# # #
Friday, March 20, 2020
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
ACTION ALERT: Senate looking at slipping in another immigration INCREASE. UPDATED
image credit: Insights.dice.com
Sen. Lindsey Graham is using the
coronavirus recovery bills to dramatically expand the award of EB-5 green cards
to wealthy Chinese if they lend money to U.S. real estate investors and other
companies, according to several activists and Politico magazine.
“How can people pushing this not
see how politically explosive this is?” said Mark Krikorian, director of
the Center for Immigration Studies. “An EB-5 increase would almost
exclusively benefit Chinese: It is hard to imagine what they are thinking.”
The plan by Graham, (R-S.C.) was
provided to Politico, which said
it would “boost the number of [EB-5] visas offered to wealthy immigrants who
invest money in the United States as it tries to boost a faltering economy amid
the escalating coronavirus outbreak, according to four people familiar with the
situation.” [Full update is here.]
[resuming from yesterday's blog] This just in from NumbersUSA:
Senators mulling
immigration increases in emergency spending bills.
Tell your Senators to
OPPOSE!
Our Capitol Hill team is learning
of some troubling news. There are a handful of Senators, along with some in the
White House, who are looking to slip an INCREASE of legal immigration into the
emergency spending bills currently being drafted to deal with the coronavirus
outbreak.
The provision being discussed would
increase the number of EB-5 visas from 10,000 to 75,000. The EB-5 visa program
provides foreign nationals with a green card in return for an investment in an
American business that leads to the creation of at least 10 jobs for American
workers. Currently, investors have to invest at least $900,000, but the
provision could reduce that amount to $450,000.
Quite simply, the EB-5 visa program
is the selling of U.S. citizenship. It's ridiculous to think that while
Americans are concerned about their jobs and their health, that some Senators
are looking for ways to benefit foreign nationals instead.
Please call your two U.S. Senators
and urge them to oppose any efforts to slip an EB-5 increase into the economic
stimulus package. Congress should not be burying bad immigration policy into
emergency bills.
The talking point: tell your Senators to oppose an increase
in EB-5 visas in the emergency bills.
Sen. Rob Portman:
202-224-3353 or by email here
Sen. Sherrod Brown: (202) 224-2315 (DC) or (216) 522 7272 (Cleveland)
# # #
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Overlooked stats in the coronavirus reportage
Overlooked math and stats in the coronavirus reportage
From CTP’s roving photographer and in-house statistician:
Since most people recover from
Coronavirus. shouldn't we be looking at currently infected (CI) as opposed to
all infections to date (AI)? At this stage most people in the US are still
infected, so CI won't be much larger than AI. But, over time, say, with a three
week lag to account for disease duration, wouldn't the CI increase rate grow
more slowly than the AI rate? After all, it is the CI people who transmit the
disease, not the AI people who have recovered or died (R+D). In other words, we
should look at the growth rate of CI, not AI.
In the US, total cases are 4,667
(AI) and 74 + 81 (R+D) have totally recovered or died leaving 4,512 still
infected (CI).
In China, total cases are 80,881
(AI) and 68,688 + 3226 (R+D) have totally recovered or died leaving 8,967 still
infected (CI).
I think this may explain why the
disease appears to be tapering off in China.
Numbers from here, but this site (Worldometers) updates frequently.
So maybe we are not all doomed.
# # #
Labels:
CDC,
China,
Coronavirus,
infection,
recovery,
USA,
WorldoMeters
Election Day: it's off: UPDATES
UPDATE: It’s off! (See here.)
As of 11:25pm, the election is OFF. Here’s Ed Driscoll at Instapundit:
NOW WHAT? Judge Denies Ohio Gov’s Request to Delay Primary, But Poll Workers Say They Won’t Be Ready.
UPDATE: “Minutes ago Gov. Mike DeWine defied a judge’s earlier ruling that the primary must go on tomorrow. He announced on Twitter that his director of Public Health, Amy Acton, will order the polls closed tomorrow due to a ‘health emergency.'”
