theintercept--2020-02-24--Bloomberg’s Investment Portfolio Includes Bets on Private Equity, Fracking

Bloomberg , with an estimated net worth of around $ 65 billion , acquired much of his fortune through his majority ownership of Bloomberg LP , the software and media company he co-founded .
But , after his decision to run for president last November , he has put off efforts to reveal his own investment portfolio .
The Intercept has identified a number of firms that have been backed by Bloomberg over the years .
The billionaire has not only invested his money in the oil and gas , insurance , and consumer finance sectors , but has also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ firm known for buying out and downsizing retailers .
Little is known about Mike Bloomberg ’ s personal investments .
The billionaire , former mayor of New York City , and now presidential candidate has attracted speculation about the sources of his wealth .
A trail of documents provides a partial view about his history of investments .
Willett Advisors provides almost no information on its website .
Neither Rattner nor the Bloomberg campaign responded to requests for comment .
But public statements by Rattner and other officials at Willett Advisors hint at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bloomberg ’ s personal and philanthropic wealth is managed by a company called Willett Advisors LLC , which is overseen by Steven Rattner , an investment manager and frequent television pundit .
“ Michael R. Bloomberg is the sole , ultimate beneficial owner of Willett , ” notes one Securities and Exchange Commission filing .
“ The number of pages will probably be in the thousands of pages .
I can ’ t go to TurboTax , ” shrugged Bloomberg , when asked during the Democratic debate in Las Vegas on February 19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ returns .
In January , Bloomberg obtained a delay to file his mandatory ethics disclosure as a presidential candidate , which provides a basic range for his income , debts , transactions , and wealth .
He will not file until March 20 , well after voters in over half the states have gone to the polls .
Bloomberg has also not yet released his tax returns , as all other leading Democratic candidates have done .
“ We are natural gas bulls .
We think oil is well priced .
If we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the spot price , we will do it , ” Brad Briner , a senior level investment manager at Willett Advisors , told an investment trade publication in 2013 .
During a conference hosted by the Export-Import Bank , in 2015 , Rattner discussed his company ’ s investments in the oil and gas sector , noting that he ’ s taken “ some investments in North Dakota and other places like that.
” Later that year , Rattner noted during an appearance on Bloomberg TV that he continues to invest in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Well , we invest a lot in the energy sector , so we have a dog in this fight , and we have been — we ’ ve certainly been on the more bullish side of the argument on oil and continue to be , ” said Rattner .
Willett Advisors has continued to invest in oil and gas at least through last year .
White Star Petroleum , a privately held Oklahoma firm that uses hydraulic fracturing to extract oil and gas , was owned in part by Bloomberg .
The ownership @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when , last May , the company filed for bankruptcy protection .
Disclosures show that Willett Advisors , Bloomberg ’ s family wealth fund , owned an equity stake in the fracking firm .
The disclosure lists Briner , the Willett Advisors executive , as the contact at the firm .
Willett Advisors funds owned a 6.4 percent stake in White Star , assets of which were valued at up to $ 1 billion when the firm declared bankruptcy last summer .
White Star Petroleum was founded by the late Aubrey McClendon , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Fracking King ” for his role in pioneering the drilling method .
McClendon died in a car crash in 2016 .
The company has been accused of producing air pollution , including leaking plumes of methane , a powerful greenhouse gas .
Residents in Oklahoma have also accused the firm of contributing to a wave of fracking-fueled earthquakes near Cushing .
with the private-equity firm Sycamore Partners is evident through a cache of Cayman Islands documents from Appleby , a leading offshore law firm .
Sycamore Partners has been accused of hollowing out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ companies , then aggressively downsizing them and loading them with debt .
The Center for Popular Democracy notes in a recent report that retail firms acquired by Sycamore Partners have laid off nearly 20,000 workers in recent years .
When , in 2014 , Sycamore Partners sought to raise cash for a new fund , the company turned to several titans of Wall Street and various institutional investors .
The company also tapped Bloomberg ’ s personal fortune , raising money from the former New York City mayor .
The files were obtained @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists , which provided a copy to The Intercept .
The documents show that Sycamore Partners raised $ 136 million from three Bloomberg wealth funds associated with Willett Advisors .
“ The firm is known for its ruthless approach to its leveraged buyouts , which have often led to the firm separating companies like Staples and Hot Topic into different pieces and selling the most valuable ones , while draining whatever remains of most of its value , as in the case of Nine West Holdings @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Business of Fashion .
Last week , Sycamore Partners acquired a controlling stake in Victoria ’ s Secret , the lingerie brand formerly owned by Leslie H. Wexner , the retail chief executive who has faced growing scrutiny over his ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein .
Sycamore Partners did not respond to a request for comment .
include Metro Bank , a consumer bank based in London , and FGL Holdings , a Cayman Islands-based holding company that offers life insurance policies .
SEC filings show that in 2018 Bloomberg family @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in FGL .
British regulatory filings show that Bloomberg owned a 2.7 percent stake in Metro Bank .
In 2010 , journalist Aram Roston found that Bloomberg ’ s foundation invested in a series of international funds , including hedge funds based in offshore tax havens and Geotech Oil Services , a Cyprus-based oil services company controlled by Russian oligarch Nikolai Levitsky .
When asked about the offshore investments , Bloomberg dismissed the story .
The funds , he noted in 2010 , were “ fully disclosed and they ’ re appropriate to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ giving away to charities.
” “ You can ’ t invest without investing around the world ; you can ’ t have a business without doing business around the world , ” said Bloomberg , then serving in his third term as New York City mayor .
But far from full disclosure , after the story , Bloomberg ’ s philanthropy began using a byzantine structure that concealed the ultimate destination of his investment funds .
The latest tax return , filed in 2017 , for the Bloomberg Family Foundation shows Willett Advisors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ such as “ 10413 Investment Holdings LLC ” and “ 20213 Investment Holdings , ” with no information about how the funds are used .

Little is known about Mike Bloomberg’s personal investments. The billionaire, former mayor of New York City, and now presidential candidate has attracted speculation about the sources of his wealth. A trail of documents provides a partial view about his history of investments.
The Intercept has identified a number of firms that have been backed by Bloomberg over the years. The billionaire has not only invested his money in the oil and gas, insurance, and consumer finance sectors, but has also backed Sycamore Partners, a controversial private-equity firm known for buying out and downsizing retailers.
Bloomberg, with an estimated net worth of around $65 billion, acquired much of his fortune through his majority ownership of Bloomberg LP, the software and media company he co-founded. But, after his decision to run for president last November, he has put off efforts to reveal his own investment portfolio.
In January, Bloomberg obtained a delay to file his mandatory ethics disclosure as a presidential candidate, which provides a basic range for his income, debts, transactions, and wealth. He will not file until March 20, well after voters in over half the states have gone to the polls. Bloomberg has also not yet released his tax returns, as all other leading Democratic candidates have done.
“The number of pages will probably be in the thousands of pages. I can’t go to TurboTax,” shrugged Bloomberg, when asked during the Democratic debate in Las Vegas on February 19 about the delays in releasing his tax returns.
Bloomberg’s personal and philanthropic wealth is managed by a company called Willett Advisors LLC, which is overseen by Steven Rattner, an investment manager and frequent television pundit. “Michael R. Bloomberg is the sole, ultimate beneficial owner of Willett,” notes one Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Willett Advisors provides almost no information on its website. Neither Rattner nor the Bloomberg campaign responded to requests for comment. But public statements by Rattner and other officials at Willett Advisors hint at his company’s investment strategy.
“We are natural gas bulls. We think oil is well priced. If we can generate new supplies at a discount to the spot price, we will do it,” Brad Briner, a senior level investment manager at Willett Advisors, told an investment trade publication in 2013.
During a conference hosted by the Export-Import Bank, in 2015, Rattner discussed his company’s investments in the oil and gas sector, noting that he’s taken “some investments in North Dakota and other places like that.”
Later that year, Rattner noted during an appearance on Bloomberg TV that he continues to invest in the oil and gas sector. “Well, we invest a lot in the energy sector, so we have a dog in this fight, and we have been — we’ve certainly been on the more bullish side of the argument on oil and continue to be,” said Rattner.
Willett Advisors has continued to invest in oil and gas at least through last year.
White Star Petroleum, a privately held Oklahoma firm that uses hydraulic fracturing to extract oil and gas, was owned in part by Bloomberg.
The ownership stake was only disclosed by court order when, last May, the company filed for bankruptcy protection. Disclosures show that Willett Advisors, Bloomberg’s family wealth fund, owned an equity stake in the fracking firm. The disclosure lists Briner, the Willett Advisors executive, as the contact at the firm. Willett Advisors funds owned a 6.4 percent stake in White Star, assets of which were valued at up to $1 billion when the firm declared bankruptcy last summer.
White Star Petroleum was founded by the late Aubrey McClendon, a controversial billionaire known as the “Fracking King” for his role in pioneering the drilling method. McClendon died in a car crash in 2016. The company has been accused of producing air pollution, including leaking plumes of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Residents in Oklahoma have also accused the firm of contributing to a wave of fracking-fueled earthquakes near Cushing.
Bloomberg’s involvement with the private-equity firm Sycamore Partners is evident through a cache of Cayman Islands documents from Appleby, a leading offshore law firm. Sycamore Partners has been accused of hollowing out the retail sector by taking control of companies, then aggressively downsizing them and loading them with debt. The Center for Popular Democracy notes in a recent report that retail firms acquired by Sycamore Partners have laid off nearly 20,000 workers in recent years.
When, in 2014, Sycamore Partners sought to raise cash for a new fund, the company turned to several titans of Wall Street and various institutional investors. The company also tapped Bloomberg’s personal fortune, raising money from the former New York City mayor.
The files were obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which provided a copy to The Intercept. The documents show that Sycamore Partners raised $136 million from three Bloomberg wealth funds associated with Willett Advisors.
“The firm is known for its ruthless approach to its leveraged buyouts, which have often led to the firm separating companies like Staples and Hot Topic into different pieces and selling the most valuable ones, while draining whatever remains of most of its value, as in the case of Nine West Holdings,” noted journalist Chanel Fernandez in the Business of Fashion.
Last week, Sycamore Partners acquired a controlling stake in Victoria’s Secret, the lingerie brand formerly owned by Leslie H. Wexner, the retail chief executive who has faced growing scrutiny over his ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Sycamore Partners did not respond to a request for comment.
Other Bloomberg investments include Metro Bank, a consumer bank based in London, and FGL Holdings, a Cayman Islands-based holding company that offers life insurance policies. SEC filings show that in 2018 Bloomberg family wealth funds owned around 4.4 million shares in FGL. British regulatory filings show that Bloomberg owned a 2.7 percent stake in Metro Bank.
In 2010, journalist Aram Roston found that Bloomberg’s foundation invested in a series of international funds, including hedge funds based in offshore tax havens and Geotech Oil Services, a Cyprus-based oil services company controlled by Russian oligarch Nikolai Levitsky.
When asked about the offshore investments, Bloomberg dismissed the story. The funds, he noted in 2010, were “fully disclosed and they’re appropriate to maximize the assets which I’m giving away to charities.”
“You can’t invest without investing around the world; you can’t have a business without doing business around the world,” said Bloomberg, then serving in his third term as New York City mayor.
But far from full disclosure, after the story, Bloomberg’s philanthropy began using a byzantine structure that concealed the ultimate destination of his investment funds.
The latest tax return, filed in 2017, for the Bloomberg Family Foundation shows Willett Advisors investing through corporate entities with opaque names such as “10413 Investment Holdings LLC” and “20213 Investment Holdings,” with no information about how the funds are used.


