Scattershots – 11jan19 (updated 17jan19)

George Rebane

None of the rabid opposition to border security makes sense, and even less so with the passing months. We supposedly look at and experience the same world, yet obviously live in different universes. Physics may have an answer for that, but everyday logic in the conduct of human affairs does not, especially if we assume that both sides are working for a strong, independent, free, and prosperous America. Logic clicks back into place when we remove that assumption.

Israel’s wall costs $2M/mile. (more here)  That is a good stake in the ground to estimate the cost of our border security infrastructure which would not be a 2,000-mile concrete wall, but would instead consist of other barrier approaches and supportive detection and localization systems.  Posit $3M/mile for our southern border, and the cost would come to $6B.  And that includes all of the overhead.  Claiming that our border property owners will fight the increased border security is a red herring that does not jibe with what actual property owners are saying.  It is they who have suffered at the hands of illegal entrants whose criminal activities transiting their property has made living on the border dangerous.

Was sorry to see today’s (11jan19) Union column by publisher Don Rogers. His arguments against border security ignored all the marginal impacts on crime, culture, and costs of a porous border outlined in ‘The mangling of managed minds’.  It seems that being blind to that line of reasoning is a widespread malady among our Left, for it always appears to form the basis of their resulting fractured logic for opposing Trump’s border security policies, aka the same ones that the congressional Left supported not so long ago.

Bright fiber in Nevada County is a reported go, but details about the scope of the project are less than skimpy.  All that’s reported in The Union (here and here) is that 2,000 homes along Hwy 174 will be getting enhanced broadband in about a year.  But there is more than enough detail on the bureaucratics and the funding to roll your eyes.  However, people who don’t happen to live along 174 haven’t a clue as to how this project will advance the rest of the county toward 21^st century connectivity.  In short, after reading the reportage I again had to strap on my ‘Pardon me but you have me confused with someone who cares’ button.  Maybe more informed readers will provide the much needed information.

Ex-Muslims of North America is an organization of former American and Canadian Muslims united to spread word about ‘the religion of peace’ and support those who have left and are contemplating leaving Islam.  Their position on their former faith parallels that of RR.  Islam is still in its ‘Accept Allah or die!’ phase of maturing.  But unfortunately this is happening in a much more connected world laced with an abundance of very deadly technologies.  Just to be clear, all major religions have and/or are still going through such a violent and uncompromising phase.  Christianity most certainly had its ‘Accept Jesus or die!’ epoch in the centuries after Rome, starting coincidentally about when Islam was born on the Arabian peninsula. 

[12jan19 update]  Fact checking Trump.  Leftwing readers here have been taking President Trump to task for his ‘lies’, the overwhelming share of such are easily identified as political bluster of the kind that can be tallied for any politician on either side of the aisle.  There are however certain statements from a politician that are intended to elicit and/or support public support for government policy.  Such weighty claims are usually easy to fact-check either at the time of delivery or subsequently.  President Trump’s recent border security speech from the Oval Office contained a number of such statements.  Here is a fact-check summary of five of the most important ones from that speech.

Venice, CA now importing SF values. Beautiful seaside community of Venice in SoCal is rapidly becoming the next ‘sierra hotel’ city in the state, joining Anaheim and the long-enduring People's Republic of Santa Monica as newly risen exemplars of socialist governance.  The Hollywood Reporter has the details in its ‘LA's Battle for Venice Beach: Homeless Surge Puts Hollywood's Progressive Ideals to the Test’.  There “with swelling transient encampments abutting seven-figure homes, the beachside enclave has emerged as a flashpoint for the inequality shaping Los Angeles — and a real-world test case for the liberal ideology of the area’s showbiz residents.” (H/T to correspondent)

[13jan19 update]  Conjecture: NYC mayor Bill deBlasio is a communist, having passed to the left of all remaining progressive milestones. (more here)

[14jan19 update] Whether you like or regret (like me) many of our President's tweets and hipshot repartees, this is what many Americans believe is really the case.

