isotopes from several area hospitals and were attempting to build a home-made dirty bomb. Five young men were initially arrested, all born in the United States to Catholic or Protestant parents who had been radicalized.
On June 29th, President Powers announced on a two hour address to the nation that the United States would immediately fund the State of Israel to complete construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, if the Palestinian National Authority did not enter into peace negotiations with Israel by first unconditionally recognizing its existence, by September 1st. On that same day, the United States Embassy in Israel would open in Jerusalem.
During the first week of July, there were a series of police killings of African-American teenagers, some with videos and questionable tactics. For the next three weeks, there were growing weekend centered peaceful protests in major cities. On July 24th, a large group of white nationalists clashed with the peaceful protests in Minneapolis, resulting in massive riots throughout the city, requiring the Governor to call out the National Guard. August saw a continuation of riots in about a dozen cities. On July 30th, the Corps of Engineers reported that the Powers Border Wall was now 50% completed.
During the month of July 2033, the nation was gripped by a massive heat wave, with many states’ temperatures exceeding 90 degrees each day. The week of July 19th produced over 100 degrees throughout the Midwest. The heat wave was a contributor to the unrest in urban areas, and killed over 2,600 Americans during the month.
On August 1st, three pickups containing white nationalists entered a Native American reservation during a summer festival in Arizona, opening fire on the crowd of about 5,000 people. 137 men, women, and children were killed and 332 wounded. The nationalists were able to escape into Mexico. Two months later, President Powers pardoned them of any crimes, upon the recommendation of his Chief Policy Officer.
In early August, the United States began secret negotiations with the governments of Japan and Korea regarding a new defense agreement that would require these countries to pay the Americans and to consider arming them with nuclear weapons to counter China. During August, there was a five-day top secret American defense conference headed by the Vice President to develop the new Powers security doctrine. The Departments of State and Defense were directed to provide detailed planning to present to the President by October 1st for implementation in October 2034.
On August 13th, a federal court in northern California ruled that the United States was authorized to withhold federal payments to cities such as San Francisco who were sanctuary cities. The city of San Francisco appealed this decision to the federal appeals court in September, but the court refused to hear the issue. The United States Supreme Court eventually refused to hear the appeal from the city.
During August 2033, the first states began to address the proposed 28th Amendment. Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Montana, Wyoming, and Kansas legislatures ratified it. The legislatures of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, District of Columbia, Delaware, and Maryland voted against ratification. The amendment would need ratification from 39 states.
Elections on August 29th in Mexico were held to mass accusations of voter fraud and miscounting votes. The federal government there continued to be in crisis until early October, when a strong leader pulled together a government with his slogan, “Mexico stands strong against Powers.” Over the next three years, this new leader would work on opening Mexican goods to Europe and the Far East, and eliminating almost all trade with the United States.
Sometime in August 2033, President Powers approved a Department of Defense plan to enter Pakistan by a small force to capture all nuclear weapons in September. Concurrently, he sent his son (the United States Trade Representative) with State, Defense, and Commerce Department support to India to negotiate a new defense, economic, and trade deal with India if the United States solves its Pakistani problem (his son had no knowledge of the military attack nor did any staff members on the trip). On January 4, 2034, the United States signed a comprehensive treaty with India.
On August 29th, the United States published a listing of business, companies, and corporations that had moved headquarters or operations outside the country since January 1, 2020, and proposed legislation, penalties, import subsidies, etc. to Congress to address this anti-American behavior. On August 31st, the Attorney General announced he had laid off all but one employee of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights division during the month. On the same day, the United States Senate confirmed the nomination of Stephen Forman to the Supreme Court. He was sworn in by the Chief Justice on September 8th.
On September 1st, the Secretary of State reported that there had been no progress with the Palestinian National Authority on peace talks with Israel. The United States provided the State of Israel with $5 billion to fund construction in the West Bank. A small notice in the Federal Register said that the Department of State had hired a subsidiary of the TAP Infrastructure Corporation to coordinate these construction activities with Israel. The United State Embassy in Jerusalem opened for business on that day.
On September 2nd, a covert military force entered Pakistan territory to find, secure, and evacuate the 130 nuclear warheads in the country. Other forces attacked to destroy the plutonium reactor at the Khushab nuclear site, centrifuges at Kahuta, and other key sites. An electromagnetic pulse from a conventional source was fired at several cities and military bases before the attacks began, and the internet, telecommunications, and electric power failed during the attacks. Within 18 hours, all nuclear weapons were secured and being transported to outside the country (mostly to CIA sites in Afghanistan or aircraft carriers in the Indian Ocean). There were lingering questions of whether the attacks destroyed enough infrastructure to eliminate or set-back the Pakistani nuclear efforts.
President Powers announced the securing of the Pakistani nuclear weapons to protect them against an attack by Islamic terrorists during the halftime of a Labor Day college football game. No mention was made about the other attacks on nuclear infrastructure. The Pakistani government announced that the Americans had attacked its country, accused India of cooperating with the Americans, and showed pictures of Powers’ son meeting with Indian officials. Five Pakistani armored brigades then attacked across the Indian border, but Indian forces repulsed the attack aided by American air power. By September 8th, the Pakistanis entered into a cease fire with India.
On September 8th, an immigration judge ordered the deportation of 25 illegal immigrants, all men aged 21 through 34 years old with criminal backgrounds. These men were loaded into a prison bus at their detention center in western Texas on Saturday morning, shackled on their wrists and ankles, with a chain between the shackles, only allowing them to waddle at a slow pace. The bus proceeded towards the border, but suddenly veered onto a farm road and stopped about a mile from the Mexican border. The two guards and driver told the detainees to get out and walk in the direction of the border, into a box canyon. The guards and driver stayed with the bus. Three groups of detainees began to drift left or right, and the two guards fired several warning shots and directed them back on the path to the border.
About a half mile to the north of the bus on a nearby hilltop, there was a gathering of about 120 men and older teenagers. They were with a group of white nationalists who had gathered for a hunt for mountain lions. The group had gathered in the morning, having breakfast and some morning hangover drinks, and were preparing to leave on all-terrain and four-wheel drive vehicles for the hunt. They heard the rifle fire, and peered down into the box canyon seeing a prison bus, and groups of orange-glad individuals moving towards the border. A few minutes later, a local Deputy Sheriff pulled up in his police SUV, and almost out of breath, told that the crowd that illegal immigrants were escaping, that they were rapists and murders, and he needed a posse. He swore them all in as temporary deputies, and told them that the escapees were considered armed and dangerous, and they
could shoot to kill after giving them a verbal warning to stop and surrender.
The mob quickly hopped into their vehicles to pursue the escapees. By this time, some of the illegal immigrants had nearly reached the border, finding their way blocked by a 50-foot wide ditch that was about 200-feet deep and stretched between the walls of canyon about two hundred yards. Some tried to climb the walls, and then turned north to seek another escape. Shots began to be fired, and in about ten minutes, all the immigrants had been shot dead. Two hunters were also killed by friendly fire. At this point, some construction workers appeared, dragging bodies, and throwing them into the ditch. The mob helped out, and then the crowd watched as equipment was started up. About five feet of concrete was poured into the bottom of the ditch, covering the bodies, including the two dead hunters. Suddenly, food trucks appeared, and the hunters were treated to a Texas BBQ dinner and alcoholic drinks. The nationalist group agreed that this was a lot of fun and planned to have monthly hunts like this one in the future.
Carlos Gomez watched all of this unfold from a hidden overhang on