Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) says he has transported 95,000 migrants from the Texas border to New York, Washington, DC, and other cities. On New Year's Eve, Abbott flew hundreds of migrants — including many children — to the Rockford airport in Illinois, 30 miles outside of Chicago. It was snowing upon their arrival, and some of the migrants had
Never forget, Republicans need a crisis at the border (if one actually exists) as a distraction from their criminal leader (s), their unpopular economic and social policies, and, above all, their hatred for women.
The way I see it, Biden is severely hamstrung in what he can do and can’t do in the face of Congress continuing not to act. He stopped child separation, and the appointments app is at least a better alternative, even if limited. But what really is badly needed is updated immigration legislation.
Yep! And we need Senators who will modify or end the 60 votes filibuster cudgel. That’s why the proposed bill died in Congress, because of Manchin and Sinema refusing to drop the filibuster. As if the Republicans had any interest in working together to reform the Supreme Court, or immigration, or voting, or health insurance, or child credit.
Thankfully it only takes a simple majority to modify or end the filibuster
Abbott has expanded on Disantis’ earlier abuse of immigrants. Also, nothing has really been done since Reagan in Congress. The R’s would rather run on this issue than solve it. They would much rather ‘otherize’ here. For Abbott, as for Trump-the cruelty is the point.
Wonderfully intensive research and documentation! The overall issue of not being able to find a place to exist with safety and sustenance now defines our planet. How low minded can one be to think that a WALL or a practice of implementing "just go away and go back where you came from" would ever solve this dilemma. We need more than one department or one man to blame (Mayorkas) to address this huge and complex problem. Thank you PI team for this spotlight on another issue that must be seriously (not politically) addressed.
Not only that but if one were to look into the history of US "adventurism" in the South Americas, one would gain greater insight on why THEY choose to come HERE!
Absolutely. Case in point, the United Fruit Company's intrigues, culminating in the CIA overthrowing a democratic government in Guatemala in 1954 and installing a military junta. US maga-buck corporations having inflicted despotic regimes on much of Central and South America, their persecuted people are coming here. Dulles and Kissinger's chickens coming home to roost.
I've seen a few documentaries in the past through our annual Environmental Film Festival [Princeton Public Library] about how Central American countries' leaders usurped their oil production, and ruined their ecology and environment in the process (with no benefit to its people). So although all the colonial powers (US, UK, France, Belgium, etc...) have played dirty with their power over the poorer countries, their own leaders have done the same or worse. Ah! Human nature is the culprit.
Yes and we all know that the money being poured into Saudi Arabia's nine years of murderous assault on Yemen and Israel's Palestinian genocide could well be put to good use here in the States. Just think about the number of judges and lawyers that can be put at the border to expedite the huge backup at the border. That exists because 70 years of underfunding of the processes that were to have immigration work smoothly. Had that humanitarian process had not been seized as a political 'issue', we would not see the decrepit processes fail. When the system was put in place, it was working smoothly, I'm given to understand, but one of the parties or both seized that humanitarian issue and started tossing it field to field for political reasons while people died or been tortured or both.
Now the migration problems, some well exaggerated, have been studied and the verdict having always been known, though buried in all the noise, was to hire all the judges and lawyers that are needed to make immigration at the 'brown' people border work again, smoothly. Studies have pointed out that that would be what is needed instead of the draconian practices Biden is implementing now on top of the draconian practices that have been going on for far too long.
There is also the fact that most of, if not all of the reasons, these families have to leave their homes and families is that the U.S. has mucked around with all of those countries for nearly 100 years. The kind of mucking around that was and IS going on in their countries is being run by our Humanitarian and Loving CIA with the nod from their Commander and Chief, let's call them the HLCIA, yes? Oh and back then we helped our neighbors by training their coup leaders (why so many coups?) in the art of 'hands on care' at our School of Americas which resided in Georgia and does now, but for some reason under a different name. The coups and tens of thousands of dead and maimed are the sorry and abhorrent result of our government, like today, doing Big Business's bidding. One example is (from the past) the Chiquita Corp formerly known as United Fruit Company which some of us know overthrew a South American democratically elected government that was in their way (a coup).
