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The central and Assam governments agreed to update the NRC during the hearings in the Supreme Court in 2013, following the urging of the bench. On 17 December 2014, in a judgment authored by Justice Rohinton Nariman, the court ordered that the NRC exercise had to be completed within a time-bound manner and issued several directions for this.

On paper, this may not seem like an untoward thing to do. However, it was strange that the court would push so hard for this when it had also decided that the constitutionality of Section 6A was not clear, and it needed to be referred to a larger bench.

Even more controversially, the apex court, like it had in its Sarbananda Sonowal judgment from 2005, failed to identify any actual statistics or data on illegal immigration in Assam, which should have been the starting point for any discussion on a need to identify and deport illegal immigrants.

These discrepancies in the 2014 judgment have inevitably been part of the conversation about Justice Gogoi's involvement in the case, as those in favour of his recusal have argued that the court's approach (in the hearings as well) demonstrated a bias in favour of the narrative about illegal immigration in Assam.

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Ranjan Gogoi's Book Reveals Why He Should Have Recused Himself From NRC Case - The Quint

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President Biden was billed as Americas savior from four years of political strife under former President Trump and the turmoil from the coronavirus pandemic, but the honeymoon period has quickly soured following his disastrous military withdrawal from Afghanistan, record inflation and gas prices and a COVID-19 death count that has surpassed his predecessors.

During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden promised to "shut down" the pandemic, fight for the working class and regain the worlds respect following four years of the Trump administration. While the media fawned over Biden during his campaign and the early stages of his presidency, that all began to change following a series of blunders in August during his hasty military withdrawal from Afghanistan.

2021: THE YEAR BIDEN'S APPROVAL RATINGS SANK SLOWLY UNDERWATER

Americans left behind in Afghanistan

Biden faced widespread global backlash after Taliban insurgents retook Afghanistan in a matter of 11 days, winning the war 20 years after their ouster by U.S.-led forces on Aug. 15. On Aug. 26, during the U.S. military's mass evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, suicide bombers killed at least 183 people, including 13 U.S. service members. The U.S. retaliated by launching two drone strikes against suspected ISIS-K terrorists, one of which ended up killing 10 Afghan civilians, including seven children.

The U.S. military evacuation, which required significant cooperation from the Taliban to complete, ended a day ahead of deadline on Aug. 30, leaving behind hundreds of U.S. citizens and tens of thousands of Afghan allies, despite Bidens promise days earlier to "get them all out." The State Department said nearly 500 U.S. citizens have been evacuated in the months following the withdrawal and that a handful still remain today.

President Biden delivers remarks about COVID at the White House.

Failure to shut down COVID-19

Bidens handling of Afghanistan was devastating to his approval ratings, which hovered in the low to mid 50s during his first six months in the White House and started a slow bleed thereafter. The drop was also fueled by a surge in COVID-19 cases and the unfortunate headlines that the number of deaths under his watch had surpassed those under Trump, despite the new prevalence of vaccinations.

Biden, who promised to "shut down" the virus on the campaign trail, took a dramatically different tone on Monday when he informed Americans that "there is no federal solution" to the pandemic and that it was up to governors a sentiment that was much maligned by Democrats under the Trump administration.

Until recently, the White House had no plans to provide free tests for individuals and only revealed that a plan was in the works this month after White House press secretary Jen Psaki previously dismissed the idea when it was suggested by NPR reporter Mara Liasson.

The White House has since agreed to deliver free tests to Americans but has yet to publicly disclose when and how the tests will be delivered. Biden conceded Monday that the steps he took earlier this year to ramp up testing capacity were "clearly not enough."

The New York Times recently wrotethat the new omicron variant sweeping the country "caught the White House off guard" and that "cases have far outstripped the governments ability to make tests available."

Meanwhile, Biden is facing mounting backlash over his vaccine mandates for the military, federal contractors and large private employers. The president admitted in a speech last week that his vaccine mandates are "unpopular" but that theyre for everyones own good.

RON KLAIN, BIDEN'S CHIEF OF STAFF, RETWEETS COLUMN CALLING 2021 NOT 'ALL BAD'

Border crisis

During the 2020 presidential election, Biden described "horrifying scenes" at the U.S.-Mexico border of "kids being kept in cages" and federal agents "ripping children from their mothers' arms" under the Trump administration.

