Straws

It looks like a border wall has become more of a symbolic issue than a real issue.

It is clear to almost everyone that it will have little or no impact on the so called issues brought up about the border.

It may deter some casual crossers, if any exist, but you have to remember that the border is already protected by natural barriers that aren't crossed casually now.

It is such a long border that the people, the coyotes, who currently arrange crossings and profit handsomely will find ways under or over it for profit.

It will not deter terrorists or drug traffickers who already use other mean to enter the country.

Still it has become a rallying cry for people even as it has no real value.

It is likely to stay with us until the current occupant of the white house is replaced

Its easier than espousing real solutions that are probably too complex for many.

It may or may not inspire certain anti-immigration groups to get out and vote.

It may not work.

Its simply one of the straws they are grasping.

Immigration

I find it a bit strange who many people who romanticize the shiploads of immigrants that used to come by ship to Ellis Island, act like a van load of immigrants on the border is a crisis.

They may cross the border illegally, but it is perfectly legal to request asylum.

They aren't terrorists or criminals, at least not more than any other random group, and most statistics indicate less.

Of course they are the clear cut leaders in immigration law violations.

The fervor over immigration is simply misguided.

We should have a way for people who want to come here, to come here legally, we need immigrants to fill jobs and help with our demographics.

Our current system is simply bad for everyone, costly, punitive, and in some cases cruel.

Its also pretty unfair in how its applied.

There will be additional border security of some sort based on the current negotiations.

Wouldn't be a problem if we opened up a broader path to letting hard working people immigrate.

Screen out the undesirables, we have always done that.

Speaking a different language doesn't make you undesirable, it makes you interesting.

Shutdown Futility

The shutdown is over, or at least in an armistice as a continuing resolution provides a three week window to negotiate on border security.

Its hard to imagine the shutdown being revisited after this one was an expensive exercise in futility, that did not succeed in financing a wall that the public generally doesn't think is needed.

Certainly in some areas on the border either physical or technological barrier might serve a purpose, but we also need to understand that barriers can almost always be defeated.

There are two issues on the border.

One involves immigrants, people who want to find a better or safer life for themselves and their families.  They cross illegally because we allow so few of them to come legally.

A good number of Americans object to them because they violated the law but also because they represent changes in our population that some resent and reject.

We see Spanish becoming more and more common in many aspects of our life as the Hispanic population has grown.  This is not a new trend but conservative media has taken it on as a crusade arguing that traditional "white" America is threatened..

This is essentially the same argument that was made by previous generations as waves of German, Irish, Italian, Polish, and others came to this country.  Of course we had African Americans brought here against their will who help form our traditional America.   Already we see the sons and grandsons of Hispanic immigrants occupying positions of importance and their ethnic background is not a factor.

The other issue is the importation of contraband, mainly drugs.  Drugs are so profitable that all our attempts to stop them have failed in the end.  People who want them have consistently been able to get them.  Stopping usage would be the only effective control, eliminate demand and supply will stop.  We have been unable to do that, either by treatment or incarceration and it has been costly failures.

A wall will not stop this profitable business, it probably won't have any impact on it.

It just won't work.

Offering Nothing

There are offers and generally the best way to hammer out a deal is by talking to the other side nd working the details.

What we saw yesterday was a public relations attempt to sell a position that the polls show the American people don't want by wrapping it around some things that they do like, but not really offering anything.

The thing they don't want is a wall, as all the polls clearly show.

The wall does not solve any of the problems the dontard talked about, the dangerous trip to the border in central America, the importation of drugs, the exploitation by smugglers who prey on the desperate.  It would in fact probably increase the last one as they could point to it as a reason they are needed.

The things Americans do favor, protection of dreamers and refugees is currently something the courts are deciding.  Right now the courts are already stopping the attempted change to the policies and how long that will continue is anyone's guess, it might be permanent.

So three years of what is already the situation is, well, three years of nothing.

The other things he mentioned are already part of a bill that the democrats favor and all he has to do is sign it and the other funding bills to open the Government and move on.