theintercept--2020-02-24--Finally, Can We All Agree? Everything We Were Told About Bernie Sanders Was Wrong

You would have to go back to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 to find another example of where our political and media elites were so out of step with reality ; so off in their predictions and prognostications ; so keen to peddle myths and misinformation .
( On a side note , whenever we mention Iraq , it ’ s always worth recalling how Sanders opposed that disastrous conflict , whereas his rivals Michael Bloomberg and Joe Biden both supported it . )
in the wake of primary contests in Iowa New Hampshire , and now Nevada , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bernie Sanders was wrong ?
That the press , the pundits , the politicians were all wrong about him ?
And not just wrong , but completely , utterly , demonstrably , embarrassingly , catastrophically wrong ?
He isn ’ t electable .
The 78-year-old independent senator from Vermont , goes the argument , is too old and too kooky to win — and also , Americans won ’ t vote for a socialist .
Yet in the wake of his blowout victory in the Nevada caucuses on Saturday , Sanders is now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s history , of either party , to win the popular vote in the first three races .
You might think the concept of electability should be connected somehow to , y ’ know , actually winning elections ( hello Joe Biden ! )
.
But those are primaries .
How about the general election ?
Well , at least according to the latest national CBS/YouGov head-to-head polling , Sanders beats Donald Trump by a ( slightly ) bigger margin than any of his Democratic rivals .
Forget national polls .
What about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
According to the latest UW–Madison Elections Research Center survey , Sanders has a bigger lead over Trump in Michigan and Pennsylvania than all of his Democratic rivals , and the same 2-point lead over Trump in Wisconsin as Biden and Elizabeth Warren .
( By the way , does anyone with a brain really believe that Bloomberg , an elite billionaire from New York , has a better chance of winning the Rust Belt than Sanders , a working-class socialist from Vermont ? )
He has a ceiling on his support .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t be able to reach out beyond the left , beyond young voters , beyond his base .
In Nevada , however , Sanders won a plurality of self-identified “ moderate ” or “ conservative ” Democrats .
In fact , as the Washington Post ’ s Matt Viser tweeted : “ The Sanders win was emphatic : he prevailed among those with college degrees and those without ; in union , and nonunion households ; in every age group except over 65… and even narrowly carried moderates and conservatives.
” Sanders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reality that the senator from Vermont is popular with grassroots Democrats of all backgrounds .
Not only is he the most popular member of the Senate , but he also has the highest net favorables of any presidential candidate with Democratic voters .
He also happens to be the candidate who the biggest proportion of Democrats “ expect ” to prevail against Trump .
As Peter Beinart noted in The Atlantic last week , “ Across the ideological spectrum , ordinary Democrats like Bernie Sanders.
” Some on the right of the party @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been benefiting from his “ moderate ” opponents splitting the vote between them ; they have pointed to the fact that Iowa gave 54 percent of its votes to Pete Buttigieg , Amy Klobuchar , and Biden combined , versus 44 percent to Sanders and Warren , while New Hampshire gave 53 percent to the three moderates , versus 35 percent to the two progressives .
Yet in Nevada , Sanders alone won more votes than Buttigieg , Klobuchar , and Biden combined .
And , in head-to-head matchups , Sanders beats each @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — including Bloomberg by 15 points !
He has a problem with people of color .
The longstanding argument that Sanders struggles with black and Latino voters , that his supporters tend to be white , male “ Bernie Bros , ” is perhaps the most pernicious and dishonest anti-Sanders argument of them all .
After three contests , it is clear that the Jewish senator from Vermont is now heading a multiracial , multifaith coalition of both Democrats and independents .
In Nevada , this past weekend , he is estimated to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Latino vote .

Photo: Patrick Semansky/AP
Can we agree,
in the wake of primary contests in Iowa New Hampshire , and now Nevada , that everything we were told about Sen. Bernie Sanders was wrong? That the press, the pundits, the politicians were all wrong about him? And not just wrong, but completely, utterly, demonstrably, embarrassingly, catastrophically wrong?
You would have to go back to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 to find another example of where our political and media elites were so out of step with reality; so off in their predictions and prognostications; so keen to peddle myths and misinformation. (On a side note, whenever we mention Iraq, it’s always worth recalling how Sanders opposed that disastrous conflict, whereas his rivals Michael Bloomberg and Joe Biden both supported it.)
Let’s consider the nonsense that has passed for “reporting,” “commentary,” and “analysis” on Sanders over the past year or so.
He isn’t electable. The 78-year-old independent senator from Vermont, goes the argument, is too old and too kooky to win — and also, Americans won’t vote for a socialist. Yet in the wake of his blowout victory in the Nevada caucuses on Saturday, Sanders has won the popular vote in every single one of the first three states. You might think the concept of electability should be connected somehow to, y’know, actually winning elections (hello Joe Biden!).
But those are primaries. How about the general election? Well, at least according to the latest national CBS/YouGov head-to-head polling, Sanders beats Donald Trump by a (slightly) bigger margin than any of his Democratic rivals.
Forget national polls. What about the battleground states in the Rust Belt? According to the latest UW–Madison Elections Research Center survey, Sanders has a bigger lead over Trump in Michigan and Pennsylvania than all of his Democratic rivals, and the same 2-point lead over Trump in Wisconsin as Biden and Elizabeth Warren. (By the way, does anyone with a brain really believe that Bloomberg, an elite billionaire from New York, has a better chance of winning the Rust Belt than Sanders, a working-class socialist from Vermont?)
He has a ceiling on his support. Sanders, said the critics, wouldn’t be able to reach out beyond the left, beyond young voters, beyond his base. In Nevada, however, Sanders won a plurality of self-identified “moderate” or “conservative” Democrats. In fact, as the Washington Post’s Matt Viser tweeted: “The Sanders win was emphatic: he prevailed among those with college degrees and those without; in union, and nonunion households; in every age group except over 65… and even narrowly carried moderates and conservatives.”
Sanders’s critics have long ignored the reality that the senator from Vermont is popular with grassroots Democrats of all backgrounds. Not only is he the most popular member of the Senate, but he also has the highest net favorables of any presidential candidate with Democratic voters. He also happens to be the candidate who the biggest proportion of Democrats “expect” to prevail against Trump. As Peter Beinart noted in The Atlantic last week, “Across the ideological spectrum, ordinary Democrats like Bernie Sanders.”
Some on the right of the party have tried to argue that Sanders has been benefiting from his “moderate” opponents splitting the vote between them; they have pointed to the fact that Iowa gave 54 percent of its votes to Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, and Biden combined, versus 44 percent to Sanders and Warren, while New Hampshire gave 53 percent to the three moderates, versus 35 percent to the two progressives. Yet in Nevada, Sanders alone won more votes than Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Biden combined. And, in head-to-head matchups, Sanders beats each and every one of his Democratic rivals — including Bloomberg by 15 points!
He has a problem with people of color. The longstanding argument that Sanders struggles with black and Latino voters, that his supporters tend to be white, male “Bernie Bros,” is perhaps the most pernicious and dishonest anti-Sanders argument of them all. After three contests, it is clear that the Jewish senator from Vermont is now heading a multiracial, multifaith coalition of both Democrats and independents. In Nevada, this past weekend, he is estimated to have won a whopping 70 percent of the Latino vote.
Meanwhile, among black voters nationally, Sanders is now in a virtual dead heat with Biden who, we were told, had a “lock” on this particular minority community. Is it any wonder, then, that in South Carolina, often described as Biden’s “firewall” state because black voters make up at least 60 percent of the Democratic electorate, Sanders has been able to slash the former vice president’s lead from 29 points last month to just 5 points last week? (South Carolina now looks more like the border wall than a firewall.)
His policies are extreme and unpopular. Sanders, goes the argument, is a socialist who backs radical policies too far to the left of not just the electorate as a whole, but even mainstream and moderate Democratic voters. Yet in Iowa and New Hampshire, as I pointed out earlier, a clear majority of caucus-goers and primary voters backed Medicare for All over the current private insurance system. In Nevada, too, 6 in 10 Democrats said they supported a Sanders-style single-payer health care system.
At a national level, a (narrower) majority of Americans support Medicare for All, according to the latest Kaiser Family Foundation poll. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, then, it is Sanders, and not Biden or Bloomberg, who is the real centrist candidate — in terms of pushing policies popular with most Americans.
So, will Bernie Sanders secure the Democratic presidential nomination at this summer’s Democratic National Convention? Probably. Will he defeat Trump in November? No idea.
The point is, however, that he can win. He has as much chance as any other candidate — if not a better chance. Anyone telling you otherwise is a liar or a fool — or both.
Correction: February 25, 2020
A previous version of this article misstated that, as was reported by other outlets, Sanders is the first candidate to have won the popular vote in the first three states of the primary. He is not.


