Connect with us

INTERNACIONAL

Unearthed photo of Swalwell meeting with top CCP official raises alarm bells: ‘Very disturbing’

Published

on


NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

FIRST ON FOX: A previously unreported 2013 Facebook post by China’s San Francisco consulate shows then-freshman Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., touting «great potential» for U.S.-China cooperation during a meeting with a senior CCP diplomat, which came during the same time period when Swalwell was allegedly targeted by Chinese espionage efforts.

Advertisement

The 2013 photo, which was unearthed by Fox News Digital and «liked» by Christine «Fang Fang» Fang, a Chinese national who was suspected of being a Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) operative and who was reportedly working closely with Swalwell’s campaign helping with fundraising, showed Swalwell posing with Song Ru’an. 

At the time of the photo, Ru’an was the Deputy Consul General at China’s Bay Area consulate in San Francisco. He would subsequently be tapped to serve as the Deputy Commissioner of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in Hong Kong until at least 2021. 

«The United States and China have a lot in common and the two economies are highly complementary. There are great potential for the two countries to cooperate,» Swalwell said at the meeting according to the picture’s caption posted by the Chinese consulate. «I will work actively to promote bilateral economic and trade cooperation, and I’m looking forward to visiting China in the near future.»

Advertisement

SWALWELL PROMISES IF ELECTED GOVERNOR, FORMER ICE AGENTS WOULD BE ‘UN-HIRABLE’ IN CALIFORNIA

Then-freshman member of Congress Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., seen posing in a photo with Deputy Consul General at China’s Bay Area consulate in San Francisco Song Ru’an in 2013.  (Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in San Francisco)

The unearthed photo comes a couple of weeks after Fox News Digital reported on a California-based law partner for a Beijing law firm donating thousands of dollars to Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign. Like Keliang «Clay» Zhu, Ru’an has a history of supporting interests contrary to American priorities. Ru’an served as one of China’s leading officials in Hong Kong between 2015 and 2021, and was a vocal critic of a 2019 U.S. Human Rights and Democracy Act aimed at protecting Hong Kongers from China’s authoritarian crackdown on its dissidents that only a single Republican member of Congress voted against. 

Advertisement

Ru’an blasted the bill at the time as the «the epitome of hegemony» and warned it went against American interests, according to the South China Morning Post. Ru’an also reportedly slammed the moves as a «negative and disgraceful role» the U.S. was playing in China’s domestic issues. 

Ru’an emerged as a central figure in Hong Kong during China’s national security crackdown there that began boiling over in 2020, 2021 and subsequent years. According to the Hong Kong Journalists Association, Ru’an told foreign media outlets to «inject positive energy» into coverage about new extradition laws China was imposing on Hong Kong in 2019. Multiple briefings from both previous and subsequent years showed similar efforts by Ru’an to «guide» media coverage in favor of China. 

In 2018, he met with members of the American media to discuss how the «One Country, Two Systems» framework between Hong Kong and China is vital to U.S.-China trade relations.

Advertisement

SWALWELL GOVERNOR BID HIT WITH RESIDENCY QUESTIONS AFTER COURT FILING ALLEGES HE DOESN’T LIVE IN CALIFORNIA     

Prior to Ru’an’s work on behalf of the Chinese government in Hong Kong, while serving as Deputy Consulate General at China’s San Francisco consulate, public reports said Ru’an and other consular officials sent letters and traveled to Oregon in an attempt to prevent the creation of a mural highlighting China’s human rights abuses against Tibetan people. Prior to working in San Francisco, Ru’an held multiple CCP roles back in China, including at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Swalwell’s team declined to provide any comment for this story. The San Francisco Chinese Consulate did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Advertisement
Swalwell speaking during hearing

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) speaks during a House Judiciary Committee hearing with FBI Director Kash Patel in the Rayburn House Office Building on Sept. 17, 2025.  (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

«It’s bad enough that certain California special interests are pushing redistributionist tax policies straight out of a communist manifesto. Now one of the state’s leading gubernatorial candidates has been caught cozying up to the Communist Chinese Party again,» GOP strategist Colin Reed said. «California’s next governor needs to have the intelligence, judgment and character to stand up to the CCP, especially when it comes to empowering American innovators with a common sense regulatory environment that allows them to grow.»