[17jan19 update]  Border barriers (walls, fences, ...) "don't work and are ineffective" maintains the Democrat leadership and their nationwide constituents.  Border security officers with long years of experience maintain exactly the opposite.  I have not found any journalist with the wit or temerity to ask people like Pelosi, 'What evidence do you have about border barrier systems that overrides the testimony of our border security professionals and which supports you continued assertions that such border security infrastructure "doesn't work"?  (We'll address the "immorality" question another time.)  Asking the Democrats to produce such evidence would put this debate on the fast track to resolution, not only with regard to border security funding, but also the government shutdown.  RR readers know the disdain I have for the journalistic profession, I have found almost all journalists to be alarmingly ignorant hacks with little or no spine to seek out and report truth that is counter to their publishers' and/or editors' agendas.

Comments

[***M***]

,,,the roundtable of clueless continues to amuse,,,

,,,look at this bill from June 2018.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/6136?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Border+Security+and+Immigration+Reform+Act%2C%22%5D%7D&r=1

,,,look at the votes numbers here...failed vote 121 to 301,,,and this was in a Republican controlled House!!!,,,They could have passed this one and worried about the wall later...

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/6136/actions?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Border+Security+and+Immigration+Reform+Act%2C%22%5D%7D&r=1

[***M***]

,,,and what happened to this one??? H.R.6657 - Fund and Complete the Border Wall Act 115th Congress (2017-2018) introduced in October 2018

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/6657/text?r=51&s=1

[***M***]

,,,and this one??? H.R.7059 - Build the Wall, Enforce the Law Act of 2018

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/7059/all-actions

[***M***]

,,,Do you see a pattern here??? all were introduced by Republicans to a Republican controlled House and Senate.

Guess what,,,only a minority of TTBs (((Trump True Believers))) are really into the whole MAGA BTW thing,,,they ramrodded through Congress the stuff that they really wanted,,,I guess they didn't really think a Privacy Screen was worth it...

[***M***]

,,,Possible Issues with the Border Wall Plan,,,

https://gdb.voanews.com/1DB3A883-96B8-4162-AF8B-072CB7E8EE2C_w650_r0_s.jpg

[Bill Tozer]

“None of the rabid opposition to border security makes sense, and even less so with the passing months.”

What is insane is we are even discussing a given like border security in the first place. Why are we even talking about it? That is plum crazy.
The detached from Earth may concede, in certain circumstances, there could conceivably be a need for border security, but remain fiercely opposed to border enforcement. A sterling example of one such lout with broken thinker syndrome is exemplifed in first five comments of this post.

https://m.facebook.com/PatriotPost/photos/a.82108390913/10156126007340914/?type=3&source=48

https://m.facebook.com/PatriotPost/photos/a.82108390913/10156127781500914/?type=3&source=48

[Robert Cross]

Fyi -- it is not borer security that sane people are against it's THE STUPID WALL OF TRUMP that is bull shit.

[Todd Juvinall]

Actually BoobieC, I like the 46 billion Schumer and Pelosi voted for in 2006 for a border wall.

[Bill Tozer]

Oh Robert,
Go ahead little buddy and defend unfettered illegal immigration and drugs pouring in between ports of entry. By all means, be my guest. Weren’t you the odd fellow who said Walls don’t work?

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2341611852579831&set=gm.608492069605907&type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2341615889246094&set=gm.608493082939139&type=3&theater

[Tricky McClean]

“Ruminative thoughts are, by definition, intrusive. They pop into our minds unbidden and they tend to linger, especially when the thought is about something really upsetting or distressing.”

[Walt]

Yaa Bobby, A wall would really hamper your pharmaceutical shipments.
LIBS don't want a wall, because it can't be shut down, or switched off "OOHHhh.." A drone is too expensive to run! GROUND IT!"
Those illegals keep breaking the camera. No funds to fix it,,, Too bad.." They would be hard pressed to vote on money to REMOVE the wall.

[Don Bessee]

Ah yes to putin party parrot line 'controlled the senate' from the socialists over and over yet it fails to change the fact you NEED 60 TO PASS most things. Those pesky facts keep tripping up the trolls and their talking points for lefties!