theintercept--2020-02-28--Border Patrol Agent Speaks Out About a High-Speed Chase that Ended in an Immigrant’s Death

midnight on January 29 , an Ecuadorian man was killed in a car crash near downtown El Paso , Texas , only yards from the U.S.-Mexico border .
An Ecuadorian woman was gravely hurt and weeks later is just emerging from a coma .
She ’ s missing part of her skull and half of her body appears to be paralyzed .
Stuck in a hospital thousands of miles from her kin , she has had few visitors , but one has been a Border Patrol agent who feels grief-stricken by the accident and believes the Border Patrol played a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ agent recently had an emotional meeting with a family member of the severely injured woman and offered to testify if the family brings a lawsuit .
Police reports say the crash was caused by a drunk driver who picked up the Ecuadorians after they crossed into the U.S. illegally .
The driver is said to have been a smuggler who was speeding to evade the Border Patrol , and crashed because he was driving too fast .
But the agent says that the chase was improper .
It occurred near downtown El Paso @ @ @ @ @ @ @ section of road so prone to crashes that local law enforcement officers call it a “ deadly curve.
” While reporting this story , I witnessed the dangers of the curve firsthand .
When I went to inspect the crash site recently , a car barreled around the curve .
It went out of control , sparked , flamed , and totaled .
A man came out of a nearby apartment and remarked that , just in the past few weeks , he had seen three other crashes in the same spot .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ one of the crashes killed a man .
El Paso Border Patrol agent Deliris Montañez , 49 , contacted The Intercept and described working on January 29 at the Rio Grande near the international border , about a mile from downtown El Paso .
Her job was to watch for undocumented crossers and monitor the agency ’ s radio .
Montañez heard another agent on the radio .
He was working upriver and said he ’ d spotted four people who had just crossed into the U.S. and had been picked up by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ car sped up , and the agent started following it in his Border Patrol vehicle .
He activated his siren and flashing lights .
When that happens , a chase has officially begun .
Montañez , a few blocks downriver , heard the agent on the radio say that he was increasing his speed to follow the car .
Then Montañez saw his flashing lights reflecting off of the border fence .
Minutes later , all Border Patrol agents in the area were summoned to the corner of West Paisano Drive and San @ @ @ @ @ @ @ picked up the four people lay upside down and totaled .
A police report states that the car had rounded a curve on Paisano — the “ deadly curve ” — at high speed , and the vehicle jumped a median , collided with a tree and a light post , and rolled over .
The driver , Daniel Humberto Castillo , fled but was quickly caught .
His breath smelled of alcohol .
Castillo said he had picked up the four people farther north on Paisano , where the road fronts the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he panicked when the Border Patrol started chasing him .
Inside the wreck were Castillo ’ s passengers , all Ecuadorians .
One , 30-year-old Edwin Leonardo Solis , died at the scene .
Of the survivors , Jessica Alexandra Chirau , 27 , sustained bruises and sprains .
Juan Carlos Chirau , 36 , had several fractured vertebrae .
Marcela Naomi Palacios , 28 , sustained the worst injuries .
In addition to fractures of her elbow , spine , and clavicle , she had a lacerated spleen , air and fluid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and brain swelling .
She was near death and in a coma .
She underwent surgeries at a local hospital and was placed in intensive care .
She remains at the hospital .
Montañez was horrified by the carnage .
She was assigned to take an injured passenger to an emergency room , and there , she said , “ I talked to a policewoman about what I ’ d heard on the radio .
About how the Border Patrol had started chasing.
” The Border Patrol denies having engaged in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ four people cross the river “ lost sight ” of their vehicle after it sped off , a Customs and Border Patrol spokesperson told The Intercept via email .
The email further says that the agent “ continued eastbound on Paisano to search for [ the vehicle ] , ” and by the time the car was located , it was wrecked .
But police reports and statements , as well as the Border Patrol ’ s own record of vehicle pursuits in the area , raise questions about the agency ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Paso Police Department press release states that the driver was “ traveling at a high rate of speed as Border Patrol agents drove towards the vehicle.
” A report supporting warrants for driver Castillo ’ s arrest on intoxicated manslaughter and related charges says that he told police he sped up because “ he realized that Border Patrol began chasing him.
” Another police report describes Castillo ’ s vehicle jumping a median before the crash .
The report implies that someone witnessed that jump — though it also claims there were no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recent history of conducting vehicle chases on Paisano Drive .
One , in December 2019 , ended in a crash at the same site where the Ecuadorians ’ deadly collision would occur just weeks later .
The December incident happened on a Tuesday at 7:37 a.m. , the start of El Paso ’ s rush hour .
A police report notes that the 17-year-old driver was “ evading ” a Border Patrol vehicle and lost control .
Local media provided details .
One report said that Border Patrol agents saw three suspects climbing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Agents attempted to stop the vehicle , but the driver fled , ” the report continued .
The headline described the attempt as a chase .
The vehicle struck a median , the article continued .
The police report map indicates it was the same median as the one the Ecuadorians ’ car later fatally jumped .
Yet another Border Patrol chase occurred on January 27 , two days before the Ecuadorians crashed .
Media reports describe agents pursuing a vehicle they ’ d seen pick up three suspected undocumented migrants @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that ensued went through a densely populated residential neighborhood and an apartment complex .
“ They ’ re Not Going to Hush Me Up ” No one was hurt in these earlier pursuits .
But Border Patrol chases quite often cause injury and death , and they frequently violate contemporary law enforcement practice .
Last year , the Los Angeles Times and ProPublica published an in-depth study about Border Patrol vehicle pursuits that occurred from 2015 to 2018 in border districts in California , Texas , New Mexico , and Arizona .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 250 people were injured ; twenty-two died .
The reporters were unable to obtain records from the Border Patrol and had to work with court and media records .
They believe their numbers are undercounts .
The data they were able to gather showed that in the two years after Donald Trump assumed office , the number of people hurt in pursuit crashes jumped by 42 percent .
Vehicle pursuits were once the norm for U.S. law enforcement agencies .
But by the early 1990s , they had caused so much damage , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as lawsuits against the government — that the Department of Justice narrowed pursuit guidelines .
“ Whether or not to engage in a high-speed chase … becomes a question of weighing the danger to the public of the chase itself against the danger to the public of the offender remaining at large , ” the DOJ advised .
“ For anyone other than a violent felon , the balance weighs against the high-speed chase.
” Last December , after Border Patrol agents in El Paso chased some suspected undocumented migrants into a public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a local TV station asked CBP how they decide when to do a chase .
“ Each situation is determined based on varying factors such as road conditions , severity of offense , threat to the community and many others , ” CBP responded .
“ As the event evolves , we continue to evaluate the situation to determine whether or not the pursuit will continue .
The safety of the community is always at the forefront of any decisions made.
” But in the recent crash , Montañez said , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ should have ordered a stop to the pursuit , ” she said .
“ When you back off from your emergency lights , the driver tends to think , ‘ Oh , he ’ s letting me go , ’ and slows down .
Then the agent follows him normally instead of being on a chase.
” On January 29 , that back-off order didn ’ t come , she said .
“ Maybe the supervisor was busy and not listening to the radio .
I don ’ t know what happened.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ assigned Border Patrol guard duty at the Intensive Care Unit bedside of Marcela Palacios .
Palacios is perhaps 5 feet tall and is very petite .
After almost a month in a coma , now barely conscious and partially paralyzed , she looks like a waxen doll .
The only vestige of her former self is the tattoo on her motionless , upper right arm : a polychrome riot of flowers .
A family member said that before the accident , Palacios was high-spirited , fearless , and independent .
Speaking by phone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was trained as an aesthetician .
But she ended up working as a clothing saleslady in a bare-bones store .
“ Ecuador is so poor , there is no meaningful work for anyone , ” Palacios ’ s mother said .
“ Everyone is leaving .
My daughter left Ecuador without even telling me.
” Sitting hour after hour beside Palacios at the hospital , Montañez started feeling “ so affected that I had to call in sick.
” Eventually released from guard duty , she came back during free time to visit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ family .
One of Palacios ’ s uncles flew from New York to El Paso to see his comatose niece .
Montañez and I met him at a restaurant and spent over an hour recounting , in Spanish , details of the crash and the Border Patrol ’ s avoidance of responsibility .
“ I am willing to testify , ” she said .
She spoke about how she had served for 29 years in the Army Reserves .
Her jobs were often humanitarian .
One was to provide medical assistance for soldiers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they were deceased , to help their grieving families plan funerals .
“ I ’ m not against the Border Patrol , ” she said .
But she talked about having taken multiple oaths to defend the U.S. Constitution .
She said she considers immigrants as human beings who have a lawful right to claim asylum .
Montañez has acted before as a whistleblower to the media about Border Patrol wrongdoing , but never allowed the publication of her name .
She said she had feared retaliation .
But now , she said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to hush me up anymore.
” She said that she had paid a personal visit to Customs and Border Protection ’ s Office of Professional Responsibility , which investigates Border Patrol misconduct , to report what she witnessed on January 29 .
Montañez said the office told her the incident was already being investigated .
The OPR confirmed to The Intercept that it has opened an investigation .
“ The system is broken , ” Montañez told the uncle .
“ I ’ m having a very hard time .
Life right now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ My country is one of the most corrupt in Latin America , ” the uncle responded .
“ This is also the hardest time of my life.
” He began sobbing .
Montañez embraced him tightly for many seconds , as though holding on for survival .

