immigration

Costs…

by MyBaconPress

So, the story was, they were going to find, capture, and deport bad guys living in this country illegally. Key words? ‘Bad guys.’ If you’re undocumented and you cause a bunch of trouble and/or hurt people in this once-great nation, you’re going to be removed. Truth be told, I feel pretty certain that nobody would argue about that. Nobody wants criminals in this country, legal or otherwise. Why do you suppose so many Americans are upset about 47’s criminal regime?

But even 47 deserves due process. He has committed many crimes right out in the open for the public to see. Hell, his cronies insist it’s an honorable thing he does – commit crimes right out in the open for all to see. I STILL prefer that he get due process and I prefer the same for undocumented people, bad guys or not.

The reason? The “or not” bit. It turns out, a LOT of the people being rounded up are not “illegal” or even undocumented. MOST importantly, they’re not committing crimes. 47 is making a big show about keeping his campaign promise to eliminate the unsavory elements doing so much harm to this society and that notion is key: one MUST believe that brown people are de facto criminals. MAGA media has been pressing that message for a long time, now, so the consumers of said media have been properly conditioned. Many of them DO accept that 47 is merely deporting bad guys.

But ICE is showing up at work places to arrest people who have jobs and are contributing members of society. I’m not well-versed on the details of being a gang member, but I presume punching a clock for an eight-hour shift is not high on gang member lists. Showing up at work places seems like low-hanging fruit.

I’ll tell you what’s worse, in my opinion. Arresting them at court hearings on technicalities. One of the stories (read: lies) MAGA media feeds to it’s consumers is that after court dates are given for review of, say, applications for asylum, the people in question don’t show up to court. As it happens, and you will likely not be surprised to hear, something like 95% of those people DO show up for their hearings.

So now ICE is stationing agents outside the door, waiting for documented people who are doing the right thing – that is, doing it the right way – to leave the building after their hearings and then arresting them for deportation. Again, these are NOT Tren de Aragua gang members, rushing to court to make sure the t’s are crossed and the i’s are dotted in their residency status. These are people who – in every measurable way – are trying to “do it the right way.”

ICE is just out there, tearing apart families and creating fear and confusion. That, of course, is the real point: the fear and confusion. Honestly? It seems like state-sponsored terrorism, to me. They’re using force or the threat of force to impact politics. And, yes, it IS political. That’s WHY they won’t allow due process. So many of these people would be able to show that they have some status that allows them to stay legally, the regime would be hard-pressed to fulfill their daily quota of arrestees.

The basic message the regime is sending is that there IS no “right way” to do it. If you’re brown, there IS no legal path to citizenship for you. If you’re white, they’ll expedite your arrival. Hell, they’ll pay for the flight to get you here. But if you’re brown? Forget about it. Obviously, there’s no racism here, right?

I wonder if MAGA is still completely on board. We ALL want violent criminals out of the country if they don’t belong here – and we want them locked up if they DO belong here. NOBODY is defending the “violent criminal” lobby. But now we’re down to just terrorizing families – even if they ARE trying to follow the rules and come to the country legally. The BEST counter-measure to this terrorist activity is due process – and it speaks volumes about what Team Evil knows about their victims that the one thing they refuse to engage in is due process…

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The estimate for Cadet Bone Spurs’ big military parade – the kind EVERY dictator aspires to – is in the $90 million dollar range. Oh, but, strike that. THAT doesn’t include the damage such a parade is expected to do to the streets of Washington DC. The current estimate to repair the roads after the infrastructure carnage is around $16 million dollars more.

That’s not being reported in right leaning media for some reason. I guess MAGA wouldn’t be happy to know they’re losing their benefits due to ‘financial challenges that must be managed’ at the same time the country is just pissing away $106 million dollars for a parade intended to serve NO purpose other than satisfying the Orange Man’s ego.

