Don't Let Anyone Say President Biden Is Doing Nothing at the Southern Border

Check this out. For any and every member of the Republican Party who might try to say President Biden is ignoring or doing nothing for or about the situation on the Southern border:

“At the end of March, there were more than 5,000 children in Customs & Border Protection Patrol stations. Today, that number is approximately 600…. The amount of time children spend in CBP facilities is down by 75% — from 131 hours at the end of March to under 30 hours now.” --Heather Cox Richardson

The Sad Truth of This President and Presidency

Republicans, you were played.

Unfortunately, we all have to suffer right along with the rest of you.

Fortunately, you can't fool people, Americans, forever.

Trust in Trump's word plummets, 

as harsh realities sink in

Thanks, Republicans.

It's Nearly Unbelievable This Man Even BECAME President

There is an excellent article out from the end of June on this President.

100 Reasons Trump Is Unfit to Be President

And it spells exactly that--100 reasons why this man, this Donald J Trump is provenly unfit to be President.  It's a stunning list, even though most all or all we are familiar with. Herein are just the first 18 which gets us only to the Fall of 2016.

1   1985-1994

Reported $1.17 billion in business losses over the decade. Trump “appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer,” according to the New York Times.

2    May 1, 1989

Took out $85,000-worth of full-page ads in New York newspapers calling for the death penalty for the Central Park Five—whose convictions were later vacated after DNA evidence proved their innocence. Trump never apologized.

3   1990s

Contrary to his story of being a self-made billionaire, Trump received the equivalent today of at least $413 million from his father’s real-estate empire, much of it transferred through suspect tax-dodging schemes.

4   1991-2009

Declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy for his various businesses six times.

5   2005

Bragged about grabbing women “by the pussy” in a conversation with Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush picked up on a hot mic.

6   2011-2016

Promoted birtherism against President Barack Obama—the false claim that Obama was not born in the United States, that his birth certificate was fraudulent, and that therefore he was constitutionally ineligible for the presidency.

7   2015-2016

Attacked in sexist and demeaning ways women who raised critical questions about his character. See: Megyn Kelly, Carly Fiorina, Hillary Clinton.

8   2015-present

Denies accusations of sexual misconduct, ranging from unwanted kissing to rape, by calling the women “liars” and not “his type.”

9   June 16, 2015

Announced his presidential campaign by describing America as “a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems.” Mexicans coming to America, he said, were “bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”

10   July 18, 2015

Said Vietnam POW John McCain is “not a war hero” and “I like people who weren’t captured.”

11   November 22, 2015

Claimed that “thousands and thousands” of people in New Jersey’s Arab communities cheered on 9/11.

12   2016 campaign season

Encouraged violence. Said that he’d like to punch a protester “in the face”; that his supporters should “knock the hell” out of protesters—“I promise you, I’ll pay the legal bills”; and that the police should not protect suspects’ heads when loading them into squad cars.

13   May 11, 2016

Refused to release his tax returns for public inspection after having previously promised to do so. On other occasions, he falsely claimed he could not release them because he was under audit. When, in 2019, Congress subpoenaed Trump’s tax returns, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin refused to comply—kicking off cases that went to the Supreme Court.

14   May-June 2016

Said Judge Gonzalo Curiel is unfit to rule on a lawsuit filed by Trump University students because “he’s a Mexican” (in fact, the judge is an American citizen born in Indiana). Trump would later settle the lawsuit for $25 million.

15   July 27, 2016

Called on Russia to hack and release Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s emails.

16   July 30, 2016

Denigrated the family of U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed in 2004 while serving in Iraq, after Khan’sTrump University father delivered remarks at the Democratic National Convention.

17   July 30, 2016

Broke with U.S. policy of supporting Ukraine over Russia’s invasion of Crimea, saying: “The people of Crimea, from what I’ve heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were.”

18   Fall 2016

Before Election Day, repeatedly hyped unfounded fears of a “rigged” election. Then, after Election Day, he stated, without any evidence, “I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.”

Money, ladies and gentlemen. Money, big money from corporations and the already-wealthy and then heavy gerrymandering, coast to coast, and voter ID laws and so, then, the Electoral College, all got this man, this small, thoughtless, ignorant, reckless, now dangerous man into the highest office of the land, the presidency of our United States.

To that I must one more time say, thanks, Republicans!  That's quite the guy you foisted on us all.

This is all on you. For eternity.

Note to Trump Supporters

All true. Facts.