It's ironic that some of the immigrants today are Yemenis. We, as in the countries south of the border, are in no small part responsible for them running from their home as if it were on fire. Oh wait, a UAV from the U.S. could have dropped something on it that set it on fire.
These are the causes of mass immigration to the country responsible for their flight from seriously cruel treatment. Which administration was it that dumped our CA street gangs into that part of the world? Who trained the Pinocets of the world? Yes, it was us and now that they're at our doors begging for refuge we call them names more suited to this country's actions and not them.
Thank you. I do go long, though I can't seem to help it. And I know what you mean about the looks, especially from my older brother who believes this country needs to spend even more on our military and arms. He should know strength is shown in more ways than violence.
I wish you'd formulate this into a letter to send to Biden with copies to appropriate department heads. Let him know that some of us know what HAS been going on, and now it's up to him and his whole administration. Yes, we CAN fund judges and lawyers if we stop paying for genocide.
You're right. I have called his and my representatives offices on all these issues, but I was wrong to think calls were more effective.
I will do as you suggest. I know that I'm not the only one that knows this, for I got this information from many people that have done the leg work or research.
I'm thinking also that one of those petition sites are a start. Maybe a petition will elevate these solutions so that many will know and act.
What i don’t understand is why the Biden administration and the serious journalists and opinion writers are not louder about immigration reform which is an act of Congress. Congress is the branch of the government to actually do something serious about it. i know it is easier for Republicans not to fix the problem. But it is necessary to address it loudly. Every journalist out there needs to ask the questions, to the ones who have the function of legislating. At my end, my wish ask is for the Biden administration to be loud, outspoken, even obnoxious. This is a great summary but i also would like to see in the future, the impact of gun illegal trade to south of the border, an issue that no one seems to talk and enables the super violence in the LATAM regions, and enables gangs to manage the Darien gap.
Biden could assert a larger leadership role by asking one of his advisory councils (DPC?) to create draft legislation that Democrats in both houses of Congress could introduce to update the laws. The finger pointing needs to stop. Creative policy people need to do a thorough review and show - line by line - what needs to be changed to FIX IT. Unless Biden is willing to take a public position on finding solutions, he is part of the problem.
Please, Popular Information's piece shows us how complex and widespread these immigration problems are. Please, don't blame Biden--we can request he form a more complete agency to handle these issues. Whoever thought that one man (Mayorkas) could deal with ALL of "this"?
Oh come on! Biden has been in government for nearly 50 years, for heavens sake. He can move mountains and break rules to enable genocide, but he doesn't know what needs to be done about that border?
I'll bet he knows a lot more than we do about why there is a crisis at the border. Do you think he hadn't been around for all those studies commissioned by Congress, which he was a part of? He should full well know that the problem started when Congress started underfunding the Immigration Apparatus so that they couldn't process immigrants without the needed additional judges and attorneys.
Immigrants need attorneys and those immigrants need to have judges available to appear in front of. But today there are too few of either of these positions filled and now there needs to be more of these positions created because of the HUGE backlog from too many decades of neglect. Intentional or not, but neglect all the same by all administrations since around the 1920s
Why Congress pulled the plug on a department of government that was working is not something I know. Maybe it was the War or the Depression. I do know that when this country got it's economic engine started again, it should have made up for its lack of funding. After that it couldn't have become a fun political football I'm guessing.
The government created more Alphabet Agencies to fund instead, three since 9/11 I believe, the government could have created good jobs investing in the Immigration Services. But we have gobs more secret and known policing/military type agencies that have their eyes on us and that's mental.
Thank you PI for always finding and framing the important truths. This whole situation is heartbreaking and infuriating. Interviews with GOPers show very clearly that they are incentivized to keep this issue alive and in turmoil to get the votes of their supporters, so there is absolutely no intent to allow any progress toward resolution. A complete lose-lose for people with any level of humanity in them and no hope toward resolution UNTIL WE HAVE A BLUE MAJORITY IN THE HOUSE/SENATE/WHTEHOUSE. I'm not a Democrat, but it's the only way to save us from complete destruction.