A few minutes before midnight on January 29, an Ecuadorian man was killed in a car crash near downtown El Paso, Texas, only yards from the U.S.-Mexico border. An Ecuadorian woman was gravely hurt and weeks later is just emerging from a coma. She’s missing part of her skull and half of her body appears to be paralyzed. Stuck in a hospital thousands of miles from her kin, she has had few visitors, but one has been a Border Patrol agent who feels grief-stricken by the accident and believes the Border Patrol played a major role in causing it. The agent recently had an emotional meeting with a family member of the severely injured woman and offered to testify if the family brings a lawsuit.
Police reports say the crash was caused by a drunk driver who picked up the Ecuadorians after they crossed into the U.S. illegally. The driver is said to have been a smuggler who was speeding to evade the Border Patrol, and crashed because he was driving too fast. But the agent says that the chase was improper. It occurred near downtown El Paso on West Paisano Drive, on a section of road so prone to crashes that local law enforcement officers call it a “deadly curve.”
While reporting this story, I witnessed the dangers of the curve firsthand. When I went to inspect the crash site recently, a car barreled around the curve. It went out of control, sparked, flamed, and totaled. A man came out of a nearby apartment and remarked that, just in the past few weeks, he had seen three other crashes in the same spot. A review of local media revealed that one of the crashes killed a man.
El Paso Border Patrol agent Deliris Montañez, 49, contacted The Intercept and described working on January 29 at the Rio Grande near the international border, about a mile from downtown El Paso. Her job was to watch for undocumented crossers and monitor the agency’s radio. Montañez heard another agent on the radio. He was working upriver and said he’d spotted four people who had just crossed into the U.S. and had been picked up by a driver in a car. The car sped up, and the agent started following it in his Border Patrol vehicle. He activated his siren and flashing lights. When that happens, a chase has officially begun.
Montañez, a few blocks downriver, heard the agent on the radio say that he was increasing his speed to follow the car. Then Montañez saw his flashing lights reflecting off of the border fence.
Minutes later, all Border Patrol agents in the area were summoned to the corner of West Paisano Drive and San Antonio Street. The car that had picked up the four people lay upside down and totaled. A police report states that the car had rounded a curve on Paisano — the “deadly curve” — at high speed, and the vehicle jumped a median, collided with a tree and a light post, and rolled over. The driver, Daniel Humberto Castillo, fled but was quickly caught. His breath smelled of alcohol. Castillo said he had picked up the four people farther north on Paisano, where the road fronts the river. Then, Castillo said, he panicked when the Border Patrol started chasing him.
A photo of the police report from the crash, showing where the median was jumped during the accident. Photo: Debbie Nathan for The Intercept
Inside the wreck were Castillo’s passengers, all Ecuadorians. One, 30-year-old Edwin Leonardo Solis, died at the scene. Of the survivors, Jessica Alexandra Chirau, 27, sustained bruises and sprains. Juan Carlos Chirau, 36, had several fractured vertebrae. Marcela Naomi Palacios, 28, sustained the worst injuries. In addition to fractures of her elbow, spine, and clavicle, she had a lacerated spleen, air and fluid in her lungs, a brain bleed, and brain swelling. She was near death and in a coma. She underwent surgeries at a local hospital and was placed in intensive care. She remains at the hospital.
Montañez was horrified by the carnage. She was assigned to take an injured passenger to an emergency room, and there, she said, “I talked to a policewoman about what I’d heard on the radio. About how the Border Patrol had started chasing.”
The Border Patrol denies having engaged in a chase. The agent who saw the four people cross the river “lost sight” of their vehicle after it sped off, a Customs and Border Protection spokesperson told The Intercept via email. The email further says that the agent “continued eastbound on Paisano to search for [the vehicle],” and by the time the car was located, it was wrecked.
But police reports and statements, as well as the Border Patrol’s own record of vehicle pursuits in the area, raise questions about the agency’s denial of a chase. An El Paso Police Department press release states that the driver was “traveling at a high rate of speed as Border Patrol agents drove towards the vehicle.” A report supporting warrants for driver Castillo’s arrest on intoxicated manslaughter and related charges says that he told police he sped up because “he realized that Border Patrol began chasing him.” Another police report describes Castillo’s vehicle jumping a median before the crash. The report implies that someone witnessed that jump — though it also claims there were no witnesses.
The Border Patrol has a recent history of conducting vehicle chases on Paisano Drive. One, in December 2019, ended in a crash at the same site where the Ecuadorians’ deadly collision would occur just weeks later. The December incident happened on a Tuesday at 7:37 a.m., the start of El Paso’s rush hour. A police report notes that the 17-year-old driver was “evading” a Border Patrol vehicle and lost control.
Local media provided details. One report said that Border Patrol agents saw three suspects climbing a border wall and entering a vehicle. “Agents attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver fled,” the report continued.
The headline described the attempt as a chase. The vehicle struck a median, the article continued. The police report map indicates it was the same median as the one the Ecuadorians’ car later fatally jumped.
Yet another Border Patrol chase occurred on January 27, two days before the Ecuadorians crashed. Media reports describe agents pursuing a vehicle they’d seen pick up three suspected undocumented migrants. According to reports, the chase that ensued went through a densely populated residential neighborhood and an apartment complex.
A pickup truck sits crashed at the bank of the Rio Grande after evading arrest by U.S. border agents on Feb. 21, 2018 in McAllen, Texas. Air interdiction agents from U.S. Air and Marine Operations, U.S. Border Patrol agents and Texas state troopers conducted the high-speed chase, after a pickup failed to yield and then raced to the Mexican border. Photo: John Moore/Getty Images
“They’re Not Going to Hush Me Up”
No one was hurt in these earlier pursuits. But Border Patrol chases quite often cause injury and death, and they frequently violate contemporary law enforcement practice.
Last year, the Los Angeles Times and ProPublica published an in-depth study about Border Patrol vehicle pursuits that occurred from 2015 to 2018 in border districts in California, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The reporters found 504 chases. At least 250 people were injured; twenty-two died.
The reporters were unable to obtain records from the Border Patrol and had to work with court and media records. They believe their numbers are undercounts. The data they were able to gather showed that in the two years after Donald Trump assumed office, the number of people hurt in pursuit crashes jumped by 42 percent.
Vehicle pursuits were once the norm for U.S. law enforcement agencies. But by the early 1990s, they had caused so much damage, injury, and death — as well as lawsuits against the government — that the Department of Justice narrowed pursuit guidelines.
“Whether or not to engage in a high-speed chase … becomes a question of weighing the danger to the public of the chase itself against the danger to the public of the offender remaining at large,” the DOJ advised. “For anyone other than a violent felon, the balance weighs against the high-speed chase.”
Last December, after Border Patrol agents in El Paso chased some suspected undocumented migrants into a public grade school during a family Christmas program, a local TV station asked CBP how they decide when to do a chase.
“Each situation is determined based on varying factors such as road conditions, severity of offense, threat to the community and many others,” CBP responded. “As the event evolves, we continue to evaluate the situation to determine whether or not the pursuit will continue. The safety of the community is always at the forefront of any decisions made.”
But in the recent crash, Montañez said, the policy was ignored. “The supervisor should have ordered a stop to the pursuit,” she said. “When you back off from your emergency lights, the driver tends to think, ‘Oh, he’s letting me go,’ and slows down. Then the agent follows him normally instead of being on a chase.” On January 29, that back-off order didn’t come, she said. “Maybe the supervisor was busy and not listening to the radio. I don’t know what happened.”
After the crash, Montañez was sometimes assigned Border Patrol guard duty at the Intensive Care Unit bedside of Marcela Palacios. Palacios is perhaps 5 feet tall and is very petite. After almost a month in a coma, now barely conscious and partially paralyzed, she looks like a waxen doll. The only vestige of her former self is the tattoo on her motionless, upper right arm: a polychrome riot of flowers.
Photo: Courtesy of the family
A family member said that before the accident, Palacios was high-spirited, fearless, and independent. Speaking by phone from Ecuador, her mother said she was trained as an aesthetician. But she ended up working as a clothing saleslady in a bare-bones store. “Ecuador is so poor, there is no meaningful work for anyone,” Palacios’s mother said. “Everyone is leaving. My daughter left Ecuador without even telling me.”
Sitting hour after hour beside Palacios at the hospital, Montañez started feeling “so affected that I had to call in sick.” Eventually released from guard duty, she came back during free time to visit Palacios. She wanted to meet the family.
One of Palacios’s uncles flew from New York to El Paso to see his comatose niece. Montañez and I met him at a restaurant and spent over an hour recounting, in Spanish, details of the crash and the Border Patrol’s avoidance of responsibility. “I am willing to testify,” she said.
She spoke about how she had served for 29 years in the Army Reserves. Her jobs were often humanitarian. One was to provide medical assistance for soldiers returning injured from Iraq — or if they were deceased, to help their grieving families plan funerals. “I’m not against the Border Patrol,” she said. But she talked about having taken multiple oaths to defend the U.S. Constitution. She said she considers immigrants as human beings who have a lawful right to claim asylum.
Montañez has acted before as a whistleblower to the media about Border Patrol wrongdoing, but never allowed the publication of her name. She said she had feared retaliation. But now, she said, “They’re not going to hush me up anymore.” She said that she had paid a personal visit to Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Professional Responsibility, which investigates Border Patrol misconduct, to report what she witnessed on January 29. Montañez said the office told her the incident was already being investigated. The OPR confirmed to The Intercept that it has opened an investigation.
“The system is broken,” Montañez told the uncle. “I’m having a very hard time. Life right now is taking everything out of me.”
“My country is one of the most corrupt in Latin America,” the uncle responded. “This is also the hardest time of my life.” He began sobbing.
Montañez embraced him tightly for many seconds, as though holding on for survival.