But wait. There's more. Much more.

Mexico just closed their border with us, the US, in a case of deep, deep irony and the EU is opening its borders to many nations but THE US ISN'T ONE OF THEM. Also, we, the US, have the largest number of coronavirus cases--and deaths--in the entire world, China and India included. Etc.

Thanks, Republicans.

It's bad enough you were and are suckers. You didn't have to bring us, the nation, along with you all.

This Is How Insane, Obcene and Immoral Our US "Healthcare" Is-- And How Overpriced

This is how insanely expensive US healthcare is.

There is a fantastic, eye-opening article in today's Sunday New York Times that spells it all out and that every adult American should read or at least be aware of.

A Mexican Hospital, an American Surgeon, and a $5,000 Check (Yes, a Check)

This patient, this woman was flown to Mexico, to Cancun, from here in the States, Wisconsin, specifically, along with her surgeon in order to get a full knee replacement.  That's one thing. You'd think that would be crazy by itself, right? After all, we have the "best healthcare in the world." don't we?

But wait, there's more. A lot more.

• The cost of her flight was included in all the costs and charges
• Her doctor was also flown there for the surgery
• Her doctor's flights down and back plus a hotel room for him were all included in these costs
•  Her doctor was paid 3 times--3 times--what he would have earned here in the States doing the same surgery
•  She received a check for $5000 to do it and then the kicker---
•  It still cost less than it would have here, in country

"The hospital costs of the American medical system are so high that it made financial sense for both a highly trained orthopedist from Milwaukee and a patient from Mississippi to leave the country and meet at an upscale private Mexican hospital for the surgery."

Repeating, this is how monumentally stupid, insane, obscene and immoral our for-profit healthcare is here in America.

Insane.

God, we're stupid.

I say again, we are the only, the only industrialized nation that does this, that ties health and healthcare to profit.

US Immigration Over 100 Years

"We cannot afford to continue to use hundreds of thousands of immigrants merely as industrial assets while they remain social outcasts and menaces any more than fifty years ago we could afford to keep the black man merely as an industrial asset and not as a human being."

- Theodore Roosevelt, in speech to the Knights of Columbus, Carnegie Hall, New York, 12 October 1915.

Link:  Tomgram: Aviva Chomsky, The Criminalization of Immigrants From Clinton to Trump

That Wall On the Mexico Border?

On that wall President Trump wants to build.

And why it's not likely.


If not actually, totally downright, out and out stupid.

And impossible.

More:

Head Of Border Patrol Union Weighs In On Trump's Wall Plans

Border Wall Would Cut Across Land Sacred To Native Tribe

Landowners Likely To Bring More Lawsuits As Trump Moves 

On Border Wall

Southern Border Wall: Campaign Slogan Meets Reality

The Environmental Consequences Of A Wall On The U.S.-Mexico Border

Things I Can Hardly Wait For With Trump

Yes, things I can hardly wait for with Donald J. Trump next year.

I can hardly wait until he realizes he can't actually build a wall across the US' Southern border, between us and Mexico.

Trump's Impossible Wall

Trump's Wall: Impractical, Impolitic, 

Impossible

No One Would Build Donald Trump's 

Mexico Border Wall

Here's Why Donald Trump's Mexico Wall 

Will Never, Ever Happen

An Engineer Explains Why Trump's Wall 

Is So Implausible

I can hardly wait until he realizes there is no way for one man, one government, one nation, to force another to pay for a border wall.

I can hardly wait until his followers and supporters get word the US will never build this Southern wall.

This hit yesterday. I can hardly wait for his Right Wing and Republican friends to flip on this little announcement.

Trump just announced he will not repeal Obamacare

And this is just for starters.

I've said this before about other, again, Right Wingers and Republicans but it's especially true of Donald Trump.

What I don't hate, I love.

Happy National Taco Day!

National Taco Day - Oct 4, 2016

Happy national taco day! - NBCActionNews.com - Kansas City

Celebrate National Taco Day (October 4th)

The Lies, Impossibilities--and Racism--of Donald Trump's Presidential Campaign

For once and for all, let's be clear. This needs to be said. Far too many times in the past and repeatedly now, with Donald Trump running his fateful campaign for the presidency and saying he and we will "send 11 million 'illegal immigrants' back to Mexico'", when, in fact, they come from all over South America, it should also be noted, here's the facts, here's what needs to be said:

Trump and Cruz Want to Deport 

11 Million Immigrants. That's Literally Impossible

You Can't Deport 11 Million People - 

Center for Immigration Studies

And if it were possible? What about the cost? What would that be?