It is certainly possible that some barriers in strategic locations could be agreed to once the Government is open, it should be based on careful analysis and data, not the whims of a dontard.

The public relations of all this is to give the impression that the dontard has made the first move and that the democrats now need to reciprocate.  What is being ignored is that they have already offered most of the effective measures he mentioned and want permanent solutions to the dreamer and refugee issues.

This was no offer at all, just a public relations ploy.  We need to see it for what it is.

Nothing at all.

Setting a Record

Well this is officially the longest Government shutdown ever.

Both houses have passed bills to give backpay to furloughed federal employees when the shutdown ends, so the silliness of the current position grows.

When there is something you want that the opposition doesn't you can bargain or convince.  Taking hostages is not considered a sensible outcome and then guaranteeing the well being of the hostages is giving up that advantage.

Because of certain media pressure we see the dontard has painted himself into a corner.  Losing the House of Representatives certainly makes achieving his goal of a wall more difficult, but he had two years when congress was held by Republicans.

In fact, he had a deal that would have funded his wall but provided dreamers protection, but his anti immigration backers killed it.

Every party has numerous factions and the goal of politics is to get them to represent some sort of consistent approach.  If you allow each faction veto power, which the dontard effectively has, you will never achieve much of anything, which is pretty obvious.

If your goal is to achieve nothing, its a good strategy.

If your goal is to go down as the most ineffective president ever, once again, good strategy.

Not good for the country, but some of his factions are convinced that organized Government is the real enemy and he is making them happy.

If you want to achieve better border security not so much.

Honesty?

Even if you agree that a border wall might be effective, is it worth disrupting the lives of 800,000 people and their families?

Many of these employees are being asked to work with the promise of future pay and others are being told to stay home with no promise of future payment, although precedent says they likely will get paid.

Some people feel federal workers are part of "the problem" and they may be sitting back taking pleasure at the disruption in their lives.  The people impacted are just the workers in the system who perform jobs that are certainly necessary to all of us, like airport security, tax services, national parks and many others.

They are going to miss a paycheck and many of them are not going to be able to pay bills without some sort of assistance.

One paycheck is pretty disruptive for most of us, and there is no sign that this is ending anytime soon.

Clearly the dontard realizes he can never get enough support to fund his foolish wall without resorting to blackmail, but the blackmail isn't working.

Maybe his shrinking base still backs his tactics, but even many of them recognize that they are creating victims.

His attempt to sway public opinion to his side was predictably unsuccessful as his appeal is limited to a rather narrow audience, that don't have the desire or inclination to consider if his claims are true.

He gets away with this to some extent at his rallies filled with unquestioning supporters, but it doesn't translate in the rest of the world.

We prefer honesty.

Shut Down Impacts

Its pretty much a certainty now that about 800,000 federal workers are going to not receive their next paycheck and it might extend over a considerable period of time.

Some of them are required to work because they are considered essential and the others are idled with some expectation of getting paid when the shutdown finally ends.

Right after the holidays the bills are often the highest as you have all the Christmas expenses as well as, of course, your normal ones, such as rent, mortgages, food, etc.

While it obviously varies to some extent in each situation, many are not going to have available savings to cover an extended period of non-pay.

This is the result of a demand for taxpayer money to build a wall most of us don't want.

One can certainly debate whether a wall or barriers work, they obviously would act as a bit of a detriment but they create their own issues.  That debate however is clearly not going the presidents way as he wasn't able to get the money with a unified congress and now he has to deal with a democratic house.

What do the other Government agencies have to do with his pet project?

Most agencies impacted have bilateral spending agreements that could be passed and sign with no impact on the wall.  The one agency that the wall money impacts could be handled differently.

Tax refunds, farm support, food stamps, national parks, FAA are impacted as hostages because the president wants to use them as a bargaining chip.

He is gambling with these peoples lives and in many cases making them work promising to pay them in the future.

It is going to have real impacts on every American in one way or another, want your tax refund?

There is a simple solution, but it doesn't include a wall that we weren't supposed to pay for in the first place.

Why?

Wall or no Wall?

