No amount of revisionism or denial can change the reality. Trump and all rational people know better, but it doesn't stop the left from trying. Disgusting.



Vox and ProPublica take aim at President Trump’s heightened concern for gangs in the United States in a recently published video, claiming his harsh characterizations of MS-13 are unfair.

The gang, also known as Mara Salvatrucha, numbers in the tens of thousands and is composed primarily of outlaws from El Salvador, Honduras, and other Central American countries. Trump’s hardline stance on crime and border security has made MS-13 a more widely recognized public menace. But instead of acknowledging the rising violent threat that MS-13 poses to the American people, progressive media outlets like Vox and ProPublica are casting the Trump Administration’s actions with regard to illegal immigration and law enforcement as irresponsible, dangerous, and factually unsound.

The video — candidly titled, “Why the street gang MS-13 is an American problem” — opens by framing MS-13 as a uniquely American issue. It’s true the gang was founded in the United States during the early 1980s, but the roots of MS-13 are distinctly un-American.

Let’s review: Beginning in 1979, El Salvador was gripped by a nasty and brutal civil war between the established military junta and a newly-formed coalition of Marxist insurgents. Around a million people were displaced by the 12-year conflict and many sought asylum in the United States. The refugees, mainly anti-government sympathizers who resented American intervention in the war, illegally crossed the border and settled in southern California, mostly in Los Angeles’ Pico-Union neighborhood. Unsurprisingly, the young men from these impoverished alien communities started street gangs for personal and financial security. By 1984, they called themselves “Mara Salvatrucha” as a designation of their ties to the Salvadoran rebels.

This context is wholly absent from Vox’s presentation. The video succinctly describes the origins of MS-13 as “a group of teenagers, hanging out, smoking pot, listening to rock music” who eventually became “juvenile delinquents involved in street crimes who were stuffed into American jails.”

Vox specifically defends MS-13 against Trump’s charge that the gang is a drug-smuggling criminal cartel. The voiceover states, “that’s not really the case” and notes that the group “doesn’t have global ambitions.” Hannah Dreier, a ProPublica reporter showcased in the video, says “MS-13 is not really involved with the international drug trade.” Senior Vox reporter Dara Lind adds that “the organization doesn’t have that kind of sophistication to really play with the major players.” These assertions are made despite the fact that there is a growing mountain of evidence to the contrary.

For one thing, the video implies that the Obama-era decision to designate MS-13 as a “transnational criminal organization” had little or no factual basis. But a 2012 report from the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point detailed the growing cooperation between MS-13 and Los Zetas, one of the most dangerous cartels in the world. Additional reports also suggest that MS-13 actually has bigger international ambitions, popping up in Italy, Spain, Argentina, and Australia. And according to a 2015 threat assessment by the D.E.A., MS-13 also has working connections with the Gulf Cartel, the Sinaloa Cartel, and La Familia Michoacána.

For what it’s worth, Dreier has been reporting from Long Island for over a year, and she gives up a little glimpse of her personal perspective on MS-13. She says the gang members she observes “are working after-school jobs, they’re living with their parents, they get around Long Island on bicycles because they can’t afford cars …” This innocuous depiction of MS-13 indicates substantial ignorance of the recent havoc that the group has wrecked upon the citizens of Long Island.

In the past year alone there has been an arrest for 2nd degree assault, a conviction for murder threats and attempted coercion, another arrest for murder, four indictments for ordering a violent attack on a 16-year-old boy, 17 more indictments for drug trafficking and several murders (including a 13-year-old boy), as well as 24 more indictments for 15 more murders. All of these criminals are MS-13 gang members.

Additionally, nearly 40 percent of all murders from two years ago in Suffolk County were linked to MS-13 gang violence. The situation has become so treacherous and heartbreaking that just a few months ago, Gov. Andrew Cuomo added $7.5 million to combat gang violence on Long Island. (While I was writing this, CNN came out with a segment about the tragic impact of MS-13 on Long Island communities.)

The national scene hasn’t fared much better. January yielded arraignments for 17 suspected MS-13 members in New York state. Authorities say that the seven-month investigation also confirmed the presence of MS-13 activity in New Jersey, Virginia, Texas, France, South Korea, and Egypt. Then in February, the city of Columbus was rocked by a new federal indictment of 23 MS-13 gangsters, which included (but was not limited to) murder, extortion, illegal immigration, obstruction of justice, assault, and drug trafficking.

In April, an East Coast kingpin for MS-13 was charged with five counts of conspiracy and three counts of drug trafficking, specifically helping the Mexican Mafia sell heroin. And just last month, a federal grand jury in Maryland hit two dozen MS-13 members with a laundry list indictment of offenses ranging from murder to robbery to money laundering.

Make no mistake about it: MS-13 is a growing criminal syndicate that directly deals with larger cartels. To suggest otherwise is wrong and downright asinine. But Vox and ProPublica claim the reality of MS-13 is not properly reflected by these recurring headlines. Dreier says that the MS-13 she reports on “has almost nothing in common with the MS-13 as portrayed by the government …”

This criticism of Trump’s characterization of MS-13 is part of a longer trend. Back in May, Trump called MS-13 members “violent animals.” The comment was seized upon by his political opponents in an effort to paint him as an anti-immigrant extremist. In the aftermath of the leftist outrage, Vox ran an article which not only compared Trump’s rhetoric to that of the Nazis and the perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide, but also implied that the “feelings and experiences” of these murderous gang members should be considered before casting judgement. This new video seems to be an extension of that reactionary trend, in which the Democrats are abdicating their position as a political coalition in favor of being hypersensitive moral arbiters and emotional hemophiliacs.