Deporting 11 Million People Could Cost 

$400-600 Billion, Study Finds

And even if it were possible--and it's not--you can't try to deport more than 11 million people AND go on a spending spree at the same time, as he has proposed.

You Can't Deport 11.4 Million People and Simultaneously Grow the Military

And check this out, anyway. Mr. Trump and his Right Wing, racist cohorts are so concerned about what they call "illegals", as we know. What's the status of all of them, anyway? What, if anything are we doing about them lately?  Well, great question. Here's what we're doing.

Obama has deported more immigrants 

than any other president

U.S. deportations of immigrants 

reach record high

And this same title is from only 3 days ago, to be clear.

Obama Has Deported More People 

Than Any Other President

And the fact is, these immigrants to our nation pay far more IN to our country than they take out, besides the fact that most are showing up and working at their jobs.

Study Finds Illegal Immigrants Pay $11.8B in Taxes

Here are the facts:

• It's logistically impossible to deport more than 11 million people
• It would be outrageously expensive, even if it were possible

And then, we have to ask ourselves, is this who we are? Is this who we want to be? Does not the idea of rounding up more than 11 million people in this nation, people that, some, anyway, have lived here for years and plenty who have family here, do we want to be the ones searching these people out and "sending them back where they came from"?

Does that not remind anyone, anyone of the Nazis, rounding up Jews in the 30s in Germany?

And that's who we want to be?

The fact that any, any candidate for the highest office in our nation is running on this platform and, for that matter, the platform of building a wall, too, across our Southern border and that it would be a centerpiece of his candidacy and that he would get as far as he has on all this nonsense is just stunning. Let's be clear on that, too. Building a wall across our Southern border is also impossible.

Trump's Wall: Impractical, Impolitic, Impossible

And again, even if this Southern wall along our border with Mexico WERE possible, the cost of it would be outrageous, even by itself, let alone if one thought they could deport 11+ million people.

This is what Trump's border wall could cost US

An Engineer does the Cost Estimate of Trump's Wall

As an interested civil engineer, I decided to do some number crunching to see how incredibly expensive this particular project will be. Thankfully, engineer Ali F. Rhuzkan already provided material estimates for the wall. I simply took his material estimates, found national average costs, and totaled them up. Let’s break it down step by step. The previous calculations stated that the wall will be built using pre-cast (place and set at indoor facility and transport harden concrete panels to job site) and cast-in-place (wet concrete placed at site) concrete. We will also need to include the steel rebar in the material costs. 

Going off of materials estimate we have… 167,272,000 cubic yards of cast-in-place concrete at $93/cubic yard = $15,556,296,000 1,030,000 segments of 10’ pre-cast panels at $17/panel = $17,510,000 2,500,000 tons of steel rebar at $600/ton = $1,500,000,000 Total Material Cost Estimate: 

$17,073,806,000

That's 17 billion dollars.

Just to keep people out.  Or, rather, just to TRY to keep people out.

Then there would be the cost of maintenance, manning and upkeep. From the same article, above:

The U.S. government would have to pay to maintain the wall, which could cost as much as $750 million a year, according to an analysis conducted by Politico. And then if it wanted to man it with personnel, that would be an additional cost — border patrol has an operating budget of $1.4 billion for 21,000 agents.

And again, a wall?

Does that not remind anyone who knows anything about history of Nazi Germany and their wall?

Finally, here's one last insanity and this is from the last 10 hours, from Mr. Trump's trip yesterday to Mexico.

Donald Trump continues vow to build wall and have Mexico pay for it

Anyone who knows anything about international politics knows that one nation cannot, patently cannot, make another nation pay for anything. Well, nothing except, after the fact, possibly paying for war retributions. And that would have to be decided from an international court, long after the war was over and the losing, aggressor side would have to be found liable for damages.

The fact is, the facts are, the presidency of Donald J. Trump are based on impossibilities, at least, and maybe emotionalism, if not out-and-out misrepresentations, if not lies.

Why are we paying any attention to this man, this Donald Trump?

And why is he seriously being considered for the highest office in our nation?

Link:  The Softening: Trump Appears To Be Getting Away With It

Question for the Republican Party

How on Earth do you have a presidential candidate, on the last night of your big, once every four years political convention, go on for over an hour, promising the sun and the moon and the stars and balanced budgets and a wall between us and Mexico and equality to the LGBTQ community (who saw that coming?) and who knows what else and then, at the very end, once he's finally, finally finished, how is it you play "Can't Always Get What You Want" by the Rolling Stones?