But the "cages," or chain-link indoor enclosures to hold migrants at the border facilities, were built by the Obama administration, under which Biden served as vice president and they are still being used today by the current president. In fact, the Biden administration reopened several facilities that were closed under Trump to deal with the surge of illegal immigration since he took office.

And yet Democrats have remained noticeably silent. Vice President Kamala Harris, who was appointed border czar in March, was criticized for not taking a trip to the border fornearly 100 daysafter her appointment after she repeatedly laughed off questions about traveling there.

Meanwhile, U.S. authorities arrested 1.7 million migrants at the southern border this fiscal year, the most ever recorded, and only a small fraction have been vaccinated, while Biden imposes vaccine mandates for U.S. citizens who work in the federal government, including Border Patrol agents.

President Biden points to the Oval Office of the White House as he arrives on Marine One on the South Lawn in Washington, Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021, as he returns from Wilmington, Delaware. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Record inflation

Two-thirds of Americans disapprove of Bidens handling of skyrocketing inflation, according to an ABC/Ipsos poll released this month.

The White House has started recognizing inflation as a problem after downplaying it as "transitory" for months. The consumer price index rose6.8% in November from a year ago, according to a new Labor Department report released Friday, marking the highest increase since June 1982, when inflation hit 7.1%.

Also, the highest average price of all grades of gasoline combined was $3.49 per gallon for the month of November, the highest average for the entire year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). That number has since dropped only slightly to $3.35 a gallon.

Supply chain issues have also hit the U.S. economy, with massive port backlogs leading to empty store shelves during the crucial holiday shopping season.

Nearly three-quarters of those questioned in a Fox News national poll conducted last month said higher prices at the grocery store and the gas pumps are causing financial hardship.

The economy ranked as the top issue in the survey, and less than a quarter rated the economy positively, down 10 points from the beginning of Biden's presidency. The poll also indicated that inflation was the most pressing economic issue among Americans.

Crime wave

New data released last week by the Census Bureau revealed that residents of blue states have been fleeing to red states in droves in the past year. Some commentators have pointed to a nationwide crime surge in Democrat-led major cities, as well as strict COVID-19 restrictions in those same areas, as the reasoning behind the exodus.

Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., told Fox News last week that she believes the crime surge is a result of Biden and the Democratic Party trying to "vilify the very heroes that are putting their lives on the line" and a "lack of resources" and support for law enforcement from the federal government.

Only recently did the White House attempt to separate itself from progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who have downplayed the crime wave. White House press secretary Jen Psaki this month said the increase in smash-and-grab robberies in retailers in major cities was a "serious concern" and that federal law enforcement was being provided to assist.

About 36% of Americans support Bidens handling of crimes, according the ABC/Ipsos poll released Dec. 12. The percentage is down from an October ABC/Ipsos poll, which found 43% of people approved of Bidens handling of crime.

President Joe Biden, with Vice President Kamala Harris, arrives to speak before signing the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill into law during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

BIDEN'S MOST MEMORABLE CLASHES WITH REPORTERS IN 2021

BBB failure

Biden has also faced trouble in his own party after his landmark multitrillion-dollar Build Back Better Act failed to gather enough votes after months of party infighting. After Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced that he could not reach an agreement with Biden on the package, the White House launched an attack essentially characterizing him as a traitor to the party. The response irked fellow moderates and sowed further discord in the party as it tries to advance the presidents agenda with only razor-thin majorities in the House and Senate and the looming 2022 midterm elections.

Progressives have since called on Biden to bypass Congress and impose components of the BBB Act.

The failure to pass the bill came on the heels of the Democratic Partys devastating loss in Virginia, where Republican Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin eked out a win against former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe after trailing behind him in the polls for months.

All this while Biden faces mounting criticism in the mainstream media over his lack of press accessibility and unhappy staff who are reportedly eyeing the exits.

According to UC Santa Barbara's The American Presidency Project, Biden has done fewer than half of the 21 press conferences Trump did in his first year in office. Biden also set a presidential record by not holding a single news conference until 64 days into his term.

"Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd recently criticized Bidens White House as looking "like a White House from the '80s or '90s" that doesnt understand "how to work the 21st Century media environment."

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki and President Biden sit in Marine One prior to lifting off on the South Lawn of the White House Dec. 17, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Staffers at the White House are also reportedly so unhappy that they anonymously leaked to Politico in the hopes that senior staffers would be alerted to the lack of comradery in the workplace.

"A lot of the natural coordination that happens in a typically functioning White House has been lost, and there has been no proactive effort to make up for it through intentional team building," one White House official said.

This comes as Harris faces her own staff departures amid allegations shes a "bully" and fostering a toxic work environment. Her approval ratings are even worse than Bidens at 28%, according to polling last month.

Despite the troubles facing Biden heading into the new year, White House chief of staff Ron Klain drew mockery on social media late Sunday night after he retweeted a post calling 2021 not "all bad."

"A look back at 2021!" Klain wrote enthusiastically.

While Bidens approval rating dipped below 40% in mid-November, he has seen a slight increase since, with a national poll from Monmouth University saying earlier this month that he stands at 40% approval and a 50% disapproval.

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Biden quipped to "Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon earlier this month that he kept an eye on his approval ratings earlier in his presidency, "but now that theyre in the 40s, I don't pay attention."

The 79-year-old president has said he plans to run for reelection if his health allows it.

Fox News Brandon Gillespie, Paul Steinhauser, Emma Colton and Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.

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Joe Biden was the most powerful man in the world as it fell apart around him in 2021 - Fox News

The Democrats passed their Build Back Better reconciliation bill in the House without a single Republican vote, and they arent likely to get any Republican votes in the Senate either. Thus, whether it passes in the Senate depends on whether all 50 Senate Democrats vote for it.

At least one Democratic Senator has serious reservations about it, and I dont think he is the only one.

Sen. Joe ManchinJoe ManchinOn The Money Powell, Yellen face pressure on inflation Overnight Energy & Environment Presented by ExxonMobil Dems seek to preserve climate provisions Democrats wrangle to keep climate priorities in spending bill MORE (D-W.Va.) is concerned about a number of things in the bill, but I am going to discuss only his concern about the bills immigration parole provision, which would provide temporary lawful status and work authorization to more than 7 million undocumented aliens who have been living here continuously for more than ten years.

Manchin is not opposed to a legalization program; in fact, he has said that he is totally committed to trying to help immigrants but he does not think we should be establishing a legalization program while we are in the midst of a border crisis.

To be talking about a legalization program without border security is ludicrous. The average person turns on the TV and sees what's going on at the border, and it scares the bejesus out of him. If migrants think they can make an illegal entry and then get all the benefits that American citizens are entitled to, they're going to continue to come.

Manchin says previous immigration and amnesty proposals have included significant border security provisions to gain support from moderate Democrats and some Republicans. He would be open to that kind of deal.

That was the approach used to get bi-partisan support for the last big legalization program, which was established by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA).

Manchin also has said that he is not going to vote to overrule the Senate parliamentarian if she recommends removing the parole provision from the bill because it doesnt come within the rules for reconciliation.

The reconciliation process was established by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, to permit expedited consideration of certain tax, spending, and debt limit legislation.

Support from his constituents

Manchin is a West Virginia senator, and according to a Rasmussen poll released on Nov. 22, West Virginia voters overwhelmingly oppose the legalization provision in the reconciliation bill.

Survey findings

West Virginia voters arent the only ones who oppose the reconciliation bill for various reasons. A Rasmussen poll issued on Nov. 29 found that 51 percent of likely U.S. voters oppose the bill. Only 42 percent support it.

Other reasons for rejecting the legalization program

The Democrats are basing their legalization program on the parole provision in Section1182(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which provides the DHS Secretary with broad, discretionary authority to allow aliens who may not otherwise be admissible to the country under our immigration laws to enter and remain in the United States temporarily.

As I have noted before, the parole program in the reconciliation bill would violate restrictions in the law. The Democrats could have included an amendment to make their program permissible under the authority granted by the statutory parole provision, but they didnt.