Is that it? Ohio Christian Alliance reported earlier this evening:
With the unprecedented measures that have been implemented by federal and state government agencies, tomorrow's election has been postponed. More information will be available on the Secretary of State's website and from the Governor's office.As of 10 pm Monday night, I have not been able to confirm that report via the Board of Elections or the Secretary of State website.
Ohio Value Voters reported that the March 17 election is ON as scheduled.
Is it on or off? ON (if pollworkers show up)? This latest from Paula Bolyard at PJ Media who reports that the election is proceeding as scheduled on March 17:
CHAOS: Judge Denies
Ohio Gov's Request to Delay Primary—
AFTER Poll Workers
Told Not to Set Up Polling Locations
Update 9:45 p.m.: Ohio House
Speaker Larry Householder, a Republican, sent out a memo to members asking them
to inform their constituents that the election will go on as planned Tuesday.
"To my knowledge, the court is closed until 8:30 AM tomorrow and polls
open prior to that," he wrote. "You should instruct your constituents
that the Election is scheduled to occur March 17 as set by Ohio Law."
Here's more about what we know about Ohio's primary elections, scheduled for today, March 17 (reprinted from this blog, published yesterday):
Headline from cleveland.com:
Judge denies request to delay Ohio primary election until June over coronavirus
People who want the election postponed may appeal. It’s still being decided whether an appeal is possible.
According to my conversation with the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, none of this confusion has been clarified; the BoE spokesperson recommended checking the website for the Ohio Secretary of State for any updates; click here.
Yesterday's blog with more details of all this confusion is here.
# # #
Monday, March 16, 2020
Ohio Primary Election postponed? Updates
image credit: kpcw.org.
UPDATE 10pm: Ohio Christian Alliance is reporting:
As of 10 pm Monday night, I have not been able to confirm that report via the Board of Elections or the Secretary of State website.
Earlier updates ---
UPDATE 7:53pm: Headline fromcleveland.com:
With the unprecedented measures that have been implemented by federal and state government agencies, tomorrow's election has been postponed. More information will be available on the Secretary of State's website and from the Governor's office.
As of 10 pm Monday night, I have not been able to confirm that report via the Board of Elections or the Secretary of State website.
Earlier updates ---
UPDATE 7:53pm: Headline fromcleveland.com:
Judge denies request to delay Ohio primary election until
June over coronavirus
People who want the election
postponed may appeal. It’s still being decided whether an appeal is possible.
So as of 7:53pm Monday, March 16, it is still unclear as to
whether the polls will or will not be open on Tuesday.
-----
UPDATE: Crawl on Fox 8 News Cleveland at 4:12pm:
Voting in Ohio To Be Extended to June 2
UPDATE: The information on the Ohio Secretary of State Website suggests polls will NOT be open tomorrow:
Based On New Public
Health Guidance, Larose Recommends Suspension Of In-Person Voting On March 17,
Moving Election Day To June 2
And here's how this blog originally started:
Headline from cleveland.com:
Ohio becomes the third state, after
Louisiana and Georgia to cancel its primary.
The wording is odd (“wants to postpone” vs “to cancel”). Then:
Less than 24 hours before it was to
have taken place, Ohio officials are seeking to delay the state’s presidential
primary election until June 2, Gov. Mike DeWine announced Monday.
. . .
Between now and June 2, mail-in voting would continue, if the judge approves the move.
. . .
Between now and June 2, mail-in voting would continue, if the judge approves the move.
The Hill is reporting:
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said
Monday he would back a lawsuit aiming to delay the state's presidential primary
until June because of the growing threat of the coronavirus that has already
infected thousands of people around the country.
(One assumes that this decision was put off until the last minute because Gov. DeWine was so busy closing down Ohio restaurants, bars, theaters, sports events, parades, etc.)
UPDATE 4:20: According to my conversation with the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, none of the confusion has been clarified; the BoE spokesperson recommended checking the website for the Ohio Secretary of State for any updates; click here.
