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Arizona is ‘Ground Zero’ for ‘illegal’ invasion

BY J.D. HAYWORTH Glendale Star Columnist

The most transformational event in American history continues to unfold, but both media coverage and public understanding of it remain limited in what is supposed to be the “information age.”

For the better part of the last 40 years, with only the quadrennial span from 2017 until 2021 providing a respite, an illegal invasion across our southern border has been conducted. It picked up again in January of last year, following the inauguration of Joe Biden.

Now, it is worse than ever.

And Arizona is “Ground Zero.”

Our nation’s “fi scal New Year’s Day” occurred on Oct. 1 of last year, and in the fi rst two months of FY 2022, the Yuma Border Sector bore the brunt of illegal immigration. To say “migrant encounters” with U.S. Customs & Border Protection rose exponentially is putting it mildly — in numerical terms, they increased 2,647% from the same period 12 months earlier. By December, while children in the city of Yuma sang “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” city offi cials realized that scores of people who entered the country illegally would precede the Jolly Old Elf.

During a fi ve-day stretch early that month, more than 6,000 people entered the country illegally and made their way through the city limits; by Dec. 9 the infl ux forced Mayor Douglas Nicholls to declare a local “state of emergency.”

The mayor’s proclamation of emergency could be interpreted as an exercise in “diplomatic understatement.” Perhaps Mayor Nicholls perceived that politically correct language would fi nd favor in the Biden White House, so the document described the “humanitarian crisis and threat of injury, damage and suffering to persons or property, including to the migrant families temporarily located in the city of Yuma.”

Nice touch, that.

If one thing has become crystal clear in the fi rst year of Joe Biden’s residency at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, it is that he and his administration place a higher emphasis on the well-being of noncitizens than the concerns and complaints of law-abiding, tax-paying citizens.

So, the mention of “migrant families” would attract interest from the Biden Bunch. After all, those people will wind up as citizens — and voters — as soon as Ol’ Joe and beleaguered House and Senate Democrats fi nd enough “Open Border Republicans” to enact a total and unconditional amnesty.

And when that happens — if that happens — it would mean complete and abject surrender of our national sovereignty, rejection of our national heritage, and abdication of our capacity for self-governance.

Instead, our future would be controlled by “newcomers,” enticed by the promise of unfettered benefi ts passed along by their new relative — an indulgent “Uncle Sam.”

The political implications are obvious. But this goes far beyond the political equation.

Sadly, in post-9/11 America, politicians of both parties have failed to see this for what it is: a direct threat to our national security and our very survival.

Instead, they mistake it for a political problem to be managed… and exploited.

Sure enough, Gov. Doug Ducey paid a visit to Yuma two days prior to Mayor Nicholls issuing his emergency proclamation. Before the TV cameras, backed by state, local and federal offi cials, the governor was in fi ne fettle, at least politically speaking.

“Mr. President, do something, do anything,” he said.

While that press event was taking place, and within view of the TV cameras, some illegal aliens were doing

SEE HAYWORTH PAGE 10

Nation’s pandemic response is less than impressive

BY DAVID LEIBOWITZ Glendale Star Columnist

If there’s one thing that continues to surprise me about the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s not the death toll of 831,000 and rising, or that we’re approaching year three of the presence of the virus in our lives. It’s how poorly we as a nation have handled this public health emergency.

When you grow up believing that you live in an exceptional country — a “shining city on a hill,” to borrow a phrase Ronald Reagan borrowed — it’s tough to see that country put in no better than a solid D-plus performance. Graded generously. Where have we gone wrong, you ask? I’d cite three major areas of failure: scientifi c, journalistic and political. The scientifi c community performed amazing work creating effective vaccines against COVID-19 at warp speed. Where they’ve fumbled is not at the research level but where nerds stereotypically stumble — communicating with the rest of us.

Some of this is to be expected; science is an evolutionary process, forever re-examining, rethinking. Scientists change their minds constantly, especially studying a virus that itself mutates by the day. But with COVID-19, the mind-changes have been so many and so radical, vast swaths of the nation seemed to have simply tuned out.

The early days of the pandemic feel quaint now, as does the initial Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mask guidance from the spring 2020.

“If you are not sick,” the CDC told us, “you do not need to wear a face mask unless you are caring for someone who is sick (and they are not able to wear a face mask).”

We’ve traveled a long, twisty road since then. And thousands of news reporters have squawked about it every step of the way. It’s not the local hacks I have much of a problem with but more the national networks and their style of mixing fact and bloviation. CNN, Fox, MSNBC and their ilk have treated a public health emergency like Election Night or a war, bouncing between factual reportage and commentary, until even a sophisticated viewer can’t tell the difference. Then there’s the politicization of the pandemic, using party ID as the metric of truth-telling. To be an independent American watching cable news in 2022 is to be stupefi ed by how everything — even the basic decision to get a vaccination or wear a mask — is politics today.

Speaking of politics, remember

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HAYWORTH FROM PAGE 8 something — they were unlawfully entering our nation.

The date that this contrast between political speech and unlawful action occurred?

Dec. 7. A date that already “lives in infamy” in American history.

Gee… do you think someone is trying to tell us something?

LEIBOWITZ FROM PAGE 8 President Trump’s ludicrous “15 days to slow the spread” campaign? That was about 666 days ago. Then we had President Biden’s June 2021 “month of action” that was going to launch a “summer of freedom.” Old Joe was positively giddy come Independence Day, delivering news the nation had nearly reached the goal of 70% of adults with at least one vaccination.

“This is one of the greatest achievements in American history, and you, the American people, made it happen,” the president claimed. “We are emerging from one of the darkest years in our nation’s history into a summer of hope and joy.”

I guess summer was nice, at least in comparison to Biden’s recent description of how Omicron would create “a winter of severe illness and death for the unvaccinated — for themselves, their families and the hospitals they’ll soon overwhelm.”

Except now it seems maybe science has changed its mind on Omicron, which you may or may not have and which may or may not kill you. Except the CDC changed its mind on quarantines, shifting from 10 days to five for those with infections. Except you can’t tell if you’re infected because no home COVID-19 tests are in stock at the drugstore and the news says waits are eternal at testing centers. Of course, the news also says… blah, blah, blah.

Like I said, a solid grade of D-plus.

J.D. Hayworth worked as a sportscaster at Channel 10, Phoenix, from 1987 until 1994 and represented Arizona in Congress from 1995-2007.

David Leibowitz has called the Valley home since 1995. Contact david@leibowitzsolo.com.