theintercept--2020-02-27--DNC Superdelegate Promoting Brokered Convention Is a Significant GOP Donor, Health Care Lobbyist

“ I ’ m a registered lobbyist and I represent clients and they have interest in front of Congress and I attend the Senator ’ s Classic , which is a Republican event , each year , ” he added .
“ I am a committed Democrat but as a lobbyist , there are times when I need to have access to both sides and the way to get access quite often is to make campaign contributions , ” said Owen , in a brief interview with The Intercept .
Owen , who runs a lobbying firm called Asset & @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Rounds , R-S.D.
, and Sen. Dan Sullivan , R-Alaska , and gave $ 8,500 to a joint fundraising committee designed to benefit Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell , R-Ky in 2019 .
William Owen , a Tennessee-based Democratic National Committee member backing an effort to use so-called superdelegates to select the party ’ s presidential nominee — potentially subverting the candidate with the most voter support — is a Republican donor and health care lobbyist .
Owen , currently registered as lobbyist for Klox Technologies , a medical product company , was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as one of the party insiders considering an effort to block Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders ’ s path to the nomination at the DNC convention in Milwaukee this July .
Owen noted that he understood how his GOP donations could open him up for criticism but stressed that he also gives to Democrats .
Federal Election Commission records show Owen has donated to Democrats in previous years , but has not donated to his own party ’ s congressional candidates this cycle .
Owen has not given to any presidential candidates this cycle @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but as a lobbyist , there are times when I need to have access to both sides and the way to get access quite often is to make campaign contributions , ” Owen told The Intercept .
A former member of the Tennessee state legislature , Owen is currently an executive member of the Tennessee Democratic Party and DNC , making him one of the 771 unpledged delegates , also known as superdelegates , who could play a hand in selecting the presidential nomination .
Owens is a supporter of former Vice President @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and has pushed to use superdelegates to make Biden the nominee .
The Tennessee Democrat worked in 2018 to block a Sanders-backed plan to weaken the role of superdelegates in the nomination process .
“ If we don ’ t have a vote , then what good are we ?
” Owen told Politico at the time .
The push was ultimately defeated .
Sanders ’ s supporters won a key concession from the DNC , changing the rules to only allow superdelegate participation in the nominating process on the second ballot .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ for party insiders — including corporate lobbyists and lawmakers funded by special interests — to cut a backroom deal to block a more populist candidate from the nomination .
Several superdelegates are consultants to health care clients lobbying against Medicare for All .
Goldman Sachs , Citigroup , and JPMorgan Chase each employ lobbyists who simultaneously serve as superdelegates .
Chris Dodd , a former Connecticut senator and one of the superdelegates quoted by the Times today , is a lobbyist with the law firm Arnold & Porter , which represents corporate interests @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of America , Lloyd ’ s of London , and AT & T .
Dodd has endorsed Biden for president .
Current polls suggest Sanders will have the most voter and delegate support going into the nomination , but may fall short of the threshold for the nomination on the first ballot .
In recent days , several candidates , including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg , have embraced the potential for a brokered convention , in which superdelegates could be used to stop Sanders .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to poach delegates from other more moderate candidates to bring together an anti-Sanders coalition .
In January , his campaign hired Alexandra Rooker , a superdelegate from California , as an adviser .
Michael Nutter , the former Philadelphia mayor and DNC superdelegate , is a co-chair of the Bloomberg campaign .
FEC disclosures show Nutter has been paid at least $ 45,000 by the Bloomberg campaign .
Owen told the Times he has been in contact with multiple campaigns .
Owen floated the name of Michelle Obama as a potential running mate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ superdelegates , according to the Times , are floating moderate lawmakers such as Sen. Mark Warner , D-Va. , or Sen. Chris Coons , D-Del.
, as potential unity candidates to lead the ticket .
Sen. Sherrod Brown , D-Ohio , a popular progressive lawmaker , has also been floated as a unity candidate .

William Owen, a Tennessee-based Democratic National Committee member backing an effort to use so-called superdelegates to select the party’s presidential nominee — potentially subverting the candidate with the most voter support — is a Republican donor and health care lobbyist.
Owen, who runs a lobbying firm called Asset & Equity Corporations, donated to Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and gave $8,500 to a joint fundraising committee designed to benefit Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in 2019.
“I am a committed Democrat but as a lobbyist, there are times when I need to have access to both sides and the way to get access quite often is to make campaign contributions,” said Owen, in a brief interview with The Intercept.
“I’m a registered lobbyist and I represent clients and they have interest in front of Congress and I attend the Senator’s Classic, which is a Republican event, each year,” he added.
Owen noted that he understood how his GOP donations could open him up for criticism but stressed that he also gives to Democrats. Federal Election Commission records show Owen has donated to Democrats in previous years, but has not donated to his own party’s congressional candidates this cycle. Owen has not given to any presidential candidates this cycle.
Owen, currently registered as lobbyist for Klox Technologies, a medical product company, was quoted in the New York Times today as one of the party insiders considering an effort to block Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’s path to the nomination at the DNC convention in Milwaukee this July.
“I am a committed Democrat but as a lobbyist, there are times when I need to have access to both sides and the way to get access quite often is to make campaign contributions,” Owen told The Intercept.
A former member of the Tennessee state legislature, Owen is currently an executive member of the Tennessee Democratic Party and DNC, making him one of the 771 unpledged delegates, also known as superdelegates, who could play a hand in selecting the presidential nomination. Owens is a supporter of former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, and has pushed to use superdelegates to make Biden the nominee.
The Tennessee Democrat worked in 2018 to block a Sanders-backed plan to weaken the role of superdelegates in the nomination process. “If we don’t have a vote, then what good are we?” Owen told Politico at the time.
The push was ultimately defeated. Sanders’s supporters won a key concession from the DNC, changing the rules to only allow superdelegate participation in the nominating process on the second ballot.
The Intercept previously reported on the potential for party insiders — including corporate lobbyists and lawmakers funded by special interests — to cut a backroom deal to block a more populist candidate from the nomination. Several superdelegates are consultants to health care clients lobbying against Medicare for All. Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase each employ lobbyists who simultaneously serve as superdelegates.
Chris Dodd, a former Connecticut senator and one of the superdelegates quoted by the Times today, is a lobbyist with the law firm Arnold & Porter, which represents corporate interests such as the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America, Lloyd’s of London, and AT&T. Dodd has endorsed Biden for president.
Current polls suggest Sanders will have the most voter and delegate support going into the nomination, but may fall short of the threshold for the nomination on the first ballot.
In recent days, several candidates, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, have embraced the potential for a brokered convention, in which superdelegates could be used to stop Sanders.
Bloomberg, notably, has discussed efforts to poach delegates from other more moderate candidates to bring together an anti-Sanders coalition. In January, his campaign hired Alexandra Rooker, a superdelegate from California, as an adviser. Michael Nutter, the former Philadelphia mayor and DNC superdelegate, is a co-chair of the Bloomberg campaign. FEC disclosures show Nutter has been paid at least $45,000 by the Bloomberg campaign.
Owen told the Times he has been in contact with multiple campaigns. Owen floated the name of Michelle Obama as a potential running mate to bring the party together. Other superdelegates, according to the Times, are floating moderate lawmakers such as Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., or Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., as potential unity candidates to lead the ticket. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, a popular progressive lawmaker, has also been floated as a unity candidate.