UPDATE 4:20: According to my conversation with the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, none of the confusion has been clarified; the BoE spokesperson recommended checking the website for the Ohio Secretary of State for any updates; click here.
# # #
Sunday, March 15, 2020
CNN Democratic Debate: drunk-blogging link
Democrat debate: Biden vs Sanders
Tonight, Sunday, March 15, 2020
8:00 PM on CNN
CNN and Univision host former Vice President Joe Biden and
Sen. Bernie Sanders from Washington, D.C.; moderated by Ilia Calderon.
It’s either a must-see or a must-miss. If you can’t stand the idea of watching CNN
and the debate between two “grumpy old white men,” then here is the link to
Stephen Green (Mr. Vodkapundit) doing his live drunk-blog coverage. Note: Vodkapundit's drunk blog automatically updates, so there is no need to refresh.
# # #
Saturday, March 14, 2020
Ohio polls and Joe Biden’s town hall trainwreck
Cartoon credit: Times Free Press
Former Vice President Joe Biden (D)
is experiencing a double-digit lead in Ohio just days before the state’s March
17 primary, an Emerson College/Nexstar Poll released on Friday showed.
The survey, taken March 11-12,
2020, among 464 “very” likely Democrat primary voters, showed Biden taking a
comfortable lead in the Buckeye State, with 57 percent support to Sen. Bernie
Sanders’ (I-VT) 35 percent support — a 22 point advantage.
Note the dates of the survey: March 11-12. How will polling look after Biden’s virtual
town hall performance yesterday is factored in. John Nolte at Breitbart reports:
Joe Biden Forgets
Year,
Meanders Off Frame in
Disastrous Livestream
Grandpa Joe Biden wants to run the
country and save us from coronavirus when he can’t even run a livestream and
has no idea what year it is.
On Friday, Grandpa Joe held what
his campaign billed as a “virtual town hall” in Illinois. In my colleague Kyle
Olson’s must-read reporting on
the event, you will discover the whole thing was a fiasco, like something out
of a sitcom. Guests appeared and then disappeared. The sound was garbled.
People were introduced, followed by an awkward pause when they didn’t appear.
Babies cried…
“Biden seemed to be reading from a
teleprompter, but the broadcast suffered from severe tech issues, as Biden’s
words were caught in a feedback loop, muddying the whole presentation and
making the candidate nearly indecipherable,” Olson reported.
After starting two hours late, the
fiasco lasted about 45 minutes. . . .
Mr. Nolte cites a
tweet by “Jordan:”
In a bizarre, meandering livestream
put on by Joe Biden's campaign today, he forgets what year it is and when, if
he doesn't lose, he would be in office.
At another point, he seemingly
forgets he's on a live stream and walks out of frame. The feed cuts away to a
logo instead.
Mr. Nolte’s full report is here, and it’s scary to think Mr. Biden is
the front-runner for the Democrat party's presidential nominee. The full video of the town hall is linked at Nolte’s report.
# # #
Labels:
Breitbart,
Hannah Bleau,
Joe Biden,
John Nolte,
Ohio voters,
podcast,
virtual town hall
Friday, March 13, 2020
Coronavirus and the CDC
Glenn Reynolds (Mr. Instapundit) had this blurb with link:
WELL, THAT’S BECAUSE THE CDC
SUCKS. Sick
People Across the U.S. Say They Are Being Denied the Coronavirus Test. It
sucked with swine flu, it sucked with Ebola, and it’s sucking now.
The link is to a New York Times article, which is behind a
paywall. So for a bit of background, you can go instead to Michelle Malkin’s fearless take on the history of the CDC. A
sampling:
I think I’m where most sane people
are on the coronavirus outbreak:
—Concerned but not panicked.
—Calm but not apathetic.
—Taking reasonable precautions but
remaining skeptical of what all the purportedly “best experts” here in the
United States are telling us about every aspect of their belated crisis
management and response (especially on their pimping of vaccine development to
prevent the disease).