«I know first hand what it’s like to live under a communist regime. One-party rule by an authoritarian Communist Party: that’s not theoretical for me, and for years I have expressed my disgust at the establishment strategy of ‘engaging’ with the communist regime in China in the hope that this would one day move them towards freedom and democracy,» Republican California gubernatorial candidate and Former Fox News host Steve Hilton told Fox News Digital.

«These people never give up power voluntarily and they are always on the look-out for the ‘useful idiots’ and gullible stooges who they can target with their influence operations. Seems like they found the perfect mark in Eric Swalwell, and it’s somewhat alarming that the poor judgment is still being repeated, as we learned with the recent revelations about CCP-linked donations to his campaign,» he added.

Advertisement

EX–NEW YORK STATE OFFICIAL ACCUSED OF SPYING FOR CHINA CALLED HOCHUL ‘MORE OBEDIENT’ THAN CUOMO, TRIAL REVEALS

Swalwell served on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) when news broke of his ties to Fang Fang, who «liked» the photo posted in 2013 of Swalwell and Ru’an. Swalwell’s role on the influential intel committee was one that dealt with sensitive national security matters other members of Congress are not privy to. Now, he is asking voters to elevate him to governor of a state at the center of U.S.-China trade and tech. 

Earlier that same year, Swalwell attended an event hosted by the California State University, East Bay Chinese Student Association, a group that was led by Fang Fang, to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

Advertisement
Representative Eric Swalwell at Fox News Studio

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., was mocked on X this week after posting a video of himself lifting weights while trashing Republicans. (Getty Images)

U.S. officials have repeatedly warned that Beijing uses diplomats and influence networks like the United Front to cultivate relationships with American politicians, making even routine-looking interactions politically combustible when they involve a lawmaker already shadowed by foreign-influence scrutiny.

«Swalwell met Fang Fang when he was on the city council. He continued a long relationship with her and she would direct him. She directed interns in his office,» former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told Fox News Digital. «And it wasn’t just Swalwell who had knowledge of her. I believe people in his family became friends with her as well. But his activity and his behavior is very disturbing.»

«The report that I received, he never should have been on Intel,» McCarthy told Fox News Digital, citing the briefing he and other senior level members of Congress received after news broke about Swalwell, Fang Fang and the alleged influence operation she was part of. «The knowledge that I have of what transpired and the actions that he has done and the behavior, especially when he’s gone to other countries, I would be very leery of him in any position of that can have sensitive information. The recklessness in which he lived his life, the reports that have come back, I think it would be hard for him to ever even be considered as a governor candidate, period.»

Advertisement
Former Speaker McCarthy outside the US Capitol

Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy on the U.S. Capitol steps. (Getty Images)

A handful of current and former intelligence officials told Axios in 2020 that they believed Fang Fang, who also goes by Christine Fang, was part of an influence operation run by China’s Ministry of State Security between roughly 2011 and 2015. The outlet reported that Fang Fang gained proximity to political power through campaign fundraising and networking, adding that she engaged in sexual relationships with at least two Midwestern mayors, and was also targeting elected officials in California.

Swalwell’s earliest ties to Fang Fang began in 2012 when he was seen posing in a photo with her during his time as a council member for Dublin City, California. The reported «student event» was attended by Fang Fang, who Axios indicated was a leader for her school’s Chinese Student Association and its Asian Pacific American Public Affairs chapter. The pair was identified posing in another photo together the following year at a Chinese New Year banquet held at Fang Fang’s college.

CHINESE SPIES ‘SHAM MARRIAGE’ SCANDAL EXPOSES ‘TARGETED’ NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT AT MAJOR US BASE: EXPERT

Advertisement

Meanwhile, between 2013 and 2014, Fang Fang helped fundraise at an event for Tulsi Gabbard, according to a flyer of the event she shared on Facebook, and also volunteered for Rep. Ro Khanna’s, D-Calif., failed House bid, other social media posts and talks with a former organizer indicated, according to Axios. Fang Fang appeared in photos with Swalwell, Khanna, Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., and others across a period of several years around this time as well. According to an intelligence official and a Bay Area politico, Fang Fang took part in fundraising activity for Swalwell’s 2014 campaign and allegedly helped place an intern in his office, while also interacting with the California congressman at multiple events across several years.

