CMRivdogs

From Mona Cheren https://www.thebulwark.com/greg-abbott-scrooge/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email It isn’t that Abbott didn’t anticipate the coming weather. In a December 20 letter to President Biden, he wrote: Help us understand the reasoning here. Is the problem that Biden has caused human suffering by letting people be exposed to freezing temperatures? In that case, how is the solution to move people to another freezing jurisdiction and dump them on the sidewalk? Yes, this country is being swamped by would-be immigrants, and a mature polity would address the problem with sensible reforms. But that’s not what the governors of Florida and Texas are demanding. They and their right-wing media claque are saying that immigrants are clamoring for admission to the United States only because President Biden has an “open borders” policy. Here’s a typical story from Fox News: “Biden’s dangerous open border policies are record-breaking in all the wrong ways. Illegal immigrants, possible terrorists and deadly drugs mark Biden’s open border policies.” GOP politicians proclaim almost daily that Biden has created an “open border.” They repeat this mantra even though it flatly contradicts another of their favorite talking points, namely that the border patrol has experienced record numbers of encounters with would-be crossers. The CPB reports that agents had 2.2 million encounters with illegal border crossers in fiscal year 2022—a new record. (Many are repeat crossers.) If the border were truly open, the border patrol would not be apprehending anyone, right? They’d be standing aside and waving them on in. In fact, the constant GOP refrain about the border being “open” may actually be aggravating the problem by disseminating the impression around the globe that it’s worth making the attempt to get into the United States. Here is the complicated reality. It is not Biden’s fault that so many people want to come to the United States. There was a big jump in border encounters under the Trump administration as well (from 310,531 in fiscal year 2017 to 859,501 in fiscal year 2019—the numbers plunged temporarily during the COVID-19 pandemic). People want to come here because 1) so many nations around the globe are hellish and a number of those are within walking distance; 2) this is a place where people with a good work ethic can get ahead and enjoy the blessings of liberty; 3) our immigration laws and rules are confusing. Those who object that immigrants are “breaking into our country” as a burglar breaks into a home are dead wrong. The vast majority of would-be entrants are not sneaking past sentries in the desert or wading through the Rio Grande (not that such acts are equivalent to burglary either). Most immigrants are attempting to come through international points of entry and ask for asylum. This is permitted under a law Congress passed in 1980, providing that people may seek asylum when they have a well-founded fear of persecution in their home country on the grounds of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. The law was designed for people like the Uighurs in China, the Yazidis in Iraq and Syria, democrats in Cuba, the Rohingya in Myanmar, the Baha’i in Iran, and others. Among those who have benefited from asylum in the United States are Gloria Estefan, Sergey Brin, Hannah Arendt, Salvador Dalí, and Mikhail Barishnikov. The United States separately admits refugees from wars and natural disasters. Here’s another solution to the immigration problem—welcome more legal immigrants! Opponents of immigration frequently object that policy should be aimed at what’s best for this country, not what’s in the interests of millions of unhappy people around the globe. Things are tough out there, sure, but we can’t be the dumping ground for the world’s problems! True, but more immigration is in our national interest. Even aside from the injection of vitality that immigrants always provide, we are suffering from a serious labor shortage. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell estimates that “The combination of a plunge in net immigration and a surge in deaths during the pandemic probably accounts for about one and a half million missing workers.” And the lack of those employees is driving up wages, which is contributing to our inflation problem. The unemployment rate stands at 3.7 percent, a 50-year low. For every job seeker, there are 1.7 job openings. The worker shortages are particularly acute in construction, farming, health care, and hospitality. The owner of a home health care company, Mariama Lowe, told the Washington Post that before the immigration restrictions and the pandemic she employed 100 nurses and personal care aides, most of them immigrants. Now, she is down to 27. She isn’t sure how long she can hold out. The wait for green cards, even for those who’ve been fully vetted, can be insanely long because our needlessly complicated law imposes caps by country of origin. Immigrants from India and China, for example, can wait their entire working lives. We are starved for workers. Americans are paying more for food, housing, and other commodities and services due to the severe labor shortage. We have backlogs of already-vetted immigrants, asylum-seekers with credible claims, and refugees who would gratefully (dare I say tearfully) accept jobs and lives in this country if we could only get out of our own way.

Texas has 2100 MEGA Churches, churches that have average attendance 2000 "worshipers" weekly. You would think these "christians" would welcome refugees on a weekend that celebrates the birth of the "Savior". http://hirr.hartsem.edu/cgi-bin/mega/db.pl?db=default&uid=default&view_records=1&ID=*&sb=4&State=TX I will admit there is an immigration problem but short of publicity stunts I have yet to see anything being done in the way of Republican "Leaders" working with the current administration.

He fits in perfectly with MTG, Boebert, Jordan, Gohmert et al

I have a passing interest in older architecture. This Twitter feed is fascinating since it concerns housing around the old Pullman Factory in the Southside of Chicago (near Calumet). Also the Brickyard that was formed before the housing for employees near the turn of the 20th century. When Pullman sold the property most of the houses were razed and evidently a few were moved. Just a bit more of our history that gets lost in the rubble so to speak

Too bad there's no work in Florida or Texas assembling candy boxes. My FB pages shows a great need for such people. Great pay as well

Meanwhile from what I read Abbott and company still hasn't done much to address the electric grid. So while his own constituents freeze (those that can't afford Cancun), he's wasting their money on stunts.

Old men yelling at clouds...

OK, under further review that was only the second worst trade in NFL history

You’re forgetting about the Ditka trade for Rickey Williams

I've been ruminating the past several days on Dickens's Christmas Story (this year's viewing was the one with Patrick Stewart) Some people really do need a visit from the Ghost of Christmas to Come edited And possibly Joe McCarthy as the apparition of Jacob Marley

I know we talked about this a bit earlier this week with the passing of Franco Harris. This is the best footage I've seen of the reception. Hard to believe it's been 50 years

God bless us, everyone

An endangered species. A Republican that sounds somewhat like an adult. I don't like him calling things like Social Security and Medicare entitlements, but then again that's what the GOP does

Time to go see if the ocean is where I left it last trip

Fumble was on the center, never touched the QB

I've been relying on ESPN and Twitter. Too far south for Carolina coverage and evidently cable goes out on HHI when the temps dip below 30

I saw a Jennifer Hammond tweet earlier indicating the same during warm up

Charlotte is not used to this type of cold either. looks like the wind advisory expires around game time but with the real feel in the upper teens its going to be brutal for both teams. We're spending the weekend on Hilton Head, got in last night. Just too cold to even walk the beach today. Hopefully tomorrow.

Those of us who have served time in the business can relate. This is how some of us would have loved to react

I’m a fan of her work with Tony Bennett. The duet albums are great, not to mention the friendship the two seemed to develop

Neither is the colonoscopy. It’s the prep work that’s difficult. I’ve had my best naps during the procedure

The down side is if the Cologuard test shows anything you still have to have the Colonoscopy. Talk about doubling your fun...

Could someone explain to me like a third grader why this would be bad?