Donald Trump plays 'You Can't Always Get What You Want' after RNC speech

How do you do that?

Was that code for "Suckers! You're no way getting all I just promised you!"?

What the heck was that?

It's not even the first time this was a thing for The Donald.

'You can't always get what you want,' 

Stones tell Trump

It must be his way of telling the Stones, "up yours."

Hopefully.

That or he just told the American public that all he just promised was nonsense.

Not that that wouldn't make some twisted, Trump-sense.

On the border crisis just now (guest post)

I’ve been watching media coverage of angry Americans at our southern border waiving signs and yelling slogans, insisting that the children – most of whom are refugees of the drug war we’ve created -- “go home” to the violence and death that war has created, and I wonder who these angry Americans are. 

I also wonder where their parents or grandparents or other ancestors came from, and what they were fleeing from or hoped for when they landed in America. I’m not suggesting we allow in anyone who wants to come here, but these are desperate children. Whatever happened to the generosity, decency, and big-heartedness of this country? 

Emma Lazarus’s poem engraved in 1903 on the Statue of Liberty reads: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of our teeming shore. Send these, the homeless tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” 

Why are we now allowing the hateful side of America to take center stage?

--Robert Reich

Slideshow from CBS of what the children's conditions are in Nogales, AZ:  http://fb.cbs5az.com/1phfGtS

I only have two questions

1) If the President says his administration did nothing illegal in the "fast and furious" weapons case down South, why won't they release the information?

2) If Julian Assange is innocent, as he says, of any sexual abuse of any kind in Europe, why doesn't he face the charges?

Links: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/white-house-denies-fast-furious-cover-obama-full-212027627.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/9349556/Julian-Assange-WikiLeaks-founder-could-be-holed-up-in-Ecuadorian-embassy-for-years.html

Big weekend for the city

Yes sir, there are a great deal of things going on in Kansas City this weekend.

First up is one of the year's best First Friday in the Crossroads because it's not blistering hot or freezing cold right now. That should be a terrific turnout.

Second is the Brookside Art Fair.

Next up is Cinco de Mayo so every Mexican restaurant in the area will also be packing them in.

Finally--it's a short list, if even a full weekend--"The Avengers" movie opens. I expect it will be packed, for those interested.

So, whatever you're doing this weekend, y'all, have a great time. Let's be careful out there.

All the way to the top of Wal-mart, apparently

I say again, if they broke both Mexican laws--and it looks as though they did--and they broke American laws--and that's been shown already, in the New York Times article--then they need to be charged and prosecuted in both countries. Link: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/busted-wal-mart-caught-massive-bribery-scandal-goes-150100011.html

The new Wal-Mart, Mexico banking brouhaha

In case you didn't see it, there was a big, rather significaant, if not important article in yesterday's New York Times about Wal-Mart's Mexico banking company: Vast Mexico Bribery Case Hushed Up by Wal-Mart After Top-Level Struggle Confronted with evidence of widespread corruption in Mexico, top Wal-Mart executives focused more on damage control than on rooting out wrongdoing, an examination by The New York Times found.

There are far too many details for me to go on about it here. Suffice it to say, it should be huge, if it isn't totally ignored. I'd like to know three things: First, are there any charges that need to be filed here in the US against whomever is involved?

Next, are there any charges that need to be filed in Mexico? Personally, I hope this will be pursued by the press and justice systems of both countries and that if they find any wrongdoing, they are prosecuted to the full extent of the laws in both countries.

Finnally, I'd like to see if any international laws were broken, too, as well as any other nation's laws, in addition to Mexico's, and if they're prosecutable. This is, after all, the company that wants to be cleared as a banking company in this country, too, as they've made clear. I think for most Americans, it will be extremely illuminating that Wal-Mart is a banking company, also, in Mexico, besides a retailer. I hope it's fascinating just where these revelations go, in positive ways. Meaning, if laws were broken, I hope everyone liable is held accountable, not the least being corporate Wal-Mart, anywhere and everywhere they may have broken any laws. Keep in mind, that Wal-mart all but owns Arvest Bank here in the States, too. (See last link, below).