It seems like the dontard realizes that his chances of getting his wall built are quickly disappearing and in spite he will shut down some of the Government.

Most Americans just don't care about the wall but his core supporters do so he is playing to his base.

Not good for his party or his chances in 2020 but he gets a big cheer when he mentions the wall at rallies.

I can't envision any money being allocated to his wall, but anything is possible in the world of politics.

Generally the democrats will want to reopen the Government so they made need to agree to something that saves some face for the dontard.

Not what he wants, but if they give him any type of bone, he will turn it into a gigantic skeleton.

Border security is something we need but how much do we need?

People have crossed our southern border fairly regularly for years with no detrimental impact to the country.

The issue is more of a media issue mixed with some racism.

Do some of the people who cross the border do bad things when they get here?

Of course, a small percentage, it is people after all.

They tend to be hard working families trying to build a better, safer life.

Have they taken good paying jobs?

Not really, they tend to do the jobs most Americans don't want to do.

They tend to be a bit browner and speak Spanish, and that has contributed to why they are attacked.

Certainly we don't need a wall that won't even be effective to deal with what is primarily a non-problem.

Yes we have many undocumented immigrants in this country.  They have the most risk, not the rest of us.

Border Security

Border security is something that we obviously need to be somewhat concerned about but with two coastlines and thousands of miles of actual borders it is never going to be 100% guarded, it would be both unaffordable and technologically and personnel nearly impossible.

The concern currently is the number of illegal immigrants coming across our Southern Border, because the comprise the majority.

They certainly don't comprise the greatest threat, at least not in any real sense of that word.

They do however create something of  cultural threat, speaking a different language, influencing certain programming, and generally being a different type of American, than our European roots.

Of course, they also have European roots, but for various reasons, those roots were Spanish and ours don't include Spanish roots, since they would have obviously emigrated to the Spanish speaking countries.

The people coming here, and they have been coming here for a very long time, come for better economic or because we are generally a safer country than some of our southern neighbors.

Current claims to the contrary they do not consist of gang members and/or terrorists, at least not to any great extent.  Terrorists might tag along but they have many other means and the idea that they would first travel to a Latin country to then try to enter this country illegally is both convoluted and a bit silly.  If they aren't already a known terrorist, they could probably just get a tourist visa and come here.

The current argument concerns whether we need a hugely expensive border wall to reduce illegal immigration along our southern border.  If the reason to do this has to do with keeping out terrorists or gang members, it is extremely silly and almost certainly useless.

I've never seen an analysis that would indicate a wall along the southern border would accomplish anything.  We already have created barriers in the areas with the easiest overland access only to have them bypassed or tunneled under.  Will a multi-billion dollar wall stop some immigration, certainly, but so would many other more effective measures.

It is a project that would take many years to complete, cost many billions of dollars, and require significant maintenance and manning to accomplish very little.

Its not the way to get effective border security.

Wall or Healthcare?

It seems that the major sticking points in funding the Government right now come down to build a wall or at least fund a study or we will cut funds off for the Affordable Care Act.

Now the wall is an unnecessary project but in the scheme of unnecessary government projects it isn't the worst idea ever.

In fact, there is an old adage about giving someone enough rope to make their own noose.

Republicans need democrats to pass a spending bill because many in their own party oppose the spending increases.  The wall qualifies to some extent as an infrastructure project that will give some people jobs.  The fact that it won't work and will if ever completed stand as a monument to the stupidity of this promise is possibly the best thing about it.

On the other hand, guaranteeing the subsidies for the Affordable Care Act will allow insurance companies to project more reasonable premiums for the next year and could go a long way to institutionalizing health care for many Americans.  Further progress on universal health care can proceed but keeping the gains we already have is essential.

Considering that the republicans can't come up with a workable replacement this might even lead to some bi-partisan efforts to improve what we already have. 

The wall as a glaring example of the idiocy of this administration will continue to be debated among republicans every year going forward.  It might be the gift that keeps on giving for admittedly a few billion dollars, but it will create some jobs.

With the bonus of funding the Government for the rest of this fiscal year.

Seems easy enough if you think it through.