"A complete lose-lose for people with any level of humanity in them and no hope toward resolution UNTIL WE HAVE A BLUE MAJORITY IN THE HOUSE/SENATE/WHTEHOUSE."
We already had that. It's not enough. We have to follow through and demand our representatives in government focus on shit that actually matters.
Indeed; I agree, but what is the "shit that actually matters" to you? Is it the same as what matters to me? To my neighbors? The reason I stressed the Democrat majority is not that I even remotely believe they can fix everything. I just think we need the moment to move beyond the morass we are currently engulfed in. The majority GOP House has done nothing but retaliate on behalf of Trump while the country grows increasingly angry and even violent in regard to political standing. Yes, reform needs to happen, but how do you propose to begin that process with no cooperation or accountability in Congress. The GOP has made a complete mess; the Democrats have a history of being more adept at legislation and economic governance FOR the majority of Americans vs the super-rich 1%.
Overall I agree. I should also point out that I'm only good for complaints and ideas, but not execution. This is the internet, after all.
I should also point out that plenty of dems are beholden to the 1%. They're better than the GOP, yes, but that's a low bar.
In any case, the way the dems should be trying to clean up the mess is to stop being so beholden to the "rules." Recall that debacle a short while ago where senate dems wouldn't take decisive action because of the senate parliamentarian. That kind of thing demotivates voters who see only a party who is more concerned with following arcane procedure than delivering results.
Still, it should be pointed out that the house under Pelosi did a pretty damn good job, even in the eyes of an increasingly cynical leftist such as myself. So, in my eyes, the choice, imperfect though it may be, is clear.
Cruelty is the point of Abbott's stunts. That and the value of keeping border crossings front and center as a propaganda tool to inflame outrage and fear. The G(aslight)O(bstruct)P(roject) party has no solutions. About the only thing I agreed with GWB on was his efforts to pass immigration reform. His own party shot it down. And they continue to do so.
Republicans are NEVER part of the solution, simply a point, scoff, obstruct, wash, rinse, repeat group.
They don't have a platform other than, the above OR give tax breaks to the Corporations and cheer.
It's disgusting. Ask a "die-hard" Republican what the actual plan is to modify our immigration policy is and they'll chuckle and say "get rid of them", this is not a thinking group.
We need immigrants for all the jobs the scoffers won't do yet...
How can Abbott's kidnapping and human trafficking be legal? Lawyers, please get to work. Abbott, DeSantis, and ALL individuals involved in rounding up 'illegals', and scheduling flights and buses to northern cities, should be arrested and charged with crimes that would put them in prison for multiple lifetimes.
Another one in the Cabinet who needed much more help to fill in what he couldn't cope with--I thank the January 6th Committee for doing that work (but with no subpoena power).
Greg Abbott’s a filthy bigot & a liar. There’s no basement - a total lack of decency. Whether a woman or a migrant, Greg Abbott’s not interested in their equal treatment under Federal law. He’s going to do whatever he wants, no matter the consequences. Texas voters must be masochists & obviously enjoy his brand of abuse. Sickening.
The gerrymandering is horrendous in Texas. Theocratic Billionaires find and command all the Republicans and they are the ones funding the ChristoFascits takeover of states. They are the funders of the fascist group Moms for Freedom (to rule cruelly).
Abbott and Desantis have been pulling this shit (meaning trafficking migrants) for literal years now. I have a hard time believing there isn't something the feds/Biden admin can do about it - file suit, bring charges (it's trafficking after all), deny federal dollars on a per person basis for every human they ship out of their states and grant them to the states where they land (Illinois, in this case, but also New York and Massachusetts.)
Also it's so frustrating that the stupid TX law finally gets the DOJ to act, and not the RAZOR WIRE BALLS that Abbott put it in the damn river that have already killed a child! Like what are we even doing here???
Also also it is supremely unhelpful that dems keep accepting right-wing framing on this issue and that the Biden admin has almost completely reversed itself on immigration.
You know the framing issue irks me immensely. Such pussies they are!