theintercept--2020-02-27--Coronavirus Spending Bill Could be Used to Cement Spying Powers, Surveillance Critics in Congress Wa

Coronavirus Spending Bill Could be Used to Cement Spying Powers, Surveillance Critics in Congress Warned

But those negotiations have been thrown off track , with critics of the spying program alarmed by the possibility that congressional leaders may try to use the coronavirus outbreak — and the coinciding legislation to fund a response — as a vehicle to muscle through an unamended extension or reauthorization .
House Democrats have been working on plans to further amend a provision of the Patriot Act , which as of 2015 provides a way for the government to get American citizens ’ phone records from telecom companies .
This and other key provisions of the Patriot Act must be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ surveillance authority lapses .
The Democrats ’ amended bill would pull the provision ’ s authorization while allowing and tweaking other other ways the government collects records .
The congressional effort to rein in the government ’ s surveillance powers before a looming deadline on March 15 could run up against a new opponent : the coronavirus .
The Trump administration ’ s request for $ 2.5 billion to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic is likely to become an unstoppable legislative vehicle — as must-pass legislation that congressional leaders of both parties could use @ @ @ @ @ @ @ FBI ’ s call detail records program .
Such a move would sidestep the House ’ s reform effort and instead push through a clean reauthorization of the program .
The Senate , said a Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee , is “ threatening to put that clean reauthorization into something like coronavirus funding which would make it impossible to defeat if we don ’ t come up with a bill here .
Pelosi and Schiff will never allow it to expire.
” “ I would say it is still chatter at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chatter that could become their Plan A , ” a Senate Republican aide , who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak on the matter , told The Intercept .
Josh Withrow , senior policy analyst at the GOP-leaning libertarian organization Freedom Works , said that he has heard from a number of his sources on Capitol Hill on both sides of the aisle that the coronavirus vehicle is a looming threat .
“ It ’ s a real fear , ” he said .
“ It obviously seems to have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ d run into a little bit of a problem with that , because they already have a lot of conservatives questioning the dollar amount and saying , just pass a clean coronavirus.
” in question is the “ call detail records ” program , which sets out how the FBI or NSA can obtain phone records stored by telecom providers .
Prior to that , the NSA collected phone records in bulk , relying on a secret interpretation of the Patriot Act that a federal appeals court disputed in 2015 .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intelligence value , the NSA voluntarily shut down the call details records program in 2019 , leading many in Congress to question why the Trump administration was seeking to extend the legal basis for a now-defunct program .
Civil liberties groups now see the reauthorization fight as a bellwether for whether Congress can bring itself to roll back surveillance authorities even in cases where the intelligence community determines they have limited intelligence value .
On Wednesday , the House Judiciary Committee had been scheduled to meet to vote on the product of closed-door @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , his counterpart on the intelligence committee Rep. Adam Schiff , Republicans , and the intelligence community .
Rep. Zoe Lofgren , a California Democrat who has been a lead civil liberties reformer on the committee , had said that she would introduce five amendments to the bill .
Given that there is bipartisan skepticism of surveillance authority — Republicans have become increasingly opposed to it in the wake of the inspector general report into Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court abuses surrounding the Carter Page case — the amendments had a reasonable chance of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would push forward with an Intelligence version of the bill and ditch the Judiciary legislation .
With Lofgren ’ s unexpected amendments surfacing , the hearing was canceled at the last minute .
If the negotiations looked deadlocked , committee members worried , it upped the chance that the Senate , with the backing of House leaders , would attach the reauthorization to the must-pass coronavirus bill .
“ We are trying to work out something and ensure also that the Senate does not push a clean reauthorization .
So we needed more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ member , citing the looming coronavirus vehicle .
The negotiations over surveillance reform are also complicated by the fact that congressional House leadership can decide which version of a bill receives a vote on the floor .
In January 2018 , while members of Congress were considering whether to reauthorize a different NSA surveillance , House leadership advanced a hastily written bill passed by the House Intelligence Committee under Rep. Adam Schiff , which was much more favorable to the intelligence community , over a counterpart authored by the Judiciary Committee .
On @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Schiff are much more closely aligned than her and Nadler .
Schiff is increasingly being viewed in the House as a potential successor to Pelosi as House Speaker .
Pelosi herself was the former top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee .
House skeptics of mass surveillance have good reason to fear that funding to combat the impact of coronavirus may be used to pass this legislation .
The last time critics of government overreach attempted to reform the USA Freedom Act — which modified the Patriot Act — they were denied a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attached to a must-pass government spending bill .
The promise from leadership at the time was that the extension would be short-term , and skeptics would have an opportunity the next time around for reforms .
That ’ s now in doubt .
“ We have to have a separate vote on something as important as this FISA reauthorization , ” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal , D-Wash. , a member of the Judiciary Committee .
One major question mark hanging over the process this time is what type of changes Trump loyalists — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s handling of investigations into Trump associates — may demand .
Rep. Jim Jordan and Sen. Rand Paul have both signaled a desire for some type of reform , with Paul tweeting that he “ spoke with Trump , ” and that the FISA Court — the secret court which approves certain types of surveillance requests from the intelligence community — should be “ forbidden from ever spying on or investigating Americans .
”

The congressional effort to rein in the government’s surveillance powers before a looming deadline on March 15 could run up against a new opponent: a new coronavirus.
House Democrats have been working on plans to further amend a provision of the Patriot Act, which as of 2015 provides a way for the government to get American citizens’ phone records from telecom companies. This and other key provisions of the Patriot Act must be reauthorized by March 15, or the surveillance authority lapses. The Democrats’ amended bill would pull the provision’s authorization while allowing and tweaking other other ways the government collects records.
But those negotiations have been thrown off track, with critics of the spying program alarmed by the possibility that congressional leaders may try to use the coronavirus outbreak — and the coinciding legislation to fund a response — as a vehicle to muscle through an unamended extension or reauthorization.
The Trump administration’s request for $2.5 billion to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic is likely to become an unstoppable legislative vehicle — as must-pass legislation that congressional leaders of both parties could use to ram through a reauthorization of the FBI’s call detail records program. Such a move would sidestep the House’s reform effort and instead push through a clean reauthorization of the program.
The Senate, said a Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, is “threatening to put that clean reauthorization into something like coronavirus funding which would make it impossible to defeat if we don’t come up with a bill here. Pelosi and Schiff will never allow it to expire.”
“I would say it is still chatter at this point. But it is also chatter that could become their Plan A,” a Senate Republican aide, who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak on the matter, told The Intercept.
Josh Withrow, senior policy analyst at the GOP-leaning libertarian organization Freedom Works, said that he has heard from a number of his sources on Capitol Hill on both sides of the aisle that the coronavirus vehicle is a looming threat. “It’s a real fear,” he said. “It obviously seems to have some legs, but I think they’d run into a little bit of a problem with that, because they already have a lot of conservatives questioning the dollar amount and saying, just pass a clean coronavirus.”
The program in question is the “call detail records” program, which sets out how the FBI or NSA can obtain phone records stored by telecom providers. Prior to that, the NSA collected phone records in bulk, relying on a secret interpretation of the Patriot Act that a federal appeals court disputed in 2015.
But due to widespread compliance issues and limited intelligence value, the NSA voluntarily shut down the call details records program in 2019, leading many in Congress to question why the Trump administration was seeking to extend the legal basis for a now-defunct program. Civil liberties groups now see the reauthorization fight as a bellwether for whether Congress can bring itself to roll back surveillance authorities even in cases where the intelligence community determines they have limited intelligence value.
On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee had been scheduled to meet to vote on the product of closed-door negotiations between Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler, his counterpart on the intelligence committee Rep. Adam Schiff, Republicans, and the intelligence community.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat who has been a lead civil liberties reformer on the committee, had said that she would introduce five amendments to the bill. Given that there is bipartisan skepticism of surveillance authority — Republicans have become increasingly opposed to it in the wake of the inspector general report into Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court abuses surrounding the Carter Page case — the amendments had a reasonable chance of success, opening the possibility that leadership would push forward with an Intelligence version of the bill and ditch the Judiciary legislation.
With Lofgren’s unexpected amendments surfacing, the hearing was canceled at the last minute. If the negotiations looked deadlocked, committee members worried, it upped the chance that the Senate, with the backing of House leaders, would attach the reauthorization to the must-pass coronavirus bill.
“We are trying to work out something and ensure also that the Senate does not push a clean reauthorization. So we needed more time,” said the Judiciary Committee member, citing the looming coronavirus vehicle.
The negotiations over surveillance reform are also complicated by the fact that congressional House leadership can decide which version of a bill receives a vote on the floor. In January 2018, while members of Congress were considering whether to reauthorize a different NSA surveillance, House leadership advanced a hastily written bill passed by the House Intelligence Committee under Rep. Adam Schiff, which was much more favorable to the intelligence community, over a counterpart authored by the Judiciary Committee.
On surveillance issues, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Schiff are much more closely aligned than she and Nadler. Schiff is increasingly being viewed in the House as a potential successor to Pelosi as House Speaker. Pelosi herself was the former top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee.
House skeptics of mass surveillance have good reason to fear that funding to combat the impact of coronavirus may be used to pass this legislation. The last time critics of government overreach attempted to reform the USA Freedom Act — which modified the Patriot Act — they were denied a standalone vote, when it was instead attached to a must-pass government spending bill. The promise from leadership at the time was that the extension would be short-term, and skeptics would have an opportunity the next time around for reforms. That’s now in doubt.
“We have to have a separate vote on something as important as this FISA reauthorization,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., a member of the Judiciary Committee.
One major question mark hanging over the process this time is what type of changes Trump loyalists — who were highly critical of the FBI’s handling of investigations into Trump associates — may demand. Rep. Jim Jordan and Sen. Rand Paul have both signaled a desire for some type of reform, with Paul tweeting that he “spoke with Trump,” and that the FISA Court — the secret court which approves certain types of surveillance requests from the intelligence community — should be “forbidden from ever spying on or investigating Americans.”


