ewsieg

Hey, be a good American and look the other way.

I came out ahead this year. My wife just visited her brother in Seattle earlier this month for less than 20 bucks in fee's. Last year I put some big purchases on it and than we had some unexpected bills come in. Even with a heavily discounted trip to Texas for the family I ended up losing about 100 bucks. In thinking about it now, can't remember if I took the fee into consideration either.

Or, I am freely admitting that he may have no role in this recent debacle and that blame could be solely on Southwest software combined with both of their major hubs having weather related issues, but pointing out that some past issues might get scrutinized more. Note, Tom Price resigned from his cabinet position over private flights and he didn't take that many more than Buttigieg has. That was not a big story against Buttigieg when it broke. Could something like that change though?

The only semi-argument you'll get out of me based on your response is in regards to the 180 degree political split. Publicly, yes, I agree it appears to be. Privately, unfortunately I feel there is not much of a split at all and it's pointed in a direction that doesn't benefit the average citizen.

I'm fine with the government not running the details of their business. But the airlines took a bailout during the pandemic and used some legal, but grey areas, to adhere to the rules while going against the ideas that established those rules. Here is a decent write up detailing some of that. https://www.mercatus.org/research/policy-briefs/2020-bailouts-left-airlines-economy-and-federal-budget-worse-shape#:~:text=How Big Were the Bailouts,billion%2C and %2414 billion). Even if there is no legal means for DoT to reclaim or force them to pay back some of the loans they got which will otherwise be forgiven, government should have a way to deal with big business. Maybe after the first time all the airlines had trouble over the summer, instead of writing a letter asking them to get better, maybe advocate for an updated Passengers Bill of Rights which would put more financial incentive on providing reliable service. Southwest specifically had Additionally, even if this specific issue is something that Buttigieg had zero ability to proactively deal with, it wouldn't be the first time an issue has blame unjustly put on someone and opens up some other legitimate issues. I wonder if that's what we'll see here.

I still believe Buttigieg is the Dem's 'next person up' to Biden. But similar to "that's why you don't elect a businessman to run government", how much of this recent Southwest Airlines debacle might tarnish Buttigieg and start a "that's why you don't put a small town mayor in charge of something big"? The airlines got a huge bailout with the caveat that they couldn't lay off workers. Instead they used the money to pay for buyouts and still wrangled around with some non paid furloughs where they would still some benefits. We all knew it and DoT did nothing but publicly admonish the airlines to get their shit together back last summer, which if you remember, Buttigieg's himself found his flight cancelled the next day. No teeth from the DoT. The railroad 'strike' certainly isn't a win for him. The ports issue got out of control before we started to see movement on that as well. Now we're back to the airlines again, or at least Southwest. At the same time we're learning he likes to fly private quite a bit. Obviously much of this is dealing with the side effects of the pandemic, but at some point, does the tarnish wear off?

My wife and kids still like Wendy's for some reason. I don't even bother checking the bag anymore. If you send me there, I'll come back with what they gave me. You get what you get and you don't throw a fit.

The Jack White / White Stripes talk had me thinking about Lazaretto, loved that album.

Does anyone know where you can find the Hutchinson transcript and if you can, confirm this is part of it? I've heard reports from it and today the Meadows burning classified documents, but I happened across this on Twitter. Burning classified documents is pretty clear cut case for a Felony, but this seems much more interesting to me.

Understood. I really do try not to do that, but obviously it bleeds through from time to time. The last part of your statement is ringing true to me as well. I feel like that probably sums up the last page of my responses.

Care to elaborate why?

You've all convinced me. When I'm president, where ever you claim asylum, that's your new home. Family in St. Louis that you want to start your new life with? Well, i'm not going to be part of that cruelty, they can visit you if they really love you. I'd put the army on all the northern borders of the southern border states to ensure no immigrants are being 'trafficked' to other states. You really want to live in St. Louis, well find a way to that city before claiming asylum. Apparently making that portion of the process harder is not considered cruelty.