Links: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/business/at-wal-mart-in-mexico-a-bribe-inquiry-silenced.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120422; http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/22/8-revelations-from-walmart-s-mexican-bribery-scandal.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thedailybeast%2Farticles+%28The+Daily+Beast+-+Latest+Articles%29; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arvest_Bank

Yet more examples--ugly ones, this time--of how the US is not "Number 1"

"The United States ranks 31st of the 34 countries that make up the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) in terms of the percentage of our population that qualifies as poor. Of the 34 member states, only Mexico, Chile and Israel are worse off than we are. The UK (at 11%), Germany (8.9%) and France (7.2%) are all much lower. The OECD average is 11%." And there are many, many more statistics within this video, making Mr. Zakaria's point. The thing is, this kind of reporting is an example why Conservatives, the Right Wing, Republicans and others say American media is "Liberal." It reminds me, once again, of the now-famous quote from one Helder Camara: "When I fed the poor, they called me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a Communist." Links: http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/12/zakaria-mitt-you-need-to-worry-about-the-very-poor/; http://www.oecd.org;

Dio de los Muertos

What a cool idea. Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Dead

America flaunts international law, more, again, still

First, President George W. Bush and Dick Cheney trounced international law by pre-emptively and unilaterally attacking Iraq for their 2nd Iraq War, against both popular opinion and, far worse, international law. We've been paying for that with soldiers lives, American prestige and money and materiel ever since. Next, there were "reports that the Obama administration had flown a Somali man accused of ties to terrorism to New York to face prosecution after holding and interrogating him at sea for more than two months." Yeehaw. At least we're consistent, huh? Now, finally today, anyway we find that Governor Rick Perry and the State of Texas "has executed a Mexican national for the kidnapping and rape of a 16-year-old San Antonio girl. Humberto Leal Garcia, 38, was put to death less than two hours after the U.S. Supreme Court, by a 5-to-4 vote, rejected pleas from the Obama administration for a delay to avoid what it called serious international repercussions." Here's where the problems come in regarding international law: "Texas authorities failed to inform him of his right to speak with officers from the Mexican consulate and failed to inform the consulate that a Mexican national had been arrested. Both of those failures violated a 1963 treaty signed by the U.S. Indeed, the consular access provision was added to the treaty at the insistence of the United States." But now, here's the tricky part, at least for the US--while we repeatedly trounce international law as shown by these 3 instances and more, regarding this last one, the US actually likes to use this treaty for its own citizens. Background: "The U.S. relies on the treaty to secure legal help and often to win release of Americans imprisoned abroad, some in countries such as Iran, Libya and Syria. Last year alone the U.S. invoked the treaty for 3,500 Americans imprisoned in other countries." So we like to invoke this law for our own citizens but for people of other countries and their governments, we figure "screw you guys, we're going our own way on this." If we were in school, the US would get a checkmark in the "Doesn't get along with others" column, at least. Can you say "blatant hypocrisy"? Trouble is, executing this Mexican National last evening was good for Texas Governor Rick Perry's presidential run that isn't even official yet. So one Humberto Leal Garcia died last night so Rick Perry could be shown as tough on crime and help his popularity. Yahoo, huh? Isn't that just terrific? I wonder what international laws we'll disregard next. And some people wonder why we have a not-so-great-name and reputation in some parts of the world. Links: http://www.representativepress.org/ViolatingInternationalLaw.html; http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/cra0868.htm; http://ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/u.s.-may-have-violated-domestic-and-international-law-capturing-and-holding-somali-months-sea; http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/texas-executes-mexican-national-after-supr; http://news.yahoo.com/texas-executes-mexican-court-stay-rejected-233305430.html; http://news.yahoo.com/un-official-us-execution-leal-broke-intl-law-160400028.html

United States of America: 4th highest poverty rate in the world

You read it right. The United States of America, 4th most poverty-ridden population IN THE WORLD. I never thought I'd see that but it's from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and on The Huffington Post today: #4 Highest Poverty Rate in OECD: US The United States has a GDP per capita (price purchase parity) of around $47,000 and a population of over 300 million. The United States has the largest economy of any country in the world-- about the same size as the second (China) and third (Japan) largest national economies combined when measured using price purchase parity. It is rated as having a very high degree of development by the Human Development Index. The good news? We're not as bad as Turkey. The bad news? We're down here with Mexico (No.1), Israel (2) and Chile (3). So much for winning the "Cold War", huh? Yikes. This is so not where I think we all thought we were, is it? Links: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/howard-steven-friedman/5-oecd-countries-with-the_b_877368.html#s290783&title=4_Highest_Poverty http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organisation_for_Economic_Co-operation_and_Development