theintercept--2020-02-27--Are These the Final Days of Legal Abortion?

Are These the Final Days of Legal Abortion?
Just over three years after the Supreme Court ruled that an anti-abortion law was illegal, the court is being asked again to weigh in on the very same law.


theintercept--2020-02-27--The Border Patrol Invited the Press to Watch It Blow Up a National Monument

Border Patrol officials hosted an unusual event in the Sonoran Desert on Wednesday , inviting members of the press to watch as they blew up a portion of a national monument in support of the president ’ s ongoing effort to wall off the United States from Mexico .
Presented as a run-of-the mill construction project , the explosives detonated on the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in southern Arizona went off just as the chair of the Tohono O ’ odham Nation — a Native American tribe with deep historic and cultural ties to the area — offered testimony @ @ @ @ @ @ @ administration ’ s desecration of O ’ odham lands .
The Intercept was first to report on the use of explosives on Organ Pipe earlier this month , detailing how the blasting was the latest move in a controversial project that threatens to destroy a fragile desert ecosystem .
Since then , the construction has come under withering criticism from Democratic lawmakers , as well as environmental and Indigenous rights advocates .
In recent days , top officials in the Border Patrol ’ s Tucson sector have gone on a public relations blitz @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” and making videos to counter the bad press that comes with blasting sacred Native American sites on federally protected public lands .
Wednesday ’ s event was the most elaborate of those efforts , with journalists invited to a trailer in a dirt lot that has served as a base of operations for the Organ Pipe project .
Taped to the walls inside the space were Google Earth-style images of the border with colored demarcations charting different portions of wall expansion and replacement .
Sitting in plain view was a set of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Wall Standard Details ” — that showed a wall topped with spikes ( while President Donald Trump has described his desire for a spiked border wall , the existing wall in Arizona currently lacks spikes ) .
When asked why the wall had spikes , a Border Patrol agent examined the document for a moment , told us all of our questions would be answered , and then took the documents into another room and shut the door .
James O ’ Loughlin , a contractor with the Logistics Management Institute and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ projects , later told me that “ there is no current plan for spikes on the wall ” nor are there current plans to paint the wall black , which the president has also expressed interest in .
Soon after the blueprints disappeared , the day ’ s events began .
Jim Hug , a military explosives expert with the Army Corps of Engineers , led with a safety presentation .
“ This is a typical thing that we do in construction around the world , ” Hug said .
“ This is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ folks.
” Hug explained that 86 holes had been dug on the area known as Monument Hill , each one 10 feet deep .
Inside the holes were 5 pounds of an ammonium nitrate-based explosive .
“ When the shot goes off , what you ’ re basically going to see is straight up and straight down , ” Hug said .
“ You ’ ll hear a little bit of a thump , but that ’ s about it .
Not a whole lot that ’ s going to go on .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re doing is just breaking the rock to be able to move it.
” Following the explosions , Hug went on to say , he would need “ total silence ” from the crowd in order to listen for flying debris .
“ When you ’ re dealing with explosives , you always have to expect the worst , ” he said .
With the safety presentation complete , a CBP official opened the floor for questions .
The assembled reporters learned that Wednesday ’ s blasts on Organ Pipe were the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other blasting was planned in Douglas , Arizona .
Paul Enriquez , CBP ’ s Acquisitions Real Estate and Environmental Director out of Washington , D.C. , said the border wall expansion project was preceded by a “ large outreach ” to “ about a hundred different stakeholders , ” including tribal leaders and the Tohono O ’ odham Nation .
As The Intercept reported earlier this month , critics of the agency ’ s efforts have painted a much different picture , saying that CBP has run roughshod over tribal concerns .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the difference in terms of what they see as a level of consultation versus what we ’ ve done , ” Enriquez said .
According to the senior CBP official , the agency has a privately contracted “ cultural monitor ” on hand daily to identify potential environmental or archaeological issues that come up during border wall expansion and blasting in Arizona .
Enriquez declined to identify the company the monitors work for .
“ I ’ d rather not , ” he said .
In a fact sheet distributed to journalists @ @ @ @ @ @ @ average of 84,000 gallons of water ” are used each day for border wall construction on Organ Pipe .
The extensive pumping of a rare desert aquifer to provide that water has been among the chief concerns associated with the project , as it threatens an oasis known as Quitobaquito Springs .
The springs have profound spiritual significance for the Hia C-ed O ’ odham people , who inhabited the area through the late 1950s .
In a 1980 report , the National Park Service documented the existence of more than 30 Hia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a November letter to Roy Villareal , chief of the Border Patrol ’ s Tucson sector , Tohono O ’ odham Nation chair Ned Norris Jr. wrote that construction activities on Organ Pipe had already led to the inadvertent discovery of human remains near the springs .
Enriquez told reporters that the springs ’ water levels are being monitored carefully .
He did not , however , indicate that the project would stop if the agency determined that border wall construction is creating an existential threat to the springs .
Already , Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ waived dozens of laws to push forward with border wall construction , including strict environmental and archaeological laws specifically designed to protect and preserve places like Quitobaquito .
As for the discovery of human remains , Enriquez said the National Parks Service had helped to identify three sets of “ potentially human ” remains found near the springs , adding that none have been found on Monument Hill where the blasting is currently happening .
Following the briefing , journalists filed out of the trailer to attend the day ’ s main event @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a caravan of vehicles .
“ Don ’ t go off-road while we ’ re turning around here , ” a Border Patrol agent told a carload of reporters , cautioning the journalists not to damage the protected lands on their way to his agency ’ s explosives demonstration .
At 10 minutes to noon , the press was gathered in the shadow of the wall , with Monument Hill in the distance .
A small dog with scruffy yellow fur slipped under the steel barrier and parked itself in the dirt , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before turning around and heading back into Mexico .
The blasting that followed was exactly as the explosives expert said it would be , and perhaps as the Army and the Border Patrol intended it to be : an underwhelming ripple of explosions up Monument Hill that was barely audible to the press .
The explosions kicked off at precisely the same moment that a hearing convened by the House Natural Resources Subcommittee , titled “ destroying sacred sites and erasing tribal culture , ” began in Washington , D.C. “ I know @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have told us and what we have learned — that that area is home to our ancestors , ” Norris testified , adding that the Wednesday blasting had “ forever damaged our people.
” Enriquez , the senior official from CBP headquarters , told reporters at Organ Pipe that he was aware of the hearings on Capitol Hill going into the day ’ s events , but that the event was not intended to counter the messaging coming from Washington .
Having offered to pardon U.S. officials if they commit crimes in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump ’ s desire to make good on his core 2016 campaign promise ahead of the 2020 election is no secret .
O ’ Loughlin , the civilian contractor overseeing CBP-Pentagon border wall projects , declined to discuss the political nature of the endeavor , explaining that it came down to two things : money and mission .
“ I ’ ve got a job to do and we always move as fast we can , ” he said .
“ It ’ s to the benefit of the contractor — the faster @ @ @ @ @ @ @ make their money , the faster we get the Border Patrol what they need.
” Within an hour of the blasts , the press had dispersed .
On the highway north of the wall , a handful of protesters stood holding signs and chanting “ Save Organ Pipe !
” Motorists honked in support .
Border Patrol agents and contractors passed by , one flashing a peace sign , another filming the demonstrators on his phone .
A middle-aged woman in an SUV pulled to a stop in front of the crowd .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ that she wanted the wall , then added that she was from the Midwest before pressing the gas and continuing north .
Among the demonstrators standing along the highway was Victor Garcia , an O ’ odham resident of Ajo , an unincorporated community some 40 miles north of the border .
“ It ’ s a ploy to instill fear , ” Garcia said of the border wall construction , adding , “ I myself won ’ t be intimidated by any tactic they use.
” All of the lands on which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Garcia said , and right now the National Park Service is failing in its duty to protect them .
“ Their oath means nothing .
”