Meanwhile, the damage from his on-again/off-again tariffs is starting to show up in the prices for goods and services on the store shelves. His words indicated things would get better – and that means EVERYTHING would be more affordable. His actions have created the exact opposite. Despite claims that tariffs would NOT be felt by the American consumer, the tariffs are starting to be felt by the American consumer – and the pain has just begun.

Small businesses are suffering more than large businesses. Fewer resources, you know. In the end, though, the American consumer is going to suffer the most for Taco’s tariffs. The thing I would point to as the primary indicator that prices are going up because of 47’s ill-advised tariffs is the volume with which the White House is insisting that prices are falling. But my morning coffee jumped from around $15.00 for just over a pound to $19.00 for the same container. Oh, AND, i just paid $15 dollars for 18 eggs yesterday.

Why it’s almost as if the words he’s spewing don’t match the actual reality of the facts on the ground in any way, shape, or form. I wonder which I should believe, what I’m being TOLD is happening, or what I’m actually experiencing? I guess that’s a very difficult equation for some people…

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So… there’s a story from MAGA’S “culture war” and a story about the economy sitting side-by-side. Neither story is playing out the way the Drumpfster promised or insists is happening. He’s not deporting “bad guys,” he’s deporting “brown guys.” The economy is not booming. It’s crashing and burning. I don’t guess MAGA will have any problem with the deportation thing, but the money thing? That’s going to hit them where they live – right along with everyone else…

Not Going Well…

by MyBaconPress

The B.U.S. – that’s ‘Bizarro United States’ – government is sending letters to American citizens telling them to “self-deport.” I get it. The idea is to run, rough-shod, over everything. Sending out mass letters to, what, a given zip code, seems a little… sloppy. It seems as though the regime isn’t really trying to get it right. They’re just trying to scare everybody. I don’t mean to minimize that. They’re doing a FINE job, scaring everybody.

Dr Lisa Anderson is an American citizen. According to a photo I’ve seen, she appears white. Yet she received a letter from immigration telling her to “self-deport” immediately. She currently lives in Connecticut but she was born in Pennsylvania. Does she “self-deport” to Pennsylvania? Will that satisfy the demands of immigration? The letter she received said, “If you are an alien, being in the United States is a privilege — not a right.” That may be true but I’m starting to feel like if you’re an American citizen, being trapped in the United States is a punishment, not a privilege.

The regime’s entire approach is based in lies. I believe this to be true because they WILL NOT present their evidence in court. EVER! I have lived my entire life KNOWING that a person who will not present their evidence is lying. It’s kind of “entry level” stuff, you know?

Attacking the immigrant community is simply a set-up. The Don of Destruction is laying the groundwork to kidnap Americans and make them disappear, too. Right now, MAGA thinks it’s a great thing, deporting brown people. MAGA will happily pretend those brown people are all criminals because that lie gives them the justification they need in order to be cruel to brown people.

MAYBE a case could be made that B.U.S. was “only” deporting undocumented people – until BUS started deporting legal residents. They’re STILL brown, though, so MAGA still thinks it’s great. I don’t think it will be too much longer, though, until B.U.S. “deports” an American citizen to a foreign prison based on assertions, not actual charges or convictions. I expect he’ll be a bad guy, or portrayed as one, anyway, but it’s coming, and soon…

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I saw a meme from ‘The Onion’ that read, “Sadly,” Felon 47 “was found alive and well this morning at Mar-a-Lago.” The sub-head read, “There’s always a chance for tomorrow’s obituaries.” This is a fast-growing sentiment here in this once-great nation. “Why doesn’t he just die, already?”

I think if he would do the world that service, MAGA would start to fall apart pretty quickly. I know he’s surrounded by a team of like-minded, anti-American authoritarians so it seems like MAGA would just carry on as normal. The thing is, 47 has some kind of weird charisma I don’t see from anyone else around him. I know, it seems wrong to apply that word, charisma, to The Drumpfster. We associate charisma, generally, with people we respect, and he clearly is NOT a good person. Hitler had the same charisma.