The national flags of the United States and China

The national flags of the United States and China flutter at the Fairmont Peace Hotel on April 25, 2024 in Shanghai, China. (Wang Gang/VCG via Getty Images)

Eventually, U.S. intelligence officials became so concerned with Fang Fang’s activities that they alerted Swalwell and other members of Congressional leadership in 2015. At the time, Pelosi was serving as House Minority Leader while McCarthy was the House Majority Leader, but McCarthy indicated he was not briefed then. Meanwhile, Swalwell  immediately cut ties with Fang Fang upon the defensive briefing, sources speaking to Axios said. McCarthy has questioned how long Pelosi knew about Swalwell’s ties to Fang Fang, and whether she was aware of them prior to appointing him to the influential House intel committee. 

Shortly after Axios broke its investigation of Swalwell’s ties to Fang Fang in 2020, top-level Democrats and Republicans, including then-House Minority Leader McCarthy and then-House Speaker Pelosi, received further briefings on the matter, which was followed by GOP calls for Swalwell to be removed from the HPSCI. The high-level committee exercises primary congressional oversight over the U.S. intelligence community and is privy to classified information other members of Congress are not.  

Advertisement

Swalwell has denied any wrongdoing and a multi-year congressional ethics report backed that assertion and did not take any further action against the congressman over his questionable associations.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

In 2021, House Republicans attempted to formally remove Swalwell from the House intel committee, but Democrats had the power and killed the bill. Upon the power in Congress shifting to Republican hands the following Congressional session, then-Speaker of the House McCarthy rejected Swalwell’s attempt to maintain his seat on the powerful committee and he was pushed out in 2023.

Advertisement
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., listens as Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., speaks during a news conference on the introduction of their Protection from Abusive Passengers Act at the U.S. Capitol Building on April 6, 2022 in Washington. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Rep. Eric Swalwell’s, D-Calif., China ties are under fresh scrutiny amid his bid to replace California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

McCarthy said he wasn’t trying to take advantage of the opportunity to «punish» Democrats, but, rather, was so alarmed by Swalwell’s behavior that he felt it was necessary to protect national security. 

«Based upon my classified knowledge, and based upon being Speaker – the reports that have come to me are very disturbing, his continual actions and behavior,» McCarthy added. «I don’t understand how a man like him would consider running just based upon that knowledge.» 

eric swalwell,china,california,democrats,corruption,foreign affairs

Advertisement

INTERNACIONAL

Tourists in Mexican seaside city told to stay on resort as government warns of ‘clashes’

Published

on


NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Tourists in the Mexican seaside city of Puerto Vallarta were told not to leave their resort on Sunday as a government official warned of «clashes» in the area following a federal operation.

Advertisement

Photos and video shared with Fox News Digital capture billowing, dark smoke clouding the skyline of the city, which is located on Mexico’s Pacific Coast in the state of Jalisco.

Tourists at a local resort told Fox News Digital that they were urged to stay put at the resort. They said no reason for exercising the caution was immediately given.

The U.S. State Department later issued a travel warning for multiple areas in Mexico on Sunday afternoon, urging U.S. citizens to shelter in place until further notice due to «ongoing security operations and related road blockages and criminal activity.»

Advertisement

US OFFICIALS WARN SNOWBIRDS OF ‘VIOLENT CRIME’ IN WINTER DESTINATION HOT SPOT

Smoke was seen rising into the skies of Puerto Vallarta in Mexico’s Jalisco state on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)

The travel warning was issued for parts of Jalisco state, including Puerto Vallarta, Chapala and Guadalajara; Tamaulipas state, including Reynosa and other municipalities; and areas of Michoacan state, Guerrero state and Nuevo Leon state.

Advertisement

Jalisco Gov. Pablo Lemus Navarro announced in a post on X that federal forces carried out an «operation» in the town of Tapalpa earlier Sunday, which led to «clashes» in the area.

«Also as a result of said operation, in various points of that region and in other parts of Jalisco, individuals have burned and blocked vehicles with the aim of hindering the actions of the authorities,» Navarro wrote in the post in Spanish.

In multiple posts, Navarro wrote that «the violent incidents have spread» and «blockades have shifted» as the government and law enforcement work to safeguard citizens.

Advertisement

ALLEGED SINALOA CARTEL FENTANYL PRODUCER CHARGED IN NEWLY UNSEALED FEDERAL INDICTMENT

Navarro added that the government has enacted a «Code Red» to keep the public safe.

view from a beach of smoke rising above Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Tourists said they were told not to leave their resort in Puerto Vallarta on Sunday. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)

«We reiterate the recommendation to avoid leaving your homes,» Navarro wrote in a second post. «The clashes are occurring in several federal entities.»