;-)

[Bill Tozer]

Hey, can’t you read the sign? It says “Houston, we got a problem”.

https://m.facebook.com/RowdyConservatives/photos/a.217983685002343/1524082511059114/?type=3&source=48

[George Rebane]

Actually, we passed by the concept of a solid concrete high wall a very long time ago. For thinking people 'the wall' was always the short label for a low porosity, enhanced border security infrastructure; for the less imaginative 'the wall' was a wall, period. For Democrats, a special breed, it has to be whatever will impede the administration and increase the flow of their 'undocumented voters'.

[Bill Tozer]

Well, guess the illegals and the he mob off progressive democrat socialst American hating foreign flag waving commie bastards are more American than I will ever be. Oh well, I shan’t loose sleep over

https://www.facebook.com/ForAmerica/videos/2234986623431427/UzpfSTEwMDAyNDY2NTQxMTkwMjo2MDg4Mjk5ODI5MDU0NDk/

Go ahead, Bobbie and ***Menopause***, you own the moral high ground now. Have at it.

[Walt]

Enjoy your new tax.(now that didn't take long at all.)
And the most basic just to stay alive.
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Gavin-Newsom-drinking-water-tax-budget-2019-detail-13527647.php
"In order to help disadvantaged communities obtain safe and affordable drinking water, California Governor Gavin Newsom is proposing a new statewide water tax."
( a new excuse to put water meters on private wells?)

You actually buy that load of crap?
You can bet food is next. Wait for some LIB scamitist calculates just how much air you consume, and dream up an applicable tax.

YOU voted for him Proggys. you deserve the government you voted for.
The real shitty part is, your taking the rest of us down with the ship you just scuttled.

[Sam Jacks]

Rebane 6:49
"we passed by the concept of a solid concrete high wall a very long time ago"

Trump boasted that his wall would be 30' panels of tilt up concrete. "Easy. Bim bam"

Is this one of those truths that isn't really true, so it's okay to lie about the facts??

[Walt]

Well "sam",, look at it this way. Would you bitch if they promised to hang you with a cotton rope, but showed up with hemp? The job gets done in the end.
There was a rummer that Congress did have a bill for the wall, and it stipulated no money to be spent on cement.
Go ahead. Blame Trump on that too.
So what's the next butt hair of yours do you care to split?

[Sam Jacks]

Mr Walt Thorpe Branson- George Rebane claimed outright that "we passed by the concept of a solid concrete high wall a very long time ago". He made this statement only a few short months after Trump announced that his wall would be 30' panels of tilt up concrete. With an added, jocular "Easy. Bim bam" It appears Mr Rebane is either ignorant of what Mr Trump does or is attempting to cover for another of Trumps unhinged pronouncements. Save your cotton rope and hang the liar.

[Walt]

Oh... It's "jon" again.. Not surprised.

[scenes]

I admit that it's a confusing thing to me.

1. Trump declares during campaign that he will build a wall for various reasons.
2. Trump elected President
3. Trump puts a lot, more than you'd expect, of political capital into building a wall
4. Blue Mob pushes back. A good chunk of the country either hates Trump because of body language and voice and/or are Open Borders extremists.
5. Wall money is difficult to raise because of political opposition.
6. Trump is liar because wall isn't built yet.

You can fault him for not utterly dominating Congress and not being friends with the bureaucracy and 17 intelligence agencies, but I'm not seeing the lie. Just more overwrought accusations on form with scarcely a bit of argument about policy.

No wonder it's hard to give a rip about the bon mots of our local Blue Mob. I suppose that the decision tree is simple, if Trump succeeds he is a racist bastard, if he fails he is a liar.

[Steven Frisch]

Funny, it looks like Goat Fund Me was more successful than the Go Fund Me campaign for The Wall.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/20-million-donated-viral-border-230855171.html

[Bill Tozer]

Re: Don Rogers piece in the Union.

What can be said? Everything he wrote, every stat he referenced, every statement he throw out there.....the whole column was ass backwards. It’s almost like he inverted every statistic, citing completely debunked falsehoods as a matter of fact, from the net cost of illegal immigration, to crime stats, to .....oh my. There is no doubt that Mr.Rogers is lazy. A mental midget. Where to begin to deconstruct his falsehoods? Where does he get his fakenews? What are his sources? It would take too much effort to even commence to begin. I am shocked. Sadden. Dumbfounded.