I just looked up some numbers from Google to get that number. The amount on the DeSantis plane divided by the winter population of Martha's Vineyard, which I'm guessing was not yet quite down to winter population yet in September. It's an interesting part of the thread if you care to rehash. We're reminded of when Lightfoot took 200 migrants that showed up on Chicago and sent them to the much smaller suburbs without notice. But she likes immigrants so she gets a pass. You'll also see that I've been consistent with how awful DeSantis is with this issue.

Years ago when the union portion of my company was threatening a strike, they put out an email to the company saying our CEO made 120 million over the past 5 years. The company 'shot back', informing us all how he only made 100 million. Your post reminded me of that. 1) My tempered response to your post - I'm glad to see he's trying something and the work with Venezuela is more in line with what I think would be helpful. As for the Haiti response, please reread that and tell me if you see anything that could backfire there. He "slashed" illegal immigration, which indicates he helped the border issue. But all he did was encourage Haitians to get to Mexico and come through that border and declare Asylum. Which anyone can do anyway, just lucky enough for the Haitians as they will be approved once they go through that court system at some location of their choosing in the United States. 2) The back of my mind response to your post. I thought Biden couldn't do anything because the GOP kept blocking him?

The number response was based on another number response which I guess was a dig at those that don't want any immigration, which I'm not an advocate of. So, if 1% is what your side considers a drop in the bucket, then I don't want to hear sad stories when a city is "overrun" with .2% of their winter population. And again, can you explain what was cruel in this specific scenario? People come into the southern border everyday trying to get to families or opportunities throughout the entire United States. When they setup their court date they don't have to hang around El Paso for 9 months for that court date. They are asked where they are heading and a court date is established for that jurisdiction. I know there was some talk with the DeSantis plane folks that they didn't want to go and were essentially kidnapped. That was much more nefarious and frankly out of bounds for a governor in one state to do with folks never coming through his state. For full context though, if I remember correctly, it had a decent amount of Venezuelan migrants who do not have some of the same government assistance programs in place that other migrants have and didn't realize it until they got to the United States. They were going to feel duped even if they first stepped foot in blue California. Still not excusable for what DeSantis did. This is not that DeSantis plane ride though. The federal government even has assisted in moving migrants to different states. Or like I stated before, those migrants are on their own to find a way to the city they requested to have their hearing in. If we find out that this busload of people all requested to have their hearings in San Francisco, but were duped into a bus ride to DC for a photo op, than I'll be right on your side.

You've proven time and time again you don't care about facts, unless they fit your narrative. You also have said I have no right for you to dedicate time to my posts. Maybe you should just realize I don't believe a word you say anyway and actually try to ignore my posts then?

Truth hurts huh? I like how you get so literal when it fits for you. You know I wasn't specifically talking about you and substack, but what you've done to me so many times before, ignoring any source that isn't left of Mother Jones.

You're always so literal when it fits you. My point was if I posted a substack article, your MO would be to equate it to Greenwald or Taibbi and ignore it.

Yet DeSantis sends equivalent to .2% of the winter population to Martha's Vineyard and it's the end of the world. I kind of want to do a Pfife response and blow off everything you posted because of your substack article link. Basically equate it to some of the more nefarious users of substack... Instead I'll say that what you're saying is valid, but it doesn't make my points wrong. You guys seem to think that me complaining about our border situation is because i'm your typical white GOP'er that hates brown people. Seems to be the MO for most of you. I'm complaining about our border situation because it's out of control and our border patrol which should be ensuring that people that don't pose a risk to our security and that drugs don't come across the border. Instead, they are glorified Uber drivers picking up people and transporting them to a facility to get a court date which statistically we know they will likely go to, and many will continue going to the follow up appointments, until they lose and disappear into the ether. We are wasting money and resources on an issue which I have to believe there is a better way. I'm not against more immigration. The idea of saying we're not "open" but continuously allowing migrants to run a gauntlet through Mexico isn't safe for the migrants and isn't working for us.

As I mentioned before, the GOP hasn't done anything to show they are the leaders on ideas in regards to this issue either. That said, I'd be very interested in learning about a bill that would allow asylum seekers to register in their country of origin that was blocked by the GOP senate, (as the Dem's controlled the House and the White House).

