merit a claim to exerting territorial waters.

For the first time since at least 2012, the United States is signaling Beijing that its efforts to dominate the South China Sea will not be meekly accepted, but will be challenged.

Defending Human Rights

In the same period, the family of Chinese dissident lawyer Xie Yang was successfully smuggled out of a Thai prison, where they were being held for extradition to China. Xie is one of several lawyers and human rights activists who have been arrested as Beijing has cracked down on dissent.

The decisive American action stands in contrast to the fumbling by American embassy officials in the case of Chen Guancheng. When the blind human rights lawyer sought refuge in the American embassy in May 2012, American officials were diffident about his status. Chen himself indicated in contemporary interviews that he felt pressured to leave the embassy, as American officials were unable to offer guarantees of his wife’s safety.

It remains unclear what the Trump administration’s overall strategy is for Asia. North Korea continues to push development of longer range missiles able to reach the United States.

The People’s Republic of China, despite promises by President Xi Jinping to President Donald Trump to pressure Pyongyang, has demonstrated limited impact on North Korea; Chinese statistics even suggest that trade between China and North Korea has increased.

While the administration has suggested bilateral trade deals in the region in place of U.S. membership in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, whether there are any takers and what exactly its new trade strategy is remains unclear.

But for one Chinese dissident’s family, the United States has demonstrated that its commitment to basic principles can take concrete form. And in the middle of the South China Sea, the U.S. Navy appears to be back in the business of defending freedom of the seas. The auguries seem to be improving. (For more from the author of “Trump Signals New US Approach to China With Tough Actions” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Recent Voter Fraud Cases White House Commission Could Review

/0 Comments/in , /by

Last week, a former Florida mayor was escorted to the Orange County Jail after a jury convicted him on a felony voter fraud charge.

Eatonville is a suburb of Orlando, where in the 2015 municipal race, former Mayor Anthony Grant lost by just 15 votes on election day, but won 196 to 69 among mail-in ballots.

State prosecutors reportedly convinced a jury that Grant and a campaign aide coerced voters on how to fill out their mail-in ballots. Grant, who had also served as mayor from 1994 to 2009, was removed from office last year after a state grand jury indictment.

This is one of many cases the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity should consider reviewing regarding voter intimidation and fraud-prone mail-in ballots, said Logan Churchwell, spokesman for the Public Interest Legal Foundation, which investigates voter fraud cases.

President Donald Trump established the commission through an executive order earlier this month. The commission’s final report will be completed by 2018, according to the White House.

Trump’s order charged the commission with studying registration and the voting process used in federal elections. It has set out to discover what laws and policies “enhance the American people’s confidence in the integrity of the voting process,” and those that “undermine the American people’s confidence.”

It’s not necessary to go back to elections from two years ago to find evidence of voting irregularities.

Nevada uncovered at least three cases of noncitizens voting in last year’s election, according to a continuing investigation by the Nevada secretary of state’s office, and at least 21 noncitizens registered at the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections announced that at least 41 noncitizens cast ballots in 2016, another 441 were felons serving an active sentence, 24 voted more than once, and two voted under names of dead family members.

Two Colorado women allegedly cast absentee ballots in someone else’s name.

Not all of the action was in battleground states.

The Dallas County, Texas, District Attorney’s Office opened an investigation into allegations of voter fraud with mail-in ballots from a mayor’s race earlier this month. Some voters said they got mail-in ballots despite never requesting them.

A Wyoming county clerk reportedly found possibly 11 felons and 16 noncitizens were registered to vote on Election Day.

Meanwhile, an Illinois woman was reportedly charged last month for allegedly voting twice.

“A cataloging effort of 2016 illegalities and irregularities would be useful, but a deeper look into underlying system flaws is also important,” Churchwell told The Daily Signal. “Our voter registration systems should be mapped to identify breakdowns that allow bad data entry and an extended lifespan thereafter because reasonable maintenance efforts are lacking.”

Vice President Mike Pence is heading the commission with Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a Republican, who is serving as the vice chairman.

Asked if the commission will be about policy recommendations to reform voting laws, or an audit of the 2016 election, White House press secretary Sean Spicer told The Daily Signal it would be both.

“The executive order that the president signed, and the vice president and Secretary of State Kobach are leading, is a bipartisan commission of state elections officials that are going to look at all aspects of election integrity, including voter fraud and proper registration, and allegations of voter suppression,” Spicer responded during a press briefing last week. “So I think they’re looking at this holistically.”

Besides Kobach, the top elections officials from the states of Indiana, New Hampshire, Maine, and a member of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission have been named to the commission so far. More announced members are pending.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which opposes voter ID laws, is investigating through the Freedom of Information Act whether any of the officials have made pre-judgements on the matter of voter fraud.

“We believe the outcome of the commission’s investigation is preordained,” Dale Ho, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, said in a statement last week. “It’s time to shed light on whether any commission members were crafting policy recommendations before their investigation was launched or the commission was even formally announced. If they’ve got evidence, it’s time to stop hiding and start sharing.”

Churchwell said if the White House wants “a holistic approach,” then there should be more information sharing among the federal agencies, such as the Department of Justice, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services sharing with state and county election officials.

“Want to know how many noncitizens are registered to vote in America today? DOJ could bounce all 50 states’ voter rolls against immigration databases and find out,” Churchwell told The Daily Signal in an email. “Want to know how you could streamline this into an ongoing process, instead of creating herculean research tasks? Pipe USCIS, CBP, and ICE data to the states in real time.”

He also said the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, better known as the motor voter law, should be updated because it was adopted at a time when noncitizens didn’t have access to voter registration through motor vehicles, social services, and other avenues.

“Outmoded procedures risk trapping unwitting noncitizens into systems that can lead to their deportation, while others can willfully register and vote regardless of consequences,” he said. (For more from the author of “Recent Voter Fraud Cases White House Commission Could Review” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.