Watching Stefanick eviscerate Gay will serve as an excellent recent example of a RW'r successfully framing an issue with untruths and making that collection of untruth the baseline for an issue.
Not as successful as what was done with the term "CRT" but you get my meaning.
I cringed at Stefanik's nasty self-righteousness, but the answers those 3 women gave made me cringe more. ..."context"! At least Stefanik could tell them that the right answer was NO. [may we never allow our inner sense of morality to be scripted!]
Oh me too! I would have pushed back in a manner that would reframe the context and most importantly not allow the definitions she stealthily used to describe and frame the issue.
They (the 3 prez's) allowed themselves to be led into the trap even as they sensed it was there. Dumb, dumber & dumbest!
And it sets us all back because such an obvious ploy was used to such great effect that now Stefanick will successfully fundraise from it!
Yup, all of this. And the episode with Ms Gay is part of the same playbook being used against DEI. The media is absolutely complicit by focusing on this instead lots of other things that matter far more to regular-ass people, like healthcare, the cost of food/gas/housing, etc.
These are all manufactured crises that serve only to distract us while our wages our stolen and our tax dollars are used to make weapons of war and expand surveillance over our communities.
What was done to prof. gay was an political/academic lynching. Rufo deserves the same Judd treatment as Speaker Sexton of Tennessee. "Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist who helped orchestrate the effort against Gay, celebrated her departure as a win in his campaign against elite institutions of higher education. On X, formerly Twitter, he wrote “SCALPED,” as if Gay was a trophy of violence, invoking a gruesome practice taken up by white colonists who sought to eradicate Native Americans and also used by some tribes against their enemies."By COLLIN BINKLEY and MORIAH BALINGIT
I would love to see it. Also, since these empty suits love to speak of meritocracy and they usually sit in positions of power/influence/money, I would also like to know what they've done that in any way constitutes "merit."
chicago ought to commute sentences of some prisoners.....give em a stipend and drop them off in downtown Austin.......boy would that get some attention.
This kind of action is inhumane to any decent person, but he’s not catering to decent people; he is catering to the base Republican Christian voter.
To those dark hearted characters, this is the “tough” actions needed to both deter asylum seekers and as you said, to punish liberals. He won’t lose a single a voter or bit of support over this; may even gain some.
Immigration is a complex issue. No option will please all sides. We can’t keep trying to manage constant overwhelming flows. We can’t absorb everyone from multiple countries, nor can we build a “Berlin” wall and/or treat desperate humans worse than lost cattle.
Yet as with most problems, we don’t address root causes well or our own contribution to the problems in other countries, so we can’t ever get to the most effective responses. Bandaids don’t do much to help gunshot wounds. Our cobbled together laws only lead to red tape, insurmountable backlog, lawsuits & misery. We must start tackling the roots if we ever hope to humanely and properly manage immigration.
(I bet Abbott is not sending a dime of federal funding earmarked for immigration to these “sanctuary” cities).
Never forget, Republicans need a crisis at the border (if one actually exists) as a distraction from their criminal leader (s), their unpopular economic and social policies, and, above all, their hatred for women.
Truth! Why don't more people see this?
If ignorance is Bliss, they're Euphoric!
They also belong to a cult.
The way I see it, Biden is severely hamstrung in what he can do and can’t do in the face of Congress continuing not to act. He stopped child separation, and the appointments app is at least a better alternative, even if limited. But what really is badly needed is updated immigration legislation.
And for that we need to win both the House and the Senate!
Yep! And we need Senators who will modify or end the 60 votes filibuster cudgel. That’s why the proposed bill died in Congress, because of Manchin and Sinema refusing to drop the filibuster. As if the Republicans had any interest in working together to reform the Supreme Court, or immigration, or voting, or health insurance, or child credit.
Thankfully it only takes a simple majority to modify or end the filibuster
THAT DESPARATELY NEEDS TO BE DONE -- NOW!!!
Biden needs to be communicating this from roof tops..too many people don’t realize what is really stopping immigration reform
Republicans want an immigration campaign issue not a policy or a solution. This has to be repeated at least as often as the GOP lies.
Great piece!