Here are some plain, non-hysterical
facts: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control is a bloated federal government
agency with a long history of incompetence, fraud, secrecy, mission creep and
shady alliances with both social justice causes on the left and private
corporations on the big business right. The “deep state” of entrenched
bureaucrats embedded in the Beltway bowels is alive and thriving at the CDC.
The un-elected elites who’ve occupied top offices at the public
health-industrial complex are hostile to public scrutiny while clamoring for
ever-ballooning budgets. Their recommendations have often been detrimental to
citizens’ well-being and freedom.
Lots more here.
# # #
Thursday, March 12, 2020
Coronavirus update from Cleveland Clinic
Statement from Cleveland Clinic onTesting for COVID-19 – March 12 2020, Updated at 5:00 PM:
We want to clarify misinformation that has been trending on social media related to Cleveland Clinic testing for COVID-19. Cleveland Clinic has not developed a new test for COVID-19. We have purchased the necessary CDC components and validated the test in our own lab. This means we can now conduct on-site testing for the virus, allowing us to test patients and receive the results more rapidly – in most cases, within one day. We expect other hospitals and academic medical centers across the country will also have this capability.
More here.
# # #
Labels:
CDC,
Cleveland Clinic,
Coronavirus,
COVID 19,
testing
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
St. Patrick’s Day: no parade, just voting
photo credit: lagunabeat.com
Cleveland.com reports that the traditional Cleveland downtown St. Patrick’s Day
parade is cancelled due to concerns over the coronavirus. But polling places will be open. The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections has
posted all polling locations here; there is
another page, here, that lists locations recently changed or added.
# # #
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
No rallies this evening
Yesterday, I blogged about Representative Jackie Speier
(D-CA), who complained that President Donald Trump was putting “his most ardent
supporters at risk” by not canceling his upcoming political rallies in light of
the current coronavirus outbreak. No mention of Joe Biden or Bernie
Sanders cancelling their campaign rallies. But both of them just did. Breitbart reports:
Bernie Sanders
Cancels Cleveland Rally Over Coronavirus Concerns
A rally by Sanders’ rival, former
Vice President Joe Biden, also scheduled for Tuesday night in Cleveland, was
also called off.
Is the
Coronavirus the reason? If so, will future rallies also be
cancelled?
# # #
Labels:
Bernie Sanders,
Breitbart,
Cleveland,
cleveland.com,
Coronavirus,
Donald Trump,
Jackie Speier,
Joe Biden,
Pam Key,
rallies
Monday, March 9, 2020
Hypocrisy on display: Coronavirus and rallies
photo credit: The Nation
Representative Jackie Speier (D-CA)
complained Sunday on MSNBC that President Donald Trump was putting “his most
ardent supporters at risk” by not canceling his upcoming political rallies in
light of the current coronavirus outbreak.
Speier said, “I don’t think the
president is capable of telling us the truth about the coronavirus. And I
regret saying that. I think we have to rely on the scientists who are
attempting to tell the truth even when they have to contradict the president.”
She added, “The fact that he is not
willing to cancel his various rallies suggests that he is willing to place even
his most ardent supporters at risk because we’re supposed to stay six feet away
from other persons in order to mitigate the exchange of those viruses. I think
that he is showing, unfortunately, why he is so ill-prepared to guide our
country during this time of the crisis.”
Uh huh. But as we
read at cleveland.com, both Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden are holding rallies in
Cleveland on Tuesday, at the Huntington Convention Center and at Tri-C at East
30th. See here and here. No comment from Rep. Jackie Speier.
# # #
Labels:
Bernie Sanders,
Breitbart,
Cleveland,
cleveland.com,
Coronavirus,
Donald Trump,
Jackie Speier,
Joe Biden,
Pam Key,
rallies
Saturday, March 7, 2020
Weekend meme
Found somewhere on social media by a Steelers fan (with apologies to all you die-hard Browns fans):
# # #
Labels:
Cleveland Browns,
meme,
Mike Bloomberg,
millions,
Mini Mike,
Steelers
Friday, March 6, 2020
Update: immigration, DACA amnesty
President Donald Trump and a group
of GOP senators quickly rejected a DACA amnesty deal pushed by Sen. Lindsey
Graham on Thursday afternoon – but left the door open to future negotiations.