I saw the headline to his column a few days ago and could not bring myself to read the column until last night. He may have considered himself a hotshot, may be versed with domestic violence, he may be trying to reconcile the demons of his past, may be in touch with his feeling, he may be trying to evolve, but he thinks too highly of himself and his cognitive thinking sucks. He has an adversion to facts.

I am not one to run out and cancel my subscription to the Union because somebody wrote something I do not like. I am considering cancelling the Union. Not for a disagreement, but how can I support an publishication that was riddled from A to Z with such downright wrong statements? His feelings have zero to do with facts or reality.

I cut the Union or any small town paper some slack because I do not expect them to draw a semblance of good talent. Bit, his column was over the top. Any high school student or anyone spending 15 minutes on Google could have done better research.
I will simply have to add Don Roger’s recent column to the exhibit of the enemies of good factual journalism. He did not even make it to the batter’s box.

The only question I have to ask myself is can I live without the Police Blotter? I think I can.

[Bill Tozer]

Steve F @ 8:34 am

The reason I did not get too excited about the Go Fund Me Wall was because from out the gate there arose some legal questions if monies raised for the funding the Wall could even be used if not appropriated by Congress. Good arguments that it could not. It is a great human interest story and fun, but the funds, if forwarded, would most likely be sent into the dark abyss of the General Fund.

Last I checked on the Go Fund Me totals a week or two ago, there was 13 million buckeroos for the Wall and $137,000 raised for the counter site Go Fund Me Ladders.

As far as Go Fund Me Goats, I am more curious if Nevada City has funded the required EIR required for the “boardwalk” intruding on a public street. A boardwalk seating place that happened to be just outside a former Nevada City’s major’s new restaurant, which has now since changed hands.
The EIR required was 2k, then 3-4K, then $5,000 and climbing as the city council continued to kick the can down the road, going for “temporary” EIR status. I certainly hope that a fire does not break out at that corner and our firefighters can not make it to the scene because of the boardwalk blocking access with a car wreck or stalled vehicle in front of the Boardwalk blocking the thoroughfare.
But, I have no say in matters concerning the that liberal playground. They can fund goats but avoid following the State law concerning health, safety, and traffic flow on the street much closer to City Hall? Odd...and off topic.

[Steven Frisch]

Posted by: Bill Tozer | 12 January 2019 at 10:48 AM

And pray tell, what does an EIR for the boardwalk have to do with my point that Goat Fund Me outperformed Go Find Me for The Wall?

By the way, if you have not noticed, goats actually work!

[Bill Tozer]

Steven

Of course goats work. Work great for clearing blackberry bushes, poison oak, and even small trees and even bark off tress. They will even eat the labels off cans and other trash carelessly discarded by the mental ill, dopers, and the always trash spewing homeless. Secret is not to left the animals taste grain or good food or else they become selective. Goats, like deer, are good browsing animals. Heck, I once was not watching them closely and one ate the insulation to the firewall under the hood...and caused an electrical short in the vehicle’s wiring. Live and learn. They love wildflowers and rare native plants as well.

My point was since Nevada City is going with the opened ended costs to clear parcels it owns via a single vendor, then perhaps it can the same fffoort to take care of unfinished business first before embarking on more new projects. If the Berekely of the Foothills cannot come up with a measly 4-5k to get the Boardwalk legit, then perhaps they can start a Go Fund Me Page for its outstanding obligations to comply with State law.

Afterall, goats will not be needed in the coming years. Governor Brown clearly emphasized that as soon as we reduce the carbon in the air, our forests will become healthy again and these destructive wildfires will cease. Along with droughts and a whole bunch of things causing these destructive fires. I know you are doing your part and even selling power back to the grid every single day this winter.

Now, if we can just get a few hundred more Solydria factories up and running three shifts here in CA (and leaving a carbon neutral footprint from manufacturing process and get everybody to stop buying pickup trucks and SUV’s in CA, then we won’t need goats or the methane gas their flaculence produces. :)

But, I am off topic...again. 20 million for a Go Fund Me page? Heck, one could make a lot of documentaries with that kind of green.