Abbott has expanded on Disantis’ earlier abuse of immigrants. Also, nothing has really been done since Reagan in Congress. The R’s would rather run on this issue than solve it. They would much rather ‘otherize’ here. For Abbott, as for Trump-the cruelty is the point.
There's money in it too. Always there is money.
Yes. I want to hear more about the organizations getting paid to detain people. Aren’t they breaking international law too?
One would think!
Wonderfully intensive research and documentation! The overall issue of not being able to find a place to exist with safety and sustenance now defines our planet. How low minded can one be to think that a WALL or a practice of implementing "just go away and go back where you came from" would ever solve this dilemma. We need more than one department or one man to blame (Mayorkas) to address this huge and complex problem. Thank you PI team for this spotlight on another issue that must be seriously (not politically) addressed.
Not only that but if one were to look into the history of US "adventurism" in the South Americas, one would gain greater insight on why THEY choose to come HERE!
Absolutely. Case in point, the United Fruit Company's intrigues, culminating in the CIA overthrowing a democratic government in Guatemala in 1954 and installing a military junta. US maga-buck corporations having inflicted despotic regimes on much of Central and South America, their persecuted people are coming here. Dulles and Kissinger's chickens coming home to roost.
I've seen a few documentaries in the past through our annual Environmental Film Festival [Princeton Public Library] about how Central American countries' leaders usurped their oil production, and ruined their ecology and environment in the process (with no benefit to its people). So although all the colonial powers (US, UK, France, Belgium, etc...) have played dirty with their power over the poorer countries, their own leaders have done the same or worse. Ah! Human nature is the culprit.
Sure, but we toppled their democratically elected goverments (or allowed United Fruit Co to do so) and pretend it never happened.
We (the US) enabled the stronmen who sold out their countrymen.
Yes and we all know that the money being poured into Saudi Arabia's nine years of murderous assault on Yemen and Israel's Palestinian genocide could well be put to good use here in the States. Just think about the number of judges and lawyers that can be put at the border to expedite the huge backup at the border. That exists because 70 years of underfunding of the processes that were to have immigration work smoothly. Had that humanitarian process had not been seized as a political 'issue', we would not see the decrepit processes fail. When the system was put in place, it was working smoothly, I'm given to understand, but one of the parties or both seized that humanitarian issue and started tossing it field to field for political reasons while people died or been tortured or both.
Now the migration problems, some well exaggerated, have been studied and the verdict having always been known, though buried in all the noise, was to hire all the judges and lawyers that are needed to make immigration at the 'brown' people border work again, smoothly. Studies have pointed out that that would be what is needed instead of the draconian practices Biden is implementing now on top of the draconian practices that have been going on for far too long.
There is also the fact that most of, if not all of the reasons, these families have to leave their homes and families is that the U.S. has mucked around with all of those countries for nearly 100 years. The kind of mucking around that was and IS going on in their countries is being run by our Humanitarian and Loving CIA with the nod from their Commander and Chief, let's call them the HLCIA, yes? Oh and back then we helped our neighbors by training their coup leaders (why so many coups?) in the art of 'hands on care' at our School of Americas which resided in Georgia and does now, but for some reason under a different name. The coups and tens of thousands of dead and maimed are the sorry and abhorrent result of our government, like today, doing Big Business's bidding. One example is (from the past) the Chiquita Corp formerly known as United Fruit Company which some of us know overthrew a South American democratically elected government that was in their way (a coup).
It's ironic that some of the immigrants today are Yemenis. We, as in the countries south of the border, are in no small part responsible for them running from their home as if it were on fire. Oh wait, a UAV from the U.S. could have dropped something on it that set it on fire.
These are the causes of mass immigration to the country responsible for their flight from seriously cruel treatment. Which administration was it that dumped our CA street gangs into that part of the world? Who trained the Pinocets of the world? Yes, it was us and now that they're at our doors begging for refuge we call them names more suited to this country's actions and not them.
Yes, yes and yes. I tell these things to folken all of the time when they complain about "them" coming "here!"
In return I sometimes get pitying looks like I'm some kiind of a conspiracy theorist when this is real, actual, genuine US history right chere!