They will now wait until after the
Supreme Court decides on the legality of Barack Obama’s work permit giveaway to
800,000 younger illegals, says multiple media reports.
NumbersUSA adds (via subscriber newsletter):
Other Senators reported at the
White House meeting represented some mixed immigration positions: Ted Cruz of
Texas, Kevin Cramer of South Dakota, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Martha McSally of
Arizona, Mike Lee of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, and David Perdue of
Georgia.
Sens. Tillis and McSally would be
open to joining Graham in supporting a mass amnesty, particularly if it came
with the right tradeoffs. Sen. Tillis, along with Sen. Johnson, is looking for
an expansion of guest worker programs. Sen. McSally would likely be willing to
trade amnesty for increased border security in Arizona.
Thankfully, Sens. Cotton and Cruz
were also in attendance. Both Senators have pushed back against the idea of
granting a permanent amnesty to DACA recipients. Coincidently, Sen. Cotton
slammed the Trump Administration's decision to increase
the number of low-skilled H-2B visas for FY 2020 via Twitter while the
meeting was taking place.
For now, the issue is still up in the air, and the NumbersUSA Action
Alert to fax or call Senators is probably better implemented closer to the
Supreme Court’s decision, expected in June.
# # #
Wednesday, March 4, 2020
Created Equal: Clarence Thomas In His Own Words
Created Equal: Clarence Thomas In His Own Words
The documentary on Justice Clarence Thomas is playing at
Tower City Cinemas starting Friday, March 6.
Showtimes are listed through March 12; click here.
# # #
March 17 primary election resource: Judge4Yourself
The Judge4Yourself page rates the judicial candidates running
in the March 17 (Tuesday, St Patrick's Day) primary election for judgeships in Cuyahoga County and the
Eighth District Court of Appeals. It may not be a perfect resource, but if you
don’t recognize the names of candidates, it’s a place to start. At the least,
you can cross off candidates who do not respond to the questionnaires and
interviews, or who get the dreaded “Not Recommended” verdict. Click here.
# # #
Monday, March 2, 2020
Trump rally, Clarence Thomas documentary
image credit: ust-global
Two media notes. One, President Trump is holding a rally in North Carolina this evening, and it may be fun to see his takes on the shrinking field of Democratic party primary candidates, and his update on the Coronavirus (or Corona Flu, as Don Surber suggests). As usual, Sundance has the livestream links, including to Right Side Broadcasting. Click here.
Two, the documentary on Clarence Thomas is scheduled to run at Tower City Cinemas, possibly starting on March 6 (this Friday). No showtimes have been posted, but the film is now listed as an upcoming attraction. Will update as appropriate.
# # #
Saturday, February 29, 2020
President Trump at CPAC - just one minute
President Trump gave a speech at CPAC this afternoon. Great speech, but here's the one-minute clip that is going viral. Too funny.
# # #
Friday, February 28, 2020
Reasons to Stop Freaking Out About Coronavirus
image credit: ora.tv
Joel B. Pollak at Breitbart has some public service comments on the media hysteria over the Coronavirus. Here’s the beginning:
Coronavirus is an “info-demic,” a panic caused by the spread of partial and often misleading information about a health risk, sometimes deliberately.
The virus is real, and a small number of people have been infected. But it is going to pass.
It is an unpleasant respiratory illness, but it is not an organ-destroying horror like Ebola. Precautions are being taken, a vaccine will emerge, and life will continue as usual.
Here are five specific reasons to chill out.
1. Coronavirus is a familiar illness, and not as bad as others. It is from the SARS family — and less deadly. As Ha’aretz noted, “the mortality rate from the current disease ranges from 0.5 to 2 percent, and is significantly lower than the mortality rate from the 2002 SARS outbreak (9.5 percent) and much lower than the 2012 SARS outbreak (34.4 percent). It may even be close to the mortality rate from an ordinary flu outbreak in the United States.”