It was performative to drop them off in front of Harris' residence. It was a natural flow or migration to get them to another state. Migrants have families all throughout the United States, not just the border states. Many migrants want to get to Michigan, New York, DC, etc. If it was a member of my family, I would have wanted them bussed to Michigan, not DC though, so you got me there. 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. I like Mona, but I sometimes I feel like her never Trump views have impacted her ability to reasonably view issues with anyone that is even suspected of supporting anything regarding Trump. She's right to say Abbott and DeSantis (who really isn't dealing with the full impact that land border states are and should just focus on Florida) aren't offering much of a solution either. But it's semantics to say it's not an open policy. We know that the vast majority of these folks will claim asylum and they will eventually lose their case, but already be lost inside our nation. Border agents don't let them walk through, correct. But border agents do work as Uber drivers, collecting them and transporting back to a facility. There a court date is set for them based on where they say they are heading, LA, Washington, Michigan, NY, DC, etc. Then it's up to them to figure out a way to get there. And yes, we are starved for workers. But seriously, that's an excuse? We need more unskilled labor so big corporate American can get back to being opened 24x7 and make ridiculous profits they aren't taxed much on anyway... that's what the party of 'workers' is advocating?

Great discussion. We have a migration issue into this country, specifically at the southern border. It is putting a heavy strain on those communities. The right chants 'build the wall' which would have no impact on the migration issue itself as folks only need to touch American land to claim asylum and the wall is nearly always already inside American land. So it's not like I'm saying the GOP has answers either. But the asylum process is broke on the southern border, it's being incorrectly used on top of that, and we have no ability to process the influx we're seeing. Look at Ukrainian refugees, they were displaced across the country, even some to Michigan and Illinois. Can you believe that cruelty from the Biden administration that he'd send folks already dealing with a war in their own country to states that experienced negative wind chills already this winter? Biden's cruelty is unreal, huh? Migrants were moving north prior, at least for Texas they feel it's more cost effective to assist in finding a destination for some and paying that cost rather than paying the cost to house them as they run out of room. As for the drop off at Harris' again, there was no cruelty there. They would have had to brave those same weather conditions if they had to switch busses at a bus stop. But yes, absolutely performative and used by each side to feed their tightly held beliefs about the other side. I'm not saying this is the right or only solution, but maybe forcing them to claim asylum in their own country or the next closest country (common practice in every instance outside of the southern border) and complete the process before getting here would save so many from threats of that long travel, rather that be sexual assaults' (Doctors without Borders puts that at 31% of girls and 10% of boys), or even death. But nope, when pressed on if it's an issue, go with the 'I like immigrants' response, allowing you to paint everyone that wants to focus on the issue as cruel evil tyrant and continue to believe you're righteous.

I'm not trying to say Abbott is a good guy and was the first to admit this was performative politics. But the migrant issue is real. You are choosing to pick a side and labeling him as the ultimate symbol for cruelty. Yet El Paso can't handle the influx and Abbott has overflowed his major cities with migrants already. El Paso couldn't house some of the migrants over this last cold spell when it went below freezing temps on the border. But somehow it's much better for them to spend the night in 30 degree temps outside than spend a few minutes transferring a bus in 14 degree temps? C'mon, stop feeding into the hate and start demanding some action from both sides who all share a responsibility.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/25/us/politics/migrants-kamala-harris-christmas-eve.html https://www.texastribune.org/2022/12/25/greg-abbott-migrant-busing-dc-christmas-eve/ https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/3788126-democrats-outraged-over-christmas-eve-migrant-drop-off-at-vps-house/ Several days notice, enough to ensure the press was there to get photos as they were moved to local busses.

Of course this is performative politics, but 'standing outside briefly'.... that means folks responsible for moving these individuals to some housing were aware and waiting for them. No different then when they get bussed up from the border in Texas to other cities in Texas. Millions a year are coming in, those border towns can't handle them all. At some point, instead of just playing politics on both sides, it would be nice if someone actually tried to address the issue.