Advertisement

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

While government officials did not immediately provide details about the federal operation, local news outlets report that the operation may have involved the Jalisco New Generation cartel and one of its notorious leaders, Nemesio «El Mencho» Oseguera Cervantes.



location mexico,puerto vallarta,mexican cartel violence,world

Advertisement
Continue Reading

INTERNACIONAL

La historia de “El Mencho”: cómo el líder del CJNG se convirtió en uno de los narcotraficantes más buscados en el mundo

Published

on


Es el segundo mexicano más buscado por Estados Unidos (Fotoarte: Steve Allen)

Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, teniendo más de 50 año de edad, llegó a la cumbre de su carrera criminal. Identificado como líder del Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación, Oseguera, conocido como El Mencho se convirtió en el hombre más buscado de México y Estados Unidos.

Es el segundo mexicano más buscado por Estados Unidos. El primero es Rafael Caro Quintero, El Narco de Narcos, por el asesinato de Enrique Kiki Camarena, ex agente de la DEA (Administración de Control de Drogas, por sus siglas en inglés) de EEUU. Pero inmediatamente después, en la lista de los más buscados, figura el rostro de Nemesio Oseguera, El Mencho, líder del CJNG.

Advertisement

La historia de Oseguera Cervantes es extraordinaria porque la gran mayoría de narcos mexicanos de su generación han sido apresados o han muerto violentamente.

Según la acusación del Departamento de Justicia de EEUU, El Mencho dirigió el CJNG ―o su versión embrionaria― al menos desde el año 2000 y logró expandirlo a la mayoría de los estados de México y a varias ciudades de los Estados Unidos. Sus primeros pasos en el narco los dio, sin embargo, bastante antes.

En Naranjo de Chila ―un
En Naranjo de Chila ―un pueblo al sureste de Michoacán― nació el 17 de julio de 1966 Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, uno de los seis hermanos de una familia de productores de aguacate (Foto: Archivo)

En Naranjo de Chila ―un pueblo al sureste de Michoacán― nació el 17 de julio de 1966 Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, uno de los seis hermanos de una familia de productores de aguacate.

Dicen que lo bautizaron con el nombre de Rubén y él se hizo llamar Nemesio en honor a su padrino. También que su cuna es el municipio de Naranjo de Chila y otros que fue Uruapan o Aguililla. Tal vez fue este último porque allí, apenas siendo un niño que recién abandonaba la escuela en el quinto año de primaria, se contrató para cuidar los campos de aguacate, propiedad de los Valencia.

Advertisement

De esta familia, conocida primero como el Cártel del Aguacate (porque traficaba la marihuana escondida en los cargamentos de ese fruto), nació el Cártel del Milenio cuando saltaron a la siembra de marihuana y amapola. Tan poderosos eran en su tierra que uno de ellos, José, incluso llegó a alcalde en 1989, postulado por el PRD. Con ellos, apenas adolescente, El Mencho se hizo vigilante de los plantíos y traficante después.

Oseguera Cervantes supuestamente se esconde
Oseguera Cervantes supuestamente se esconde en las montañas de Jalisco (Foto: Infobae México)

Sin embargo, debió haber soñado con algo más que aguacates, porque en pocos años empacó y se mudó al norte de California, Estados Unidos.

A los 20 años, para 1986, ya había emigrado a Estados Unidos. Vivía en la bahía de San Francisco, en California, donde se involucró con una banda de tráfico de heroína y metanfetamina e intentó construir una red de clientes como dealer. El periodista estadounidense Josh Eells, en un reportaje publicado en la revista Rolling Stone y con base en información de autoridades de Estados Unidos, afirma que Abigael González Valencia, El Cuini, cuñado de Oseguera Cervantes, lo formó en el negocio de las drogas.

Fue detenido en 1986 cuando él y su hermano mayor, Abraham Oseguera, vendieron heroína a dos policías encubiertos; en 1992 fueron enviados a una prisión federal y luego deportados. Una foto de reserva del incidente muestra al Mencho, de 19 años, con una sudadera con capucha y con acné en la cara.

Advertisement

Dos meses después, nació su primer hija: Jessica Johanna Oseguera.

