Tomconroy
Tomconroy's JournalNY Times: Why We Can't Stop Illegal Immigration? Because It Works! (No paywall)
Migrants, employers and government all conspire to evade harsh immigration laws. Because America needs the workers!
"There is one more reason the problem of unauthorized immigration has become so intractable. Over the past 20 years, incendiary rhetoric about migrants has become a powerful and popular political tool, and many elected officials now or recently in office have built their careers by wooing voters with such rhetoric. This path to power makes it difficult for them to compromise on any issue related to immigration, no matter how rational such flexibility might be given the facts of global migration and the demands of American businesses and consumers. For many of these politicians, blocking all or nearly all immigration to the United States is a top priority.
And though the Biden administration and congressional Democrats have cast themselves as more realistic on matters of global migration, they are also unlikely to spearhead much significant reform. Over the past three years, they have prioritized objectives that affect a larger portion of the electorate, like infrastructure and education bills. This also makes sense. Most voters, even Latino voters, rank immigration below the economy, education, gun policy and health care as a top concern. By definition, voters are already citizens. For most of them, rationalizing our immigration system is not a bread-and-butter issue.
Democrats like to blame Republicans for their own inaction on reform, but that’s only part of the story. The day Biden took the oath of office, his administration introduced a plan for comprehensive immigration reform, one designed to secure the borders, keep communities safe and “better manage migration across the Hemisphere.” Legislation based on that plan was introduced in the House weeks later as the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, with 80 co-sponsors. The Oval Office, the Senate and the House were all under Democratic control. But the act died in subcommittee, along with several more modest immigration bills.
The only immigration policies that Congress can bring itself to enact, it seems, are funding more border security and ICE raids. But these actions alone will never fix America’s immigration problems. No matter what anyone says on Capitol Hill, migrants know that if they can just make it inside the United States, they will find relative safety — and plenty of work."
Why Can’t We Stop Unauthorized Immigration? Because It Works. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/01/magazine/economy-illegal-immigration.html?unlocked_article_code=_uG3S7KdEI3XI_bfTJ5LJCbdHgsEJSMFgl71tS4wxFh2Yb5WwIRSCN5YMcYCuQmjk7cKpBYvJ4gSIe8E41CA3L6pz9az2U2q06i1zRR8UUCxFTk04mYh7OQ-bjdj0KGtZ6TukoxxVu2i_GMzILbQrYSQFz74oNn9wPnV5U96dwdBtGXFiyCh1VHbqYhhmlmxQe8BqzA8Lfwmx_x8n5GcVlRTSNjfmW-UcVjzqtQiqdmDkqLtZuLxF0btlcbv23iJfaw9LuyeesSGw3KMSnzN7SAN7I5HF4kGHTCYi0uvSvz-XuSfGH_vDnKw5mRZd3h9JysYUDj-SDC7NJML0j9_jAckeQSX6Q&smid=nytcore-android-share
Video of sapper Patron at the front!
https://twitter.com/PatronDsns/status/1708147419240665517The Daily Kos on the current state of the war in Ukraine
"Regardless of whether you see the Ukrainian counteroffensive as promising or disheartening, one thing is abundantly clear: Ukraine and Russia are locked in a battle of attrition, drawing comparisons to World War I.
If we must compare World War I to the Russo-Ukrainian War, it is helpful to remember two things:
Ukraine Update: Data shows Ukraine is laying down the heaviest firestorm of artillery in the war
World War I ended in a decisive Allied victory, not in an inconclusive stalemate; and
World War I ended in four years and 106 days, compared to World War II, which lasted six years and one day.
I’ve written this before, but battles of attrition do not imply endless stalemates, or endless deadlocks. They most certainly do not imply wars without end. And one of the most decisive battles of attrition ever fought was the Allies’ gradual and grinding efforts to wear down German defenses around Normandy in late summer 1944, during World War II, before steamrolling the Germans all the way through France."
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/30/2196246/-Ukraine-Update-Data-shows-Ukraine-is-laying-down-the-heaviest-firestorm-of-artillery-in-the-war
Ukraine is making a great deal of progress, just not the kind you can see on a map. Yet.
The situation in Ukraine: Operational silence holds.
Ukraine is saying little and even Russian military commentators have little to say. Except they do say this: Ukraine has been firing an enormous volume of artillery shells along the Robotyne-Verbove main line of advance and the shelling has also reached the russian rear in the city of Tokmak and other nearby villages. The russians describe a volume of Ukranian shelling not seen before in the War. "Apocolyptic volume" Of shelling
Several experts I have some regard for agree this all is a prelude to a major push. There are reports Ukraine has moved reserve brigades close to the Robotyne front. The thought is that the shelling will attrite the russian forces in the area. But when the push by Ukraine forces will come: no one knows.
Waiting and hoping.🙏🙏🙏
Good summary of Ukraines offensive to date from USA Today:
Ukraine launched a counteroffensive against Russia's invasion earlier this summer with high hopes, but some experts have been skeptical that Ukraine will achieve its goals due to limited progress. Others, such as Ambassador John Herbst, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, a Washington, D.C., think tank, have a more positive view of Ukraine's efforts.
"The offensive has gone pretty much the way I anticipated. I've been saying since March that given what we are sending Ukraine by way of weapons, the best we could expect would be modest Ukrainian gains, which I'd define as several square hundred kilometers liberated. And, in fact, by the end of July, Ukraine had liberated over 300 square kilometers (186 square miles). And now it's gotta be triple or quadruple that. Maybe even more.
"We saw a lot of hand-wringing from both commentators and administration officials on background, going back to the middle of August, in the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Washington Post, and elsewhere, about how the offensive is not living up to its expectations. That's nonsense.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/graphics/2023/09/22/ukraine-war-counteroffensive-progress-status/70900337007/
Today's missile strike on the Black Sea fleet HQ appears to have targeted a specific meeting.
It took out top level army officers as well as Navy ones. The fate of the commander of the Black Sea fleet is not known at present but rumors fly.
https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1705347391111524654
https://twitter.com/OstapYarysh/status/1705344635256668298
ATACMs for Ukraine at last. Thank You President Biden!
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1705237713169842419The Kerch Bridge awaits!
UAW to strike at additional GM and Stellantis plants, but not Ford
https://twitter.com/MorePerfectUS/status/1705227336042295673Ukraine Intelligence Chief Budanov comments on today's missile strike against Russian Navy HQ:
https://twitter.com/natsecmedia/status/1705176181564174529Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee's Ukraine poll gets ruined by NAFO!
https://twitter.com/JJam28227/status/1705186286913352013Since in addition to voting I gave Senator Lee a piece of my mind, I am now blocked from his 'based Mike Lee' account. Others should feel free to share their thoughts with the good senator however.
I'm going to call his office to urge an increase in CIA funding of NAFO. I haven't gotten a raise in a week.