PS: I agree with Valerie. Your post is erudite, accurate and to the point. Make it a letter for those guys.
And Valerie, you are making me think a few new thoughts. I'm not too bad at wordcraft and as a former US Marine, I may have something to say as well.
Thank you.
Thank you. I do go long, though I can't seem to help it. And I know what you mean about the looks, especially from my older brother who believes this country needs to spend even more on our military and arms. He should know strength is shown in more ways than violence.
Question. Is your brother a current or former service member?
I wish you'd formulate this into a letter to send to Biden with copies to appropriate department heads. Let him know that some of us know what HAS been going on, and now it's up to him and his whole administration. Yes, we CAN fund judges and lawyers if we stop paying for genocide.
You're right. I have called his and my representatives offices on all these issues, but I was wrong to think calls were more effective.
I will do as you suggest. I know that I'm not the only one that knows this, for I got this information from many people that have done the leg work or research.
I'm thinking also that one of those petition sites are a start. Maybe a petition will elevate these solutions so that many will know and act.
Thank you for your suggestion.
What i don’t understand is why the Biden administration and the serious journalists and opinion writers are not louder about immigration reform which is an act of Congress. Congress is the branch of the government to actually do something serious about it. i know it is easier for Republicans not to fix the problem. But it is necessary to address it loudly. Every journalist out there needs to ask the questions, to the ones who have the function of legislating. At my end, my wish ask is for the Biden administration to be loud, outspoken, even obnoxious. This is a great summary but i also would like to see in the future, the impact of gun illegal trade to south of the border, an issue that no one seems to talk and enables the super violence in the LATAM regions, and enables gangs to manage the Darien gap.
Biden could assert a larger leadership role by asking one of his advisory councils (DPC?) to create draft legislation that Democrats in both houses of Congress could introduce to update the laws. The finger pointing needs to stop. Creative policy people need to do a thorough review and show - line by line - what needs to be changed to FIX IT. Unless Biden is willing to take a public position on finding solutions, he is part of the problem.
Please, Popular Information's piece shows us how complex and widespread these immigration problems are. Please, don't blame Biden--we can request he form a more complete agency to handle these issues. Whoever thought that one man (Mayorkas) could deal with ALL of "this"?
Oh come on! Biden has been in government for nearly 50 years, for heavens sake. He can move mountains and break rules to enable genocide, but he doesn't know what needs to be done about that border?
I'll bet he knows a lot more than we do about why there is a crisis at the border. Do you think he hadn't been around for all those studies commissioned by Congress, which he was a part of? He should full well know that the problem started when Congress started underfunding the Immigration Apparatus so that they couldn't process immigrants without the needed additional judges and attorneys.
Immigrants need attorneys and those immigrants need to have judges available to appear in front of. But today there are too few of either of these positions filled and now there needs to be more of these positions created because of the HUGE backlog from too many decades of neglect. Intentional or not, but neglect all the same by all administrations since around the 1920s
Why Congress pulled the plug on a department of government that was working is not something I know. Maybe it was the War or the Depression. I do know that when this country got it's economic engine started again, it should have made up for its lack of funding. After that it couldn't have become a fun political football I'm guessing.
The government created more Alphabet Agencies to fund instead, three since 9/11 I believe, the government could have created good jobs investing in the Immigration Services. But we have gobs more secret and known policing/military type agencies that have their eyes on us and that's mental.
He proposed legislation early in his term.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/20/fact-sheet-president-biden-sends-immigration-bill-to-congress-as-part-of-his-commitment-to-modernize-our-immigration-system/
Here is the result:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/andyjsemotiuk/2023/08/22/bidens-immigration-reforms-new-initiatives-replace-early-setbacks/?sh=3bf56c9e11de
I heard a WH spokesperson point out that Congress needs to act & he proposed legislation that was never enacted.
Yep
Agreed Diana.
Perhaps it's just the sheer velocity of the office with so much that requires the executive level of attention.
However, I am no apologist for the Biden administration and agree with you.