En febrero de 2020, los
En febrero de 2020, los gobiernos de México y de EEUU dieron un golpe al criminal cuando el hijo del «Mencho», Rubén Oseguera González, «El Menchito», fue extraditado, y su hija, Jessica Johanna Oseguera González, fue detenida (Foto: Archivo)

Al salir de prisión, en 1997, se enroló como policía municipal en Tomatlán, Jalisco. Allí se vinculó con los hermanos Nava Valencia del Cártel del Milenio, y con Nacho Coronel, del Cártel del Pacífico, como también llamaban a la organización criminal del Chapo Guzmán.

Con ellos, al dejar la policía, El Mencho se convirtió en una especie de consejero de seguridad y una pieza estratégica en el tráfico de drogas sintéticas a Estados Unidos gracias a su experiencia en aquel país, de acuerdo con Eells.

Desde la formación del CJNG en 2011, El Mencho pronto logró expandirse en casi todo México y tiene presencia internacional en Estados Unidos, Colombia y, sin confirmar, en Canadá, Argentina, Holanda, Ghana, Nigeria, Marruecos, Rusia, China, Corea del Sur, Alemania, Perú, Centroamérica, Bolivia, Malasia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Polonia, Australia, y Camboya, con lo que habría superado en 2018 al Cártel de Sinaloa en el tráfico de alucinógenos, de acuerdo con diversos reportes.

Advertisement
Desde la formación del CJNG
Desde la formación del CJNG en 2011, «El Mencho» pronto logró expandirse en casi todo México y tiene presencia internacional (Foto: Captura de pantalla)

Oseguera Cervantes supuestamente se escondía en las montañas de Jalisco y, según la prensa local, padece insuficiencia renal, un mal que lo mantenía con diálisis y atado a una cama, por lo que la organización sería dirigida por sus lugartenientes.

En febrero de 2020, los gobiernos de México y de EEUU dieron un golpe al criminal cuando el hijo del Mencho, Rubén Oseguera González, El Menchito, fue extraditado, y su hija, Jessica Johanna Oseguera González, fue detenida mientras acudía a una de las audiencias de su hermano.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

INTERNACIONAL

Why keeping lawmakers in DC during shutdown may have caused more harm than good

Published

on


NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

«I can’t believe they just left!»

Advertisement

«Why didn’t they just stay until they fixed it?»

«Why didn’t they make them stay?»

I must have fielded forty questions last week from colleagues, friends and acquaintances. Even reporters and editorial staff from other news organizations. And that’s to say nothing of a few Congressional aides.

Advertisement

Everyone had the same question. They were in disbelief that lawmakers just abandoned the Capitol a week ago Thursday and left the Department of Homeland Security without funding on Saturday at 12:00:01 am et.

COAST GUARD CAUGHT AS ‘COLLATERAL DAMAGE’ IN DEMOCRATS’ DHS SHUTDOWN AS CHINA, RUSSIA PRESS US WATERS

Senate Democrats blocked a short-term funding bill, stalling efforts to keep DHS and its agencies operating. (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)

Advertisement

The Senate tried twice to avert the partial government shutdown on Thursday. The Senate failed to break a filibuster on a placeholder, undetermined funding bill. And then Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., objected to a request by Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., to approve a stopgap, two-week funding bill. Passage of the bill would require agreement of all 100 senators. But all it took was one objection. And Murphy, speaking for many Democrats on both sides of the Capitol, interceded to sidetrack Britt’s effort.

«I’m over it!» shouted an exasperated Britt on the Senate floor, as Congress pitched at least part of the federal government into its third shutdown since October 1.

Democrats are refusing to fund the Department of Homeland Security until there’s a specific agreement to reform U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). And – few Democrats will say this out loud – but their base insists on Democrats shuttering DHS over ICE tactics after the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

Advertisement

This is somewhat ironic. Republicans funded ICE through 2029 via last year’s One, Big, Beautiful Bill. So thanks to Democrats, TSA, the Coast Guard and FEMA – all under the DHS aegis – are without money right now. That means tens of thousands of employees are technically working without paychecks as they scan passengers at airports, patrol the seas and respond to natural disasters.

This brings us back to the basic question: Why didn’t they just stay until they figured it out?

As a reporter, I have covered dozens of shutdowns, partial shutdowns, near shutdowns, flirtations with shutdowns. That’s to say nothing of various permutations of interim spending bills – long and short – known as Continuing Resolutions or CRs. Those bills keep the funding flowing at the old spending level – until lawmakers all agree on something new. Sometimes one CR begets another CR. And even another one after that until everything’s resolved. The exercise can go on for months.

