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

Immigrants Are Bad For America, Mr. Trump?

Immigrants are bad for America? Bad for our country? Our nation? Really, Mr. Trump? Republicans?

Forget that we're a nation of immigrants, of course, this article points out exactly why we, uh, actually NEED IMMIGRANTS?

'This will be catastrophic': Maine families face elder boom, worker shortage in preview of nation's future

A bit from the article:

“The disconnect between Maine’s aging population and its need for young workers to care for that population is expected to be mirrored in states throughout the country over the coming decade, demographic experts say. And that’s especially true in states with populations with fewer immigrants, who are disproportionately represented in many occupations serving the elderly, statistics show.

Care workers in Maine were paid about $11.37 an hour in 2017, according to an AARP report, with a 2019 minimum wage of $11 an hour. As Kristi Penny, who has cared for Honey for four years, noted over the phone: ‘Even Dunkin’ Donuts pays you more.’
So actually, folks--this is especially to the anti-immigrant crowd--AMERICA COULD USE AND IN FACT, NEEDS IMMIGRANTS.

You racist rocket scientists.

To Be Clear: There Is No Immigration Crisis at the Border

Let's look at the facts.

This was from December, 2017, a year ago.

Arrests For Illegal Border Crossings 

Hit 46-Year Low

Last Summer, June, 2018

Border Crossings Have Been Declining for Years

Also June last year, from Forbes Magazine.

There Is No Crisis At The Border - 

And DHS Stats Prove It

November 27, 2018, just this past Fall.

Undocumented immigration population in USA reaches 12-year low

Backing that last one up, this is from the same month and the very Right Wing Wall Street Journal.

Illegal Immigration to the U.S. Hit a Low Point in 2016

Let's be clear, folks. Let's put this to rest. 

There is no crisis at the Southern border of any kind and we certainly don't need to be spending 5 billion dollars on a wall---that would be ineffectual, to boot.

Do we need immigration reform?  Absolutely.

Have the Republicans in Congress been fighting it for years?

Yes sir and ma'am, they absolutely have. But no one is telling that story.

Meanwhile, look what this Republican Party's tantrum may do to us here in the country.

US shutdown leads Fitch to send Triple-A rating warning

And here's what it and he is doing to government employees.

'I'm Scared': TSA Families 

Fear Falling Behind On Bills

The credit rating company Fitch has publicly warned today that we, the US, risk losing our AAA credit rating because of this Republican Party government shutdown, should it continue. Meanwhile, this Republican Party President warned he would be only too willing to let the shutdown go on for weeks or even months.

What the heck?

He's always gotten his way up to now so why shouldn't this, too, go his way?

Right?

Finally, not even the people down there at the Southern border think there's any crisis.

Border Residents Remain Skeptical About The Need For An Expanded Wall

No wall.

Let's be done with this, get the government back open and people and the nation working again.

The Complete, Total, Even Outrageous Hypocrisy of This Donald J. Trump

You can't really comprehend the really complete and total, utter hypocrisy and even stupidity of Trump's "Muslim ban"--because that's what it is, let's face it--until you see this very brief (3 minutes, 36 seconds) video from Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times.



And besides his grandfather, think, too, of Mr. Trump's wife.

Besides being a nearly unimaginable hypocrite, the man doesn't know America's own history.

"Bring me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free..."

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.

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

On Jesu Cristo

Quote from FB friend Diana Pleasant-Hughes' page:

“Let’s remember, Jesus was a Jewish man of color, born homeless to an unwed teenager, who spent his formative years as an illegal immigrant before returning to his home country to hang out with twelve men, prostitutes, and socially untouchable tax collectors while he taught a radical social doctrine of equality, love, and forgiveness that included paying taxes, free healthcare, and the sharing of resources within a community.”

Link:  The Real Face Of Jesus - What Did Jesus Look Like?

On this Republican DHS Shutdown Threat

From Senator Barbara Boxer on the Senate floor, yesterday:

We all know Republicans won in huge numbers in the 2014 election, and they took over the United States Senate and they run it. They run it. Or at least they're trying to run it. And let's be clear, less than eight weeks after they took over the Senate, we are facing a shutdown; a shutdown of the very agency that protects the health, the safety, the lives, of the American people - the Department of Homeland Security.

They're shutting down the program that funds our police officers back home, our firefighters, our first responders. Any way you look at it, this is a national disgrace. And think about what our friends abroad, and those who are not our friends, are thinking about this.

Republicans say, 'Oh, we're in danger, we have to go to go to war, put combat troops on the ground!' But they're wiling to shut down the department that protects Americans here in the homeland, from a terrorist attack.

How does it make sense, at a time when we're facing serious threats to our national security, to furlough 30,000, thirty thousand, department of homeland security workers, and to force more than 100,000 frontline homeland security personnel to work without pay?'

Great questions.

On Tonight's Immigration Speech by Pres. O

On that immigration issue?

These make no sense whatever

John Boehner sues the President

Two things the Right Wing never wants fixed

It seems clear there are two issues the Right Wing and Republicans and "Conservatives" really never, ever want "fixed" or solved in this country. 

The first is immigration. This out today:

'Reformer!' Rubio Rejects Obama Immigration Plan

Through negotiations from both sides of the political aisle, a deal was made that would require immigrants here, most specifically from Mexico, that would take 8 years to become a legalized citizen if they're already here illegally.

As though that would be easy, Senator Marco Rubio (R, Fl) has announced the plan virtually "dead on arrival."

But of course this is the man who, with his water-gulping response to President Obama's State of the Union address, kicked off his own campaign to become the next Republican president in 2016.

So naturally he can't be for any real solution to the immigration problem.

The 2nd, other problem the Right Wing and Republicans never want to really solve in this country is that of abortion.

Sure, they want fewer abortions, but they don't really want this issue to go away or to actually be illegal because, after all, then what single-issue would they have?  What could or would they use then to "rally their troops" and raise millions of dollars?  You can only bash gays so much and besides, that doesn't raise nearly as much money.

If people were so truly against abortions in this country, they'd support scientific, health care solutions like RU486 and "Plan B", day-after pills to eliminate abortions.

But again, if they did that, where would their issue go?

Answer: it would be gone.

And then what would they rail against?

From today's "Ain't 'dat a darn shame?" file

Embarrassing breach for Ariz.'s 'Sheriff Joe'

Quote of the day--on the Mexican/Hispanic immigration issue

"...our family was there when it was Spain, when it was France, when it was Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the United States, the Confederacy.  Our family's always been in the same place;  it was the damn government that kept changing."  --Leticia Van de Putte, A Texas state senator from San Antonio with relatives on both sides of the border;  from The Economist.

Link to original post:  http://www.economist.com/node/16992245?story_id=16992245

Quote of the day

From Michael Gerson, Republican, Conservative and former speech writer for George W. Bush:

Immigration issues are emotional and complex. But this (the new Arizona law and controversey) must be recognized for what it is: political suicide. Hispanics now make up 40 percent of the K-12 students in Arizona, 44 percent in Texas, 47 percent in California, 54 percent in New Mexico. Whatever temporary gains Republicans might make feeding resentment of this demographic shift, the party identified with that resentment will eventually be voted into singularity. In a matter of decades, the Republican Party could cease to be a national party.

Be still, my heart.


Enjoy your Sunday, folks.





Link to original post: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/05/13/1944471/alienation-of-latinos-is-political.html

Arizona's new slogan

Arizona: Come for the racism. Stay for the Fascism.