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Catching Up on the News
Nigerian Christians Are Getting Noticed
We’ve mentioned before he horrible persecution of Christians in Nigeria. Now their cause has been raised at some of the highest levels.
Pope Leo has called for peace in the region while more and more people are describing the mass murders as a genocide. There was an event at the United Nations that included the American ambassador and Nicki Minaj (some sort of singer I don’t know anything about, but this is significant for the news breaking through to popular culture).
Unfortunately, press releases and speeches will not be enough to save the Christians of Nigeria. At some point there will have to be a military response. The Nigerian government is largely complicit with the genocide, so any hope for the Christians is likely to come from outside of Africa. This, of course, raises a host of difficult issues.
The Igbo region of Nigeria tried to secede in 1967 and form a separate country of Biafra. This led to a terrible war and their defeat in 1970. This is the region and these are the people that are under attack now. You may see calls for a recreation of Biafra if you read about this story. This is what they are talking about.
The Government Reopens (no, really)
With all the formalities done, the government can reopen. Furloughed government employees will come back to work, and most of them will receive backpay for the time they missed. Offices and services will reopen.
To recall, this means the Executive branch will have access to the National Treasury. The President and his agencies cannot withdraw any money from the Treasury without authorization from Congress, which they did not have until the continuing resolution was passed by both houses. That’s why there was no money.
There is an irony in the fact that people who one week protested against Pres. Trump with the slogan “No kings!” the next week wanted him to spend money without the authorization of Congress. Separating the power of the purse, as the Founders called it, from the Executive branch was one of the features of the Constitution that was designed to prevent the United States from becoming a monarchy.
One interesting fallout from the shutdown, however, is increased scrutiny on some of the services the federal government provides. For instance, SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) recipients are going to have to reapply for these benefits. These are commonly known as “food stamps” because when it started there were actual stamps or detachable coupons one would use at the grocery store to pay for food. The modern system uses a debit card (EBT).
The shutdown put a spotlight on such benefits and several studies discovered significant fraud. Apparently, thousands of dead people were receiving EBT cards. No one knows who was using the money. A widely discovered practice includes selling EBT cards for cash at less than their face value so that the seller can use the money for non-food items that can’t be bought with SNAP.
This scrutiny will uncover more abuse and will also make receiving these benefits at least somewhat more difficult for people who deserve them.
Immigration Enforcement
As always, illegal immigration is in the news. There is evidence that illegals are receiving SNAP benefits, which they aren’t supposed to do. There is also the ongoing enforcement of deportation orders by ICE.
Charlotte, North Carolina is the current focus of Tom Homan, the Border Czar, but he has promised to pay special attention to so-called sanctuary states and sanctuary cities. These are states and cities that promise not to assist ICE. In practice, this means that if someone is arrested for murder, for instance, and is in the country illegally, the state or city police will release the suspect so that ICE cannot detain and deport him.
The big show will be NYC, especially after January 1 when Zohran Mamdani will be mayor. Homan might be waiting until that date, practicing on smaller cities while he waits. ICE enforcement in NYC—the center of the world’s media—right after the swearing in of Muslim Socialist would be remarkable.
Israel and Gaza
The United Nations Security Council has approved of the ceasefire deal negotiated by the Trump administration. This agreement opens the possibility of statehood (not at all defined) for the Palestinian people, but only if all the terms of the agreement are met.
It is interesting that the Security Council agreed to this when two of the five permanent members, the United Kingdom and France, have already announced that they recognize a Palestinian state. One would think their statements from several months ago would be in tension with the agreement.
The leader of Saudi Arabia, the most important Muslim country because it is the home of Mecca and Medina, has also declared that it accepts the terms of the agreement, meaning it accepts that the Palestinians do not have a state and do not have any right to one until they complete all the terms of the ceasefire agreement. This is a huge step for peace in the Middle East. Previous Saudi positions demanded nothing from the Palestinians and everything from the Israelis.