2. The U.S. response has been exceptionally good. There have only been 16 cases thus far, none deadly. . . .
Pollak’s additional 3 reasons are here.
UPDATE From Conservative Treehouse:
If you are following the tiered and strategic deployment of COVID-19 hype, you’ll note the next round of heavy artillery (the WHO/CDC have been saving) is the announcement of an official global “pandemic status” being reached. That will be worth a week of panic media and perhaps another thousand point drop for U.S. stock market.
# # #
Labels:
Breitbart,
CDC,
Conservative Treehouse,
Coronavirus,
Ebola,
flu,
hysteria,
info-demic,
Joel B. Pollak,
media,
SARS,
WHO
Thursday, February 27, 2020
What's happening to the Democratic Party
Lifezette has a perceptive analysis by the Political Insider Staff on the crisis in the Democratic party. Here are the opening paragraphs of “Democrats never thought letting ‘comrade Bernie’ in their camp would destroy their party”:
I really do have faith in the American people to make the right choice in 2020, but let me make this point: If Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is the nominee for the Democrats, it won’t be super easy for President Donald Trump.
The popularity of these leftists is pretty much all propaganda. They are all running on abortion, giving free stuff to people who are illegally here, and constantly telling white folks that you’re the problem with America. If anyone of these Democrats wins the presidency, it will be because of cheating.
The situation before us: we noticed how the Democratic leadership has put up with the commie crazies because they pulled in some votes with so many elections being very close; it made the difference between victory and loss. What the heads of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) never considered is that these idiots would take over that party. This is a perfect fulfillment of the old proverb about letting the camel stick its nose inside the tent.
Let me make this one point clear: If Bernie wins the presidency, he will attempt to burn down the United States.
. . .
Read the rest here. Also, I‘m reading more about potential cheating, voter fraud, and efforts to minimize opportunities to tamper with votes, and I hope to post some of the reports over the weekend.
# # #
Wednesday, February 26, 2020
Dem Primary Debate recap
Last night, Tyler O’Neil filled in for Mr. Vodkapundit’s drunk-blogging gig at PJ Media. Today, he posted a good wrap-up. Here’s his final take-away:
Despite these and other attacks, Bernie Sanders held his own. As The Wall Street Journal's Kimberley Strassel noted, Bernie got “the real pass” on authoritarianism. “Authoritarianism is part and parcel of all true socialist movements. You can't support socialism and oppose authoritarians. They are the same,” she explained.
. . .
This is spot on. Sanders may insist his would be a smiley-face brand of socialism, but when push comes to shove, how will he react? A Heritage Foundation study found that taxing the rich at 100 percent would still fall trillions short of Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. Sanders has criticized the idea of having 18-23 different deodorant options, but that is exactly the point: a free-market consumer culture allows for a wide range of choices that allow for competition and niche tastes. A one-size-fits-all mentality cuts against the prosperity Americans prize, and socialist governments historically became authoritarian because not everyone went along.
Liberty and prosperity are not the norm in human history — poverty and tyranny are, and the bloody history of the 20th century shows that socialism is a recipe for returning to that norm.
I sincerely hope Americans understand that and have the good sense to reject Bernie Sanders in November if he does indeed go on to win the Democratic nomination. While many think the clear contrast between Trump and Sanders would help the GOP, a socialist major-party nominee still represents a serious threat and a kind of belated victory for the Soviets in the Cold War.
Yet, as of now, conventional wisdom has it that Bernie would be the easiest candidate for Trump to beat.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) put it well. "Every minute that goes by [Bernie Sanders] gets stronger. If you believe Bernie is bad for Democratic hopes and dreams in 2020 this is a pathetic effort to take him down. Biggest winner so far in [the Democratic debate] — President [Donald Trump]!"
Full recap is here.