Whats more, the federal immigration system cant handle the applications it already has. As of June 30, the backlog for employment authorization was 1.36 million applications. The Democrats should provide the resources to handle that caseload before adding 7 million more.

Finally, there would be no numerical limits on how many undocumented immigrants would be able to obtain temporary lawful status and work authorization. This could become the largest legalization program America has ever had, and Democrats are trying to pass it without bipartisan support by using a reconciliation process enacted to expedite the passage of budgetary measures.

I will be very surprised if Manchin is the only Democratic Senator who votes against the reconciliation bill if the legalization program is not taken out of it.

Nolan Rappaportwas detailed to the House Judiciary Committee as an executive branch immigration law expert for three years. He subsequently served as an immigration counsel for the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims for four years. Prior to working on the Judiciary Committee, he wrote decisions for the Board of Immigration Appeals for 20 years. Followhis blogathttps://nolanrappaport.blogspot.com.

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Manchin knows the legalization program must be removed from the reconciliation bill | TheHill - The Hill

The New York City Councils recent decision to give some 800,000 noncitizens the right to vote might, on the surface, seem just and appropriate. After all, those legal city residents can be said to endure (high) taxation without representation. But this stark departure from historical precedent has a number of serious flaws for those who truly believe in e pluribus unum a nation whose voters share essential civic ideals.

As a practical matter, the council action allows these new voters, such as illegal immigrants, to jump the line of those who have waited for years to prepare to become citizens. Thats a process that takes up to three years for those who have already qualified for the green card held by legal immigrants. Becoming a citizen requires one to pay a $725 fee and pass a 100-question citizenship test a process designed to make sure new voters are exposed to basic American history and principles.

The test that the council is allowing new voters to skip is not some formality. It tests knowledge with which any American voter should be familiar. First, its offered only in English which any immigrant with hopes of achieving economic success will need to master and which binds the nation together culturally. Just as important, however, is the content of the test. The council apparently feels its not important for voters to know about the Bill of Rights; that the U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land; to be able to define freedom of religion; to know what the branches of government are; or the name of their state capital.

Theres a lot more than what is listed above. Try taking the test yourself or checking to see if your high school-age child can pass. The point is this: The citizenship test is not voter suppression. Its crucial basic preparation for one to become an informed voter.

It also includes what is still called an oath of allegiance. The language is powerful and includes a pledge not unlike that which a new president swears that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic (and) that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. In moving naturalization ceremonies held regularly across the country, new citizens raise their hands to take an oath, having studied and saved for the chance to do so. The New York City Council is telling them it wasnt necessary, devaluing their achievement.

The right course of action for local government and civil society community groups, as well is to encourage legal immigrants to become citizens. Thats what New Yorks famed settlement houses did during our last great wave of immigration at the turn of the 20th century. Those local leaders understood that shared political principles as distinct from political views on any given issue are essential for a functioning American democracy. One practical step is to lower the cost of the citizenship test. Asking a married couple to pay almost $1,500 to become American citizens is a lot to ask of those making e-bike deliveries or flipping burgers.

Whats more, citizenship will allow for something the city council cannot: the right to vote in federal elections. As matters stand, congressional districts are drawn based on the number of residents, not the number of legal votes. That means that districts such as that of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-CortezAlexandria Ocasio-CortezNoncitizen voting doesn't pass this test McCarthy pleads with Republicans to stop infighting: 'Congress is not junior high' Ocasio-Cortez slams McCarthy's 'Ku Klux Klan caucus' after Omar death threat MORE (D-N.Y.) have far fewer voters and she receives far fewer votes than typical Republican districts with fewer immigrants. This truly is taxation without representation. These new immigrants can vote only if theyre citizens.

Lets hope the New York City Council action faces legal challenge and does not become law. Its bad for those it pretends to help and it sets a dangerous precedent for America.

Howard Husock is a senior fellow in domestic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he focuses on municipal government, urban housing policy, civil society, and philanthropy. He served on the Brookings Duke immigration Policy Roundtable in 2008-09.

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Noncitizen voting doesn't pass this test | TheHill - The Hill

With the drowning deaths of 27 migrants crossing the Channel from France to England, illegal migration from the Third World is front and center anew in European politics.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has proposed that France take back to its shores all migrants who cross the Channel illegally and come ashore in Britain.