The video closes by saying “for any policy to work, it’s worth keeping the facts front and center.” But ironically, the left’s insistence on defending the indefensible just for the sake of spiting the president does nothing to demonstrate an honest or accurate grasp of the issue. Rather, it suggests that they view differing political opinions as tantamount to the most evil and egregious acts of violence. Once that equivalency is made, there is no more debate or discussion, only sentimental games of irrational perspectives and petulant responses.

Those who champion ethical and sensible leadership should not engage with this emotional game or its propaganda.



VOX video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgKpACQyhgk



Article link: https://thefederalist.com/2018...es-work-school-jobs/

Street gangs are a cancer to our society.

If I were in charge, street gang members would be dealt with the same way ISIS and Taliban are.

The liberal mind is a sick and twisted mind wanting to destroy morality.

Who are Vox and ProPublica?

quote:

Originally posted by deepocean:
Who are Vox and ProPublica?

Far left "news" sites, aka propaganda. Slightly less pseudo-intellectual and preening than Salon, but far more virulent than Buzzfeed.

Let the leftists champion MS-13; that suits our side just fine. All of the right, and just about all of the middle of the road know it too. More rational people will see the insanity of the left.

Just kids out for a good time, they don’t mean any harm.

MS13 member: “Hey, fellows, lets ride our scooters down to the candy store and share a bottle of pop”

So they're not animals? /sarc

Nancy Pelosi talking about Trump and MS-13:

"We're all God's children."

"There is a spark of divinity in all of us. Calling people animals is not a good thing."

I really hope the left keeps on pushing this narrative. Any independent voter will shy away from this view point big time. I think we can all bet our collective asses that there will a boat load of commercials pointing this out come October.

This from FOX:


News outlets slammed for video humanizing MS-13 members, downplaying threat


Vox and ProPublica are taking heat for producing a video downplaying the threat posed by MS-13 and describing the gang as a strictly “American problem.”

The ruthless gang has been in the headlines for years, but has become somewhat of a political football as President Trump makes them the face of the illegal immigration problem.

The video by Vox and ProPublica openly challenges Trump for using the gang as justification for tougher border policies. But conservative critics are accusing the reporters of going over the line, and acting as apologists for MS-13.


“The left is so committed to being anti-Trump that they are willing to play the role of Baghdad Bob for one of the most vicious gangs in America. If you find yourself doing pro-bono PR work for rapists and murderers you might want to rethink your entire life,” conservative strategist Chris Barron told Fox News.

The video, “Why the street gang MS-13 is an American problem,” acknowledges the gang has committed terrible crimes but goes on to downplay the threat.

It portrays MS-13 members as otherwise regular teens who take selfies and stresses that the gang was formed by immigrants from El Salvador in Los Angeles, claiming this renders it an American issue.

The video features ProPublica reporter Hannah Dreier saying that the MS-13 she sees on the ground has “almost nothing in common with the MS-13 as portrayed by the government,” before airing footage of Trump attacking the gang at a rally.

Dreier then says the MS-13 members she has come across are “working after-school jobs, living with their parents” and get around Long Island on bicycles “because they can’t afford cars.”

Vox senior reporter Dara Lind says in the video it is “100 percent an American-born gang.” Lind describes its early members in Los Angeles as “a group of teenager hanging out, smoking pot, listening to rock music.”

The video stresses that MS-13 is not a drug cartel, has fewer members than other gangs like The Crips and is not "highly organized." The video concludes by stating that “MS-13 is not invading” the United States.

The gang indeed was formed in Los Angeles, and its U.S. membership is lower than that of some other gangs. The video, however, glosses over the gang's strong presence in Central America, which grew after deportations from the U.S. in the 1990s, as detailed by The Council on Foreign Relations.

Former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director Thomas Homan blasted the video during an interview Friday on "Fox & Friends."

“I’ve been investigating illegal alien crime for 34 years. I’ve flown to New York twice with the president, to Long Island where he met with the families of children [killed by MS-13],” Homan said. “The president is 100 percent accurate. MS-13 is a border issue.”

Homan said the video is “dead wrong” and he was never contacted for it.

“They don’t want to reach out to me … the left side media, they don’t want to hear it from us. They don’t want the truth,” he said. “This is an inaccurate story.”

The Federalists’ Jacob Perry wrote that the video serves as a “public relations firm for the violent gang,” while downplaying the brutal gang “in order to attack President Trump.”

Trump has often pointed to MS-13 crimes to underscore the reason for some of his controversial immigration policies. He kicked off the immigration portion of his January State of the Union address by detailing the horror of two teenage girls who were killed by MS-13.

Immediately afterward, MSNBC's Joy Reid and Chris Matthews downplayed the gang and accused the president of mentioning the murders to get applause.

A study by the conservative-leaning Center for Immigration Studies released shortly after Trump’s speech found that MS-13 “represents a very serious threat to public safety” and the gang’s resurgence is “directly connected to the illegal arrival and resettlement of more than 300,000 Central American youths and families.”

The CIS report notes that all criminal gangs are threats "but MS-13 is a unique problem because of the unusually brutal crimes its members have committed,” including 207 murders since 2012. Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini recently appeared on Fox News' “Tucker Carlson Tonight” and described a quadruple homicide in which MS-13 members chopped four boys into “little pieces.”

Vox and ProPublica did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Fox News.



http://www.foxnews.com/politic...nplaying-threat.html

On this MS 13 gang issue alone has me wondering why anyone votes for the democrat party that so passionately embraced and defends these cancers? But still we have half the country voting for democrats? Are they uninformed? Stupid? Ignorant? Complicit? And the corrupt media that plays a hand in this by omission of facts, mis-truths, lies and distortions. I am fed up with anyone that subscribes to these democrats perversions because they want a damn vote! They should be ashamed of themselves selling out the country for a vote.

delete.

Potential voters.