I occasionally call Greg Abbott's office and suggest that his handlers put him in his wheelchair upside down as his brain is lamer than his legs.
Oh, I like that. We should send emails too. I'm gonna see about sussing that info out.
You are indeed the oracle, TruthBeTold.
Thank you PI for always finding and framing the important truths. This whole situation is heartbreaking and infuriating. Interviews with GOPers show very clearly that they are incentivized to keep this issue alive and in turmoil to get the votes of their supporters, so there is absolutely no intent to allow any progress toward resolution. A complete lose-lose for people with any level of humanity in them and no hope toward resolution UNTIL WE HAVE A BLUE MAJORITY IN THE HOUSE/SENATE/WHTEHOUSE. I'm not a Democrat, but it's the only way to save us from complete destruction.
"A complete lose-lose for people with any level of humanity in them and no hope toward resolution UNTIL WE HAVE A BLUE MAJORITY IN THE HOUSE/SENATE/WHTEHOUSE."
We already had that. It's not enough. We have to follow through and demand our representatives in government focus on shit that actually matters.
Our representatives, with few exceptions, only focus on their donors’ concerns.
uh-Yup.
Indeed; I agree, but what is the "shit that actually matters" to you? Is it the same as what matters to me? To my neighbors? The reason I stressed the Democrat majority is not that I even remotely believe they can fix everything. I just think we need the moment to move beyond the morass we are currently engulfed in. The majority GOP House has done nothing but retaliate on behalf of Trump while the country grows increasingly angry and even violent in regard to political standing. Yes, reform needs to happen, but how do you propose to begin that process with no cooperation or accountability in Congress. The GOP has made a complete mess; the Democrats have a history of being more adept at legislation and economic governance FOR the majority of Americans vs the super-rich 1%.
Overall I agree. I should also point out that I'm only good for complaints and ideas, but not execution. This is the internet, after all.
I should also point out that plenty of dems are beholden to the 1%. They're better than the GOP, yes, but that's a low bar.
In any case, the way the dems should be trying to clean up the mess is to stop being so beholden to the "rules." Recall that debacle a short while ago where senate dems wouldn't take decisive action because of the senate parliamentarian. That kind of thing demotivates voters who see only a party who is more concerned with following arcane procedure than delivering results.
Still, it should be pointed out that the house under Pelosi did a pretty damn good job, even in the eyes of an increasingly cynical leftist such as myself. So, in my eyes, the choice, imperfect though it may be, is clear.
Cruelty is the point of Abbott's stunts. That and the value of keeping border crossings front and center as a propaganda tool to inflame outrage and fear. The G(aslight)O(bstruct)P(roject) party has no solutions. About the only thing I agreed with GWB on was his efforts to pass immigration reform. His own party shot it down. And they continue to do so.
Republicans are NEVER part of the solution, simply a point, scoff, obstruct, wash, rinse, repeat group.
They don't have a platform other than, the above OR give tax breaks to the Corporations and cheer.
It's disgusting. Ask a "die-hard" Republican what the actual plan is to modify our immigration policy is and they'll chuckle and say "get rid of them", this is not a thinking group.
We need immigrants for all the jobs the scoffers won't do yet...
Superb report! These are uncomfortable truths for all of us. There is no political excuse for cruelty.
How can Abbott's kidnapping and human trafficking be legal? Lawyers, please get to work. Abbott, DeSantis, and ALL individuals involved in rounding up 'illegals', and scheduling flights and buses to northern cities, should be arrested and charged with crimes that would put them in prison for multiple lifetimes.
Paging Merrick Garland...
Another one in the Cabinet who needed much more help to fill in what he couldn't cope with--I thank the January 6th Committee for doing that work (but with no subpoena power).
Greg Abbott’s a filthy bigot & a liar. There’s no basement - a total lack of decency. Whether a woman or a migrant, Greg Abbott’s not interested in their equal treatment under Federal law. He’s going to do whatever he wants, no matter the consequences. Texas voters must be masochists & obviously enjoy his brand of abuse. Sickening.
The gerrymandering is horrendous in Texas. Theocratic Billionaires find and command all the Republicans and they are the ones funding the ChristoFascits takeover of states. They are the funders of the fascist group Moms for Freedom (to rule cruelly).