# # #
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
CBS Democratic Primary debate 8pm
CBS Democratic Primary debate 8pm UPDATED
Stephen Green -- Mr. Vodkapundit -- always live-drunk-blogs these ghastly events at PJ Media. Update: Tyler O'Neil is subbing for Vodkapundit this evening; click here. Livestream links are always up at Conservative Treehouse. Update: link here. (Or you can turn on CBS and suffer through the whole thing.)
# # #
Saturday, February 22, 2020
Amnesty: here we go again
This is an Action Alert. Following Mick Mulvaney’s remarks on immigration (see below), NumbersUSA issued the following:
Republican Senators are hoping to take up an amnesty bill passed by the House last December that also expands guest worker programs; White House says it’s “listening” to these proposals.
News reports this week brought attention to a push in Congress to pass an amnesty for illegal aliens working in the agricultural industry, which would in effect create an indentured servitude program, allowing illegal aliens to gain green cards in return for a period of service working an ag-related job.
According to a story in Politico by Anita Kumar on Wednesday, the White House “has been in talks with Senators” hoping to convince the President to back amnesty legislation.
Last December, the House passed the mis-titled Farm Workforce Modernization Act, introduced by Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.).
You will find the NumbersUSA fact sheet for the bill here. And Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, wrote up his take at National Review (“Farming Like It’s 1699.”)
In the Senate, Republicans Lindsay Graham (S.C.) and Thom Tillis (N.C.) are leading efforts in that chamber to pass legislation along the lines of Rep. Lofgren’s bill, with indications the Senators would like to expand guest worker programs for other industries. The senior Senator from South Carolina is well-deserving of his nickname “Grahamnesty,” though, to his credit, he has always been upfront about his aims to provide U.S. employers with a continual flow of low-wage labor from abroad. Tillis has never had Graham’s national visibility, but he, too, has been a reliable advocate for amnesty and expanded guest worker programs.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.), who has emerged in the House as a strong voice for enforcement, sent a letter to Senator Graham on Tuesday:
I write to urge that any immigration reform measures undertaken in the Senate, for Agriculture workers or otherwise, focus expressly and solely on actual and desperately needed immigration reform. There should be no amnesty considered as we should be squarely focused on re-establishing actual operational control of our border, which we currently do not have. – - Rep. Chip Roy
Kumar points out that amnesty and expanded guest worker programs go against pledges made by President Trump on the 2016 campaign trial, and reiterated after he took office. She also wrote that:
A White House official confirmed the ongoing negotiations on the guest worker proposal and said the effort is an attempt to generate action on a smaller immigration proposal after a larger one stalled and won few adherents.
“We’ve also been listening to stakeholders,” the official said. “We’ve also developed points of view on what the temporary system should look like.”
Journalists have written a lot about how the Trump Administration wants to decrease immigration, and some have even claimed the administration has already achieved this end, often conflating legal admissions with illegal entries. It remains an open question whether the President truly supports that goal.
While he endorsed the RAISE Act in 2017, President Trump more recently said that America “needs workers” and he would like to see “the largest numbers ever” of legal immigrants.
The President isn’t always precise in his language, and he must be given credit for steps taken to secure the border, though he has not pressured Congress to pass mandatory E-Verify. However, just this week Acting White House Chief of State Mick Mulvaney was quoted as saying this:
“We are desperate – desperate – for more people….We are running out of people to fuel the economic growth that we’ve had in our nation over the last four years. We need more immigrants.”
Wages are finally started to rise for workers at the lower end of the pay-scale. It is for this reason, and not because of any labor shortages, that employers are now “desperate” for immigration increases.
Mr. Mulvaney referenced “immigrants,” not “legal immigrants. NumbersUSA recommends that citizens
White House comment line: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
# # #
Friday, February 21, 2020
Mini-Mike Bloomberg’s billboard
Apparently, this is Democrat candidate Mini-Mike Bloomberg’s idea of a persuasive campaign billboard (Team Bloomberg image via Conservative Treehouse):
More billboards, many of them memes-for-fun, at the link here.
# # #
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