U.S. Army and Border Patrol officials hosted an unusual event in the Sonoran Desert on Wednesday, inviting members of the press to watch as they blew up a portion of a national monument in support of the president’s ongoing effort to wall off the United States from Mexico.
Presented as a run-of-the mill construction project, the explosives detonated on the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in southern Arizona went off just as the chair of the Tohono O’odham Nation — a Native American tribe with deep historic and cultural ties to the area — offered testimony in Washington, D.C. regarding the Trump administration’s desecration of O’odham lands.
The Intercept was first to report on the use of explosives on Organ Pipe earlier this month, detailing how the blasting was the latest move in a controversial project that threatens to destroy a fragile desert ecosystem. Since then, the construction has come under withering criticism from Democratic lawmakers, as well as environmental and Indigenous rights advocates. In recent days, top officials in the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector have gone on a public relations blitz in response, tweeting “fact checks” and making videos to counter the bad press that comes with blasting sacred Native American sites on federally protected public lands.
Wednesday’s event was the most elaborate of those efforts, with journalists invited to a trailer in a dirt lot that has served as a base of operations for the Organ Pipe project.
Taped to the walls inside the space were Google Earth-style images of the border with colored demarcations charting different portions of wall expansion and replacement. Sitting in plain view was a set of Department of Homeland Security blueprints — labeled “Wall Standard Details” — that showed a wall topped with spikes (while President Donald Trump has described his desire for a spiked border wall, the existing wall in Arizona currently lacks spikes). When asked why the wall had spikes, a Border Patrol agent examined the document for a moment, told us all of our questions would be answered, and then took the documents into another room and shut the door. James O’Loughlin, a contractor with the Logistics Management Institute and project manager for Customs and Border Protection-Pentagon projects, later told me that “there is no current plan for spikes on the wall” nor are there current plans to paint the wall black, which the president has also expressed interest in.
Members of the Border Patrol and the Army Corps of Engineers gather before addressing members of the media. During the press conference, media saw engineering plans and steel cutouts from bollards that have been erected as part of the U.S. border wall currently under construction. Photos: Ash Ponders for The Intercept
Soon after the blueprints disappeared, the day’s events began. Jim Hug, a military explosives expert with the Army Corps of Engineers, led with a safety presentation. “This is a typical thing that we do in construction around the world,” Hug said. “This is going to be pretty underwhelming for you folks.”
Hug explained that 86 holes had been dug on the area known as Monument Hill, each one 10 feet deep. Inside the holes were 5 pounds of an ammonium nitrate-based explosive. “When the shot goes off, what you’re basically going to see is straight up and straight down,” Hug said. “You’ll hear a little bit of a thump, but that’s about it. Not a whole lot that’s going to go on. Not damage. Basically, all we’re doing is just breaking the rock to be able to move it.” Following the explosions, Hug went on to say, he would need “total silence” from the crowd in order to listen for flying debris. “When you’re dealing with explosives, you always have to expect the worst,” he said.
With the safety presentation complete, a CBP official opened the floor for questions. The assembled reporters learned that Wednesday’s blasts on Organ Pipe were the fifth of their kind, and that other blasting was planned in Douglas, Arizona. Paul Enriquez, CBP’s Acquisitions Real Estate and Environmental Director out of Washington, D.C., said the border wall expansion project was preceded by a “large outreach” to “about a hundred different stakeholders,” including tribal leaders and the Tohono O’odham Nation.
As The Intercept reported earlier this month, critics of the agency’s efforts have painted a much different picture, saying that CBP has run roughshod over tribal concerns. “I can’t really speak to the difference in terms of what they see as a level of consultation versus what we’ve done,” Enriquez said. According to the senior CBP official, the agency has a privately contracted “cultural monitor” on hand daily to identify potential environmental or archaeological issues that come up during border wall expansion and blasting in Arizona. Enriquez declined to identify the company the monitors work for. “I’d rather not,” he said.
Members of Border Patrol and the Army Corps of Engineers speak before addressing members of the media. Photo: Ash Ponders for The Intercept
In a fact sheet distributed to journalists, CBP reported that “an estimated average of 84,000 gallons of water” are used each day for border wall construction on Organ Pipe. The extensive pumping of a rare desert aquifer to provide that water has been among the chief concerns associated with the project, as it threatens an oasis known as Quitobaquito Springs. The springs have profound spiritual significance for the Hia C-ed O’odham people, who inhabited the area through the late 1950s. In a 1980 report, the National Park Service documented the existence of more than 30 Hia C-ed graves at the springs. In a November letter to Roy Villareal, chief of the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector, Tohono O’odham Nation chair Ned Norris Jr. wrote that construction activities on Organ Pipe had already led to the inadvertent discovery of human remains near the springs.
Enriquez told reporters that the springs’ water levels are being monitored carefully. He did not, however, indicate that the project would stop if the agency determined that border wall construction is creating an existential threat to the springs. Already, Trump’s Department of Homeland Security has waived dozens of laws to push forward with border wall construction, including strict environmental and archaeological laws specifically designed to protect and preserve places like Quitobaquito. As for the discovery of human remains, Enriquez said the National Parks Service had helped to identify three sets of “potentially human” remains found near the springs, adding that none have been found on Monument Hill where the blasting is currently happening.
Following the briefing, journalists filed out of the trailer to attend the day’s main event, rumbling to the blast site in a caravan of vehicles.
“Don’t go off-road while we’re turning around here,” a Border Patrol agent told a carload of reporters, cautioning the journalists not to damage the protected lands on their way to his agency’s explosives demonstration.
Media gather to watch the detonations at Monument Hill, and a small dog pauses after slipping through a hole in the border wall. Photos: Ash Ponders for The Intercept
At 10 minutes to noon, the press was gathered in the shadow of the wall, with Monument Hill in the distance. A small dog with scruffy yellow fur slipped under the steel barrier and parked itself in the dirt, staring at the journalists with their cameras before turning around and heading back into Mexico.
“One minute,” Hug announced.
The blasting that followed was exactly as the explosives expert said it would be, and perhaps as the Army and the Border Patrol intended it to be: an underwhelming ripple of explosions up Monument Hill that was barely audible to the press.
The explosions kicked off at precisely the same moment that a hearing convened by the House Natural Resources Subcommittee, titled “destroying sacred sites and erasing tribal culture,” began in Washington, D.C. “I know in my heart and what our elders have told us and what we have learned — that that area is home to our ancestors,” Norris testified, adding that the Wednesday blasting had “forever damaged our people.”
Enriquez, the senior official from CBP headquarters, told reporters at Organ Pipe that he was aware of the hearings on Capitol Hill going into the day’s events, but that the event was not intended to counter the messaging coming from Washington.
Having offered to pardon U.S. officials if they commit crimes in the process of building his border wall, Trump’s desire to make good on his core 2016 campaign promise ahead of the 2020 election is no secret. O’Loughlin, the civilian contractor overseeing CBP-Pentagon border wall projects, declined to discuss the political nature of the endeavor, explaining that it came down to two things: money and mission. “I’ve got a job to do and we always move as fast we can,” he said. “It’s to the benefit of the contractor — the faster they get done, the faster they make their money, the faster we get the Border Patrol what they need.”
Photo: Ash Ponders for The Intercept
Within an hour of the blasts, the press had dispersed. On the highway north of the wall, a handful of protesters stood holding signs and chanting “Save Organ Pipe!” Motorists honked in support. Border Patrol agents and contractors passed by, one flashing a peace sign, another filming the demonstrators on his phone. A middle-aged woman in an SUV pulled to a stop in front of the crowd. Leaning out her window, she said that she wanted the wall, then added that she was from the Midwest before pressing the gas and continuing north.
Among the demonstrators standing along the highway was Victor Garcia, an O’odham resident of Ajo, an unincorporated community some 40 miles north of the border. “It’s a ploy to instill fear,” Garcia said of the border wall construction, adding, “I myself won’t be intimidated by any tactic they use.” All of the lands on which Organ Pipe boundaries were drawn are sacred, Garcia said, and right now the National Park Service is failing in its duty to protect them. “Their oath means nothing.”


theintercept--2020-02-27--Who Loves Dictators? Bernie or His Rivals?

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman , left , meets with former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a cafe in @ @ @ @ @ , 2018 .
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman , left , meets with former @ @ @ @ @ a cafe in New York on March 29 , 2018 .

Bernie Sanders’s critics, including his top rivals for the Democratic nomination, want you to believe that Sanders is a communist with a soft spot for Fidel Castro — that he loves dictators and tyrants. The Intercept’s Mehdi Hasan argues that, in fact, Joe Biden and Michael Bloomberg are the ones who’ve long cozied up to autocrats, while Sanders is the only candidate who has given an entire speech about fighting authoritarianism and tyranny around the world.