In the run-up to French elections this April, a startling development suggests that resistance to illegal migration is spreading and the idea of dealing with it resolutely and unapologetically is taking root.

Marine Le Pen, president of the rightist National Rally, formerly the National Front, who is expected to reach the finals for president of France against Emmanuel Macron, is suddenly being challenged.

The rising star on the right is Eric Zemmour, who, writes The New York Times, "became one of France's best-selling authors in the past decade by writing books on the nation's decline fueled, he said, by the loss of traditional French and Christian values, the immigration of Muslim Africans bent on a reverse colonization of France, the rise of feminism and the loss of virility, and a 'great replacement' of white people."

Zemmour is being called "the Donald Trump of France." And he and Le Pen are now running third and second behind Macron in the polling to become the next president of France, which suggests the power of the issue on which they agree: uninvited and unwelcome Third-World migration.

"You feel like a foreigner in your own country," said Zemmour in his announcement speech Tuesday, declaiming, "We will not be replaced."

Neighboring Spain is gripped by the same concern. Refugees and migrants from the global south use Morocco as a base from which to breach the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on the African coast.

Spain has taken to pushing the intruders back into Morocco.

Madrid has accused Rabat of using the migrants as a diplomatic weapon to extort changes in Spanish policy.

Italy, whose native-born ethnic population has been in a steady decline, patrols the Mediterranean Sea to prevent migrants from Libya from reaching its shores. Drowning deaths are not uncommon. The Channel and the Mediterranean Sea are more formidable and unforgiving waters to cross than the Rio Grande.

Greece is attempting to keep Turkey from moving refugees and migrants from Middle East wars onto the Greek islands off Turkey's coast.

Half a decade ago, Turkey was bought off with billions of euros to prevent the millions of Arab and Muslim refugees within its borders from crossing over into the EU.

In the recent clash between Poland and Belarus, the weapon of choice for Alexander Lukashenko was migrants.

Brought into Belarus from the Mideast, they were moved to the Polish border, forcing Warsaw to deploy troops to keep thousands out of Poland. Lukashenko was exploiting the migrants to punish Poland and the EU for supporting sanctions on his regime.

After Europe united against him, Lukashenko moved the migrants away from the border and sent many back to Syria and countries whence they came.

In the hierarchy of European fears, the perceived threat to national identities that comes with mass migrations from the failed and failing states of the Third World appears to rank as a greater concern than the prospect of a Russian army driving toward the Rhine.

Most European nations have a birth rate below what is needed to replace their native-born ethnic populations. And as the founding peoples of these nations pass on, they are being replaced by peoples from what were once colonies that the old European empires controlled.

Most of these European nations have not had the experience with mass immigration the Americans have from the Irish migration of 1845-1849 to the millions from Central and Eastern Europe between 1890 and 1924.

Yet even the Americans had never known a migration of the magnitude of the one that began in 1965 and continues today, legal and illegal, a migration that has altered irreversibly the ethnic composition of the country of Ike and JFK.

In President Joe Biden's first year, over a million illegals breached the U.S. southern border along with hundreds of thousands of "got-aways" who made it into our country without any contact with border authority.

The rising resistance to illegal immigration in Europe is being denounced by Euro-elites as xenophobia and racism, and the proscribed term used to define it is the one the Times associates with Zemmour.

What is "The Great Replacement"? A hostile critic defines it thus:

"The Great Replacement Theory is an ethno-nationalist theory warning that an indigenous European e.g., white population is being replaced by non-European immigrants.

"The Great Replacement concept was popularized by French writer Renaud Camus in his 2012 book, 'Le Grand Remplacement' ('The Great Replacement')."

The English translation of Camus' book is entitled, "You Will Not Replace Us!" Growing numbers of Western peoples appear to fear exactly what it is that Zemmour and Camus say they fear.

Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of "Nixon's White House Wars: The Battles That Made and Broke a President and Divided America Forever." To find out more about Patrick Buchanan and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators website at http://www.creators.com.

Photo credit: PublicDomainPictures at Pixabay

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The West's Fear That Dare Not Speak Its Name, by Patrick Buchanan - Creators Syndicate