Advertisement

HOW ICE WENT FROM POST-9/11 COUNTERTERROR AGENCY TO CENTER OF THE IMMIGRATION FIGHT

Photo of Sen. Katie Britt.

Sen. Katie Britt vented frustration on the Senate floor after her stopgap bill was blocked. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

But as it pertains to DHS, lawmakers weren’t going to solve the issues surrounding ICE right away. So both the House and Senate got out of Dodge last Thursday as the deadline loomed. Lawmakers were everywhere from the Middle East to Munich when the bell tolled midnight Saturday and DHS lumbered into a slow-speed funding crash.

Failure to fund the Department of Homeland Security may seem unreasonable from a policy standpoint – regardless of what you think of ICE. But it’s not unreasonable if you understand the politics and Congressional procedure to fund ICE.

Advertisement

Let’s say they were on the precipice of an agreement to fund DHS. That may involve some last-minute trading of paper between Senate and House leaders. Maybe a call or two from the President to reluctant Republicans. If lawmakers believed a deal was within range, it’s doubtful that leaders would have cut Members loose. They would have stayed if there was a viable path to nail something down last Friday, have the Senate expedite the process and vote on either Saturday or Sunday (albeit after the deadline) and then have the House vote on Monday. That’s all under the premise of a deal being close.

They were nowhere near that stage when lawmakers called it last Thursday. Democrats didn’t send over their offer for days after a brief shutdown of 78 percent of the government more than two weeks ago. Democrats then criticized Republicans and the White House for slowly volleying a counteroffer. Democrats then rejected the GOP plan – only sending back another plan late Monday.

Getting a deal which can pass both the House and Senate – and overcome a Senate filibuster – takes time. And there simply wasn’t a deal to be had yet.

Advertisement

This is where things get really interesting. With no agreement in sight, you simply don’t anchor lawmakers in Washington with nothing to do. There’s nothing to vote on. There are no committee meetings scheduled. All tethering lawmakers to DC does is stir up trouble.

There’s a line in the song «Trouble» in The Music Man by Meredith Willson: «The idle brain is the devil’s playground.» Who knows what kinds of mischief you would have, just making very cranky lawmakers hang around Washington for days – without anything to vote on. Keeping everyone here does not contribute to securing a deal. Yes, all 532 House and Senate Members (there are two House vacancies) must eventually be dialed-in to vote on a bill to fund DHS. But we aren’t there yet. A handful of Members in the House, Senate and people at the White House will be the ones to negotiate an agreement. Rank-and-file Members marooned in Washington with nothing to do but post outrageous things on social media and appear on cable TV is counterproductive.

Now, let’s look at the other scenario of being close to an agreement. House and Senate leaders may believe they are still a little short of votes. But if something is viable, leaders know they can nail down the votes with some arm-twisting, legislative and ego massaging and a few forceful phone calls. Yes, that process may require elbow grease. But in that instance, keeping everyone in Washington for a few extra days and blowing up a long-awaited Congressional recess actually helps the process.

Advertisement

DHS SHUTDOWN LEAVES LOCAL EMERGENCY RESPONDERS ON THEIR OWN AMID EXTREME WEATHER, EXPERT WARNS

Street view of the Homeland Security sign.

TSA officers, Coast Guard members and FEMA staff are working without pay as the DHS funding lapse drags on. (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)

Why?

Think of the Stockholm Syndrome. You demand that everyone stay in Washington for an extra day or two and the «hostages» will start to come around to the viewpoints of their captors. Yes, everyone is frustrated and mad. But they feel the bill is something they can support and finally end this triumvirate of government shutdowns. In this case, the fustigation builds – but just a little. Everyone is happy to vote yes and rush off of Capitol Hill.

Advertisement

If they were close to nailing down an agreement on DHS funding, then Congressional leaders would have deployed a version of the Stockholm Syndrome to wrap up everything.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

But with no deal, leaders were more afraid of the mayhem they may trigger by keeping everyone in Washington. The devil would romp freely through the playground of idle brains.

Advertisement

So how will you know when there’s a deal?

When everyone’s present and accounted for.

Advertisement

government shutdown,budget senate,democrats senate,homeland security

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Tendencias