Abbott and Desantis have been pulling this shit (meaning trafficking migrants) for literal years now. I have a hard time believing there isn't something the feds/Biden admin can do about it - file suit, bring charges (it's trafficking after all), deny federal dollars on a per person basis for every human they ship out of their states and grant them to the states where they land (Illinois, in this case, but also New York and Massachusetts.)
Also it's so frustrating that the stupid TX law finally gets the DOJ to act, and not the RAZOR WIRE BALLS that Abbott put it in the damn river that have already killed a child! Like what are we even doing here???
Also also it is supremely unhelpful that dems keep accepting right-wing framing on this issue and that the Biden admin has almost completely reversed itself on immigration.
You know the framing issue irks me immensely. Such pussies they are!
Watching Stefanick eviscerate Gay will serve as an excellent recent example of a RW'r successfully framing an issue with untruths and making that collection of untruth the baseline for an issue.
Not as successful as what was done with the term "CRT" but you get my meaning.
I cringed at Stefanik's nasty self-righteousness, but the answers those 3 women gave made me cringe more. ..."context"! At least Stefanik could tell them that the right answer was NO. [may we never allow our inner sense of morality to be scripted!]
PS: Merry New Year and Happy Xmas dammit!!!
Oh me too! I would have pushed back in a manner that would reframe the context and most importantly not allow the definitions she stealthily used to describe and frame the issue.
They (the 3 prez's) allowed themselves to be led into the trap even as they sensed it was there. Dumb, dumber & dumbest!
And it sets us all back because such an obvious ploy was used to such great effect that now Stefanick will successfully fundraise from it!
Yup, all of this. And the episode with Ms Gay is part of the same playbook being used against DEI. The media is absolutely complicit by focusing on this instead lots of other things that matter far more to regular-ass people, like healthcare, the cost of food/gas/housing, etc.
These are all manufactured crises that serve only to distract us while our wages our stolen and our tax dollars are used to make weapons of war and expand surveillance over our communities.
What was done to prof. gay was an political/academic lynching. Rufo deserves the same Judd treatment as Speaker Sexton of Tennessee. "Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist who helped orchestrate the effort against Gay, celebrated her departure as a win in his campaign against elite institutions of higher education. On X, formerly Twitter, he wrote “SCALPED,” as if Gay was a trophy of violence, invoking a gruesome practice taken up by white colonists who sought to eradicate Native Americans and also used by some tribes against their enemies."By COLLIN BINKLEY and MORIAH BALINGIT
Updated 4:34 PM PST, January 3, 2024
I would love to see it. Also, since these empty suits love to speak of meritocracy and they usually sit in positions of power/influence/money, I would also like to know what they've done that in any way constitutes "merit."
chicago ought to commute sentences of some prisoners.....give em a stipend and drop them off in downtown Austin.......boy would that get some attention.
This kind of action is inhumane to any decent person, but he’s not catering to decent people; he is catering to the base Republican Christian voter.
To those dark hearted characters, this is the “tough” actions needed to both deter asylum seekers and as you said, to punish liberals. He won’t lose a single a voter or bit of support over this; may even gain some.
Immigration is a complex issue. No option will please all sides. We can’t keep trying to manage constant overwhelming flows. We can’t absorb everyone from multiple countries, nor can we build a “Berlin” wall and/or treat desperate humans worse than lost cattle.
Yet as with most problems, we don’t address root causes well or our own contribution to the problems in other countries, so we can’t ever get to the most effective responses. Bandaids don’t do much to help gunshot wounds. Our cobbled together laws only lead to red tape, insurmountable backlog, lawsuits & misery. We must start tackling the roots if we ever hope to humanely and properly manage immigration.
(I bet Abbott is not sending a dime of federal funding earmarked for immigration to these “sanctuary” cities).
This is truly a diabolical scheme Abbott and his team have dreamed up.
But overall the whole immigration system is in, what would you even call this state of disrepair?
So (because this IS America after all) follow the money!
Everything else is merely a smokescreen.