You see, “charisma” only refers to a person who arouses fervent popular devotion and enthusiasm. It could be – it was – JFK or Dr King. But it might also be Jim Jones or Charles Manson. And 47 certainly arouses MAGA. Sure, the rest of the world recognizes a clown when they see one but MAGA (and, apparently, Bill Maher) are easily fooled and Oh! Em! GEE! do they love that guy. I’m not sure there’s anyone who can replicate what the Don of Destruction is able to pull off.

Then again, when Caesar destroyed the Roman republic, he didn’t live long enough to take full advantage of it. But because of the actions he had taken, and with all the pieces in place, Caesar’s adopted son, Augustus, just stepped in and formalized the empire. The republic never returned. The thing is, Augustus was competent. Which of The Felon’s children could step up and take over? It takes a combination of charisma and skill. Donny has the charisma, evil though it may be. The Heritage Foundation brings the skill but the implementation still requires an audacity of trumpery. Those in The Drumpfster’s circle, generally speaking, have neither or, at least, have never displayed either.

The only way we’ll know, for sure, of course, is if he dies. I mean, to be clear, this is just a thought experiment, a kind of a guess. But I really would like the opportunity to find out what happens to MAGA when Donny dies and that’s an experiment I would like to see start sooner rather than later. Do you think he’ll accommodate?

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Donny promised on the campaign trail that he would end the Russia/Ukraine war quickly, on Day One. No, even sooner. He promised it was going to be so easy, he’d get it done even before the inauguration. He failed. Like, completely. It’s simple. He promised he would end the war, he hasn’t – CAN’T – end the war. That’s a complete failure, I don’t care HOW loyal you are. He failed.

On the campaign trail, he promised he would just get the principles on the phone and say, “Look, you son-of-a-bitch…” The gullible cons lapped that up with a spoon and cheered loudly. But it turns out, in REAL negotiations, the people on the other side of the table will wait for the rest of that sentence – and 47 had NO IDEA how to finish that sentence.

“Look, you son-of-a-bitch…”
“You were saying?”
“Um… stop this… or else!”
“Da. Or else… what?”
“Waaaaaah!”

He likes talking like a tough guy but in reality he ONLY ever punches down, at people with far less power than him. That’s NEVER tough. It’s cowardly. When he’s confronted by people who also enjoy a little power, 47 often LOOKS as stupid as he acts. In the latest example, he’s now saying that if they don’t stop fighting, he’s going to pull the ultimate trumpery: he’ll call them names and turn his back. Ooh, that’ll show ’em.

The Cowardly Liar is way, way, WAY out of his depth. It’s just sad. Bigly sad…

Facts Are Facts, Even When Fiction Wins…

by MyBaconPress

When The Felon campaigned, he promised all the good things to all the right people. It was easy. He found out what his people wanted to hear, then he said it. They believed him. Lower gas prices? Done. Lower food prices? Day one. End Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine? Even before he took office. Deport every non-white person he could find? Count on it. Pardon every J6 rioter, even if they attacked cops? DAY ONE! Tariffs to balance the trade deficit? That’s the plan. Promises, promises.

He said lower energy prices would lower food prices because of energy used in producing and shipping food. Experts in the field say the energy costs are too small of a component to make a big difference. Oh, AND the energy producers have made clear they have no intention of increasing their drilling efforts.

The US, you see, is already producing record amounts of oil and natural gas. The producers don’t WANT to lower the cost any more. Sure, it would help consumers – but it would hurt shareholders. Who do YOU think our corporate overlords are more worried about?

He has already failed at ending Putin’s war ‘even before taking office.’ He’s looking at failure in producing more natural gas and oil. He won’t be bringing prices at the supermarket down. (“It’s hard,” he whined.) He’s backpedaling on which J6 rioters will get day one pardons. If he follows through on his promised tariffs, the most likely result will be inflation – and everything will cost MORE! Not surprisingly, that’s the SAME result we will see if he actually starts deporting every brown person he can find. Everything will cost MORE.

