the canyon walls. He was an able free climber, and when the detainees were released from the bus, he found a hard rock to break his shackles on his wrists and ankles, and this delay was worth it because it allowed him to quickly get to the border area ahead of the other 24 men. He surveyed the situation of the large ditch, and made the immediate decision to climb. A couple other immigrants arriving later saw him climbing steadily up the wall, tried to climb the canyon walls, but were hindered by their bonds and chains, and the hunters quickly shot at them, causing them to fall to the ground. Gomez hid behind some rocks, out of sight.

  Gomez was a lifelong theft, but he shot a store clerk dead who swung a tire iron at him and he fired in self-preservation mode. He watched three efforts by the hunting party to count all the bodies, and they kept coming up with 27, apparently one person had been shot so many times his body split into two when it fell into the ditch, and that was why they counted incorrectly. He was horrified by the pouring of the concrete, thinking that fate had intervened his being down there. After everyone left, Gomez resumed climbing, and crossed the Mexican border at night, deciding not to return home but to go to Mexico City under an assumed name. Sometime in early 2037, Brown or Jones or Smith found him, and heard his story. The President of Mexico’s staff also found him in October 2037, and this enabled the President to form a Latin American coalition military force.

  We now know from a review of presidential papers and the classified transcripts of the war crime trials that Stephen Schmidt had a say in the appointment of many of the detention center commanders in ICE, and that at least five detention centers containing illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds began to have similar monthly hunting parties. It was estimated at trial that over 4,500 were killed over the next two years (the detention centers kept very few records of their activities).

  On September 13th, The New York Times published a study on violence on peoples of color by suspected white nationalists. It was able to document over 415 instances since January 20th killing or injuring over 2,000 victims. It also cited that crime was down nation-wide by 15% so far in 2033.

  On September 15th through 17th, a hurricane hit the western coast of Florida and the Mobile Bay area of Alabama. A dozen folks were killed due to high winds, flooding, automobile accidents, or large tree limbs falling, with damages estimated close to $2 billion. About ten newly opened detention centers were completely flooded, drowning about 300 immigrants who were abandoned in their locked basement cells. The detention centers were bull dozed and demolished within five days after the storm, and there were no media reports of the deaths of immigrants.

  Two days later, on September 19th, Detroit, Cleveland, Erie, Buffalo and northern New England were subject to an early lake-effect snow storm, producing three feet of snow and iced highways for three days. States had to call out their National Guard to free stranded motorists and evacuate those without power or heat to emergency centers. Over twenty were killed due to this storm, and it caused almost $500 million in damages.

  On September 29th, the Departments of Labor and Education, and the Environmental Protection Agency, closed down, laying off 11,700, 4,400, and 15,400 employees, respectively. The DOL Bureau of Labor Statistics (2,500 employees) transferred to the Department of Commerce. The DOL Mine Safety and Health Administration (1,000 employees) merged into the DOL Occupational Safety and Health Administration (2,200 employees) and transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services. States were directed to pick up any necessary federal functions.

  On the same day, the Department of Defense said that they would no longer recruit females into the armed forces. Females with over 15 years active or reserve duty would be honorably discharged and provided full retirement benefits. Other females would be given ten years of additional 401K retirement benefits and honorably discharged in the next six months.

  IMPLEMENTATION (OCTOBER 2033 - MARCH 2034)

  On October 4th, the Department of Health and Human Services announced several new programs. New mental health services would be opened up in Veterans centers and clinics and would be available to anyone eligible for Medicare or Medicaid as well as Veterans. Eventually, mental health services would be expanded to the general public over the next year. The Department also announced a program of funding relocations of foster children from urban areas to rural areas. It also announced its new jobs programs for urban youths.

  On the same day, the Department of Homeland Security announced that ICE had detained 4.7 million illegal immigrants with criminal or suspected criminal or terrorist activities. Due to backlogs in immigration courts, only about 3,500 had been deported outside of the United States. Few countries were accepting them, and the United States was cutting off foreign and military aid to them. Unfortunately, China followed this activity and began to offer aid in similar or higher amounts for favorable trade agreements.

  ICE also announced that they would now begin detaining other illegal immigrants. The Federal Register reported on October 2nd that a subsidiary of the TAP Infrastructure Corporation had been awarded a competitive bid to build 1,200 more detention centers. Presidential records reveal a transmail from the chief financial officer of the TAP Infrastructure Corporation informing President Powers that this would generate $114 billion in profits over the next three years.

  On October 6th, the Department of Transportation announced distribution of grants to each state, a total of $983 billion over the next several years to fund improved roads, bridges, railways, and airports. The Pennsylvania and Ohio state transportation departments had three dozen projects underway by the end of the month.

  On October 18th, the Department of Justice announced charges against the current and formal Board of Directors of the Anthony Foundation for receipt of illegal contributions from foreign governments. The Attorney General announced that Diane Anthony’s trial would begin on November 8th and televised. He also announced charges in Salt Lake City against the terrorist group Black Life Matters and the arrests of about two dozen individuals. Forty five individuals were also arrested for committing voter fraud during the November 2032 elections.

  On October 24th, the Department of the Treasury announced a plan to refinance the national debt with China and other nations. The Stock Market lost 15% of its value that day and continued to have major losses for weeks. The American middle class lost almost 35% of the value in their retirement funds through the end of 2033. The Department also announced its plans to put the United States back on the gold standard by the end of 2034. Treasury said that they had completed an audit of the Federal Reserve and would be recommending to Congress some legislation to fix issues.

  In late October, Congress debated the idea of privatizing Social Security and Medicare. AARP and other groups raised a major public campaign against this bill. After about three weeks of this, Congressional leaders decided to terminate any efforts to privatize these government programs. The Army Corps of Engineers reported at the end of October 2033 that the Powers Border Wall was now 60% completed.

  In September and October, the state legislatives of Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina ratified the 28th Amendment. However, the legislatives of California, Oregon, Washington, New Hampshire, and Vermont voted it down. With 13 states disapproving the amendment, it would never be able to obtain approval from 39 states, though additional states did continue to ratify it until 2040. The amendment was considered inoperative and rendered moot.

  As we now know from reviewing presidential records, the FBI and NSA began a massive and covert surveillance of Muslims, mosques, churches, Hispanics, and Black groups during late 2033. White nationalists were told of these efforts by members of the Powers Administration, and began to report on these groups, much of it not true. This led to dozens of arrests for suspected criminal behavior due to this private citizen reporting.

  The televised trial of Diane Anthony began on November 8, 2033. The United States Attorney
for the District of Columbia presented eight criminal and two misdemeanor charges. For the next two weeks, the prosecution presented their case against Anthony. After it rested, Anthony’s defense attorney asked the judge to dismiss all charges. The judge ruled against the defense. After a break for the Thanksgiving holiday, the defense spent five days with their witnesses. On December 6th, the federal judge found Diane Anthony guilty of gross negligence in the handling of government records and sentenced her to six months’ probation. On December12th, another federal judge dismissed charges against the Anthony Foundation due to the lack of any credible evidence in violating federal laws.

  In December, the Secretary of Defense met with his counterparts in NATO of the United States desire to renegotiate the treaty in 2034 if any country in the alliance failed to spend 2% of its gross national product on its defense. Edward presented a list of what the United States had calculated the cost of defending each country in NATO on average over the last five years. He was grilled on the valuation of nuclear deterrence. Talks would commence and carry on for the next 18 months.

  Secretly during late