It’s starting to look like there’s not ONE THING he promised that he intends to do. Worse, if he DID do them, there’s not ONE THING he might do that will improve our day-to-day lives. He told a rabid mob what they wanted to hear and they supported him. It’s looking like ‘rabid mob’ may not be the best format for decision-making…

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In retrospect, though, I’m not sure WHY I’ve been so upset over possible economic programs of The Felon and the damage those programs will do. His environmental plans promise to derail every human endeavor over the next four years. With people suffering fires, record-strength hurricanes, tornado clusters, extra cold winters and extra hot summers, flooding and/or drought (fueling crop failures), there’s going to be MUCH unrest, struggle, and desperation…

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It’s weird, watching Steve Bannon call Elon Musk a racist – as an insult, I mean. (Pot? Kettle. Kettle? Pot.) It’s even weirder hearing Newt Gingrich talking about the importance of open legal borders in direct defiance of MAGA right now. Arguably, Gingrich is more responsible than any other politician for launching the far right movement that eventually became MAGA. He’s a deeply evil individual with folksy charm.

He created a monster that DOES NOT DO nuance. Now, he’s trying a nuanced argument to justify some immigration. I suspect that’s going to be a tough sell. Gingrich seems to think The Felon won’t follow through on his promise to use the military to get to every undocumented person they can find and deport them. Oh, but not JUST them.

Trump is quoted as saying, “I don’t want to be breaking up families, so the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back.” Send them all… back? Where, to East LA? That’s not much of a deportation. Trump’s words sound like he’ll deport any undocumented person AND their American family members. “Deporting” Americans sounds like nonsense but, then, many things that fall from his lips sound like nonsense.

Meanwhile, Gingrich says, “I’d be very surprised if you see any significant effort to change the game for people who are here legally. I just think there’s a very small faction of the party that’s rabid about this.” He has also said, “We are a nation of law [sic], despite some of the things that have been said. And I think that if you have legal standing in the American system, it’s very difficult to deport you. On the other hand, if you have no legal standing, it’s pretty easy to deport you, right? And I’m for doing the easy first. That’s why we should give [Dreamers] legal status, as a practical matter.”

Do you think Gingrich can get The Felon to deport people in a nuanced and thoughtful way? ‘Nuanced’ and ‘thoughtful’ are not words I normally associate with Trump and his acolytes…

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Let’s say you have a house. It’s been in your family for 250 years and, let’s face it, it could use some attention. Is the right answer to identify the problems and correct them as they come up, or would it be better just to set fire to the whole freaking thing and burn it to the ground?

MAGA has chosen, “Burn it! Burn it all!” I can’t agree that was the best answer…

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I want to make something clear. Jack Smith has resigned as Special Counsel. He didn’t resign because he lost his case. He resigned because the target of his prosecution created a legal loophole that allowed him to slither away unscathed. (There are advantages to being the Anti-Christ.) Donald J. Trump did NOT “beat” the charges. He did NOT “win.” He cheated – and got away with it. I believe that, had he stood trial, he would have been convicted. He’s still a criminal. He just got away with it…

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I’ve heard yet another smear in the politicization of the SoCal fires: fire trucks from Oregon have been held up because they couldn’t pass a smog check. Yeah, that’s the story. As with all things MAGA, it’s false. It’s just a smear.

Fire trucks from Oregon WERE stopped in Sacramento and examined. It was a safety and equipment evaluation, not a smog check. No smog checks were performed. The idea was to make certain that the trucks were up to the terrain they were heading into – for the safety of the firefighters involved. ALL trucks from Oregon are now on scene in LA.

But I’m guessing that the fact that the story is pure and unadulterated bunk won’t stop MAGA from repeating it over and over. (“They’re EATING THE DOGS!”) When have facts ever been an issue for a MAGA?