[Bonnie McGuire]

Bill, when I was a kid I inherited a lil kid goat later named Bonnie cuz those that later inherited her discovered she would only come to my name. What she taught me is that goats first preference is flowers, the same as deer.

[Bill Tozer]

“None of the rabid opposition to border security makes sense, and even less so with the passing months.” Dr. Rebane.

None of the rabid opposition makes sense until you stand back. They never wanted border security, then or now. The only notable exception was Caesar Chavez.

“The Democrats are no more serious about border security today than they were when they falsely promised Ronald Reagan in 1986 that they’d secure the border in exchange for amnesty for some 3 million illegal immigrants.

Democrats are experts at seducing Republicans into abandoning their principled commitments. Over and over again, in contentious political skirmishes, Republicans relent in good faith — after accepting the Democrats’ promise to deliver on their side of the bargain in the future — and immediately deliver their side. But that future never comes. In legal parlance, this is fraud in the inducement.”

https://patriotpost.us/opinion/60481-hold-tight-on-the-wall-president-trump?fbclid=IwAR2eykVqVV6lb60gCYcwwFsMeNoHGOnr_Fs67SEwpgefj-612qJzX2gJcgY

[Billl Tozer]

Re update, de Blasio is a communism.

Tapper pressed de Blasio further, referencing an earlier quote from the mayor. “You said something pretty radical this week that I want to ask you about. You said there’s plenty of money in the world. There’s plenty of money in the city. It’s just in the wrong hands.”

De Blasio nodded, “Yep. That is a quote.”

“Who decides whose hands are the right hands and whose hands are the wrong hands?” Tapper asked.

“When I say there’s plenty of money in this country, it’s just in the wrong hands, it means to say we need policies that give back to working people.”

Hmmm. Policies es that give back to the working people? Did he not mean “non working people, mostly”?. The problem with de Blastio’s plans is the middle class always gets left holding the bag and pays for the botched experiments.

[Russ]

Local Progressive: CA Economy in Death Spiral

January 14, 2019 at 1:47 pm

On Siera Foothills Report Steve Willer says:

If I was a lender PG&E would be the last company I would float a loan to. Their liabilities are growing by leaps and bounds every year. I doubt even a Russian oligarch looking to launder money would consider them as a potential investment.

My guess is they will end up as a public utility and the customers are going to end up paying utility rates that are going to be as stinging to the wallet as health insurance rates are now, and around here, homeowner policies will also be way up there. For those of us living on modest means and the other half will soon be fixed income, California is an economic death spiral.

Emphasis added. I wonder if Steve has any idea how it came about that the CA economy is in a death spiral? Probably not!

[George Rebane]

Russ 339pm - Here's something to bet the ranch on, socialists have no idea what motivates human behavior, and therefore how any economy can be made to work. Their attempts at that have been a history of sequential disasters, some wholesale and some in ongoing death spirals of unsustainability. As evidence on the topic, I humbly offer the ministrations and missives of our hard left readers recorded for posterity in these pages.

[Bonnie McGuire]

Who knows if it's true, but this is so funny exposing Polosi and friends causing the gov shut down that's all Trumps fault. Talk about hypocracy of those paid to care about us.
https://rightwingfolks.com/watch-laura-loomer-brings-illegal-immigrants-to-nancy-pelosis-home-pelosi-has-police-remove-them/

[Bill Tozer]

Re Jan 14, 2019. Victor Davis Hansen nails it. They hate us and have given themselves a license to hate.

What does all this hate speech signify?

One, there is terrible frustration among both the progressive Left (and the Never Trump Right whose luminaries have mused about replacing a supposed spent white working class with purportedly more energetic immigrants). So far Trump has not been stopped. His foreign and domestic agendas often find success and resonate with about 40-45 percent of the American people. Much of the uncouthness, then, reflects their own frustrations and sense of alienation that millions of Americans have tuned them out.

Second, most of the slurs are voiced by elites, especially politicos, journalists, and celebrities. Perhaps their angst is driven by class—as in how can their own superior logic and reasoning fail to resonate with 63 million voters? Answer: Trump voters are hopelessly obtuse to the point that they cannot even take care of their own personal hygiene or are now descending into simian status.

Third, cowardice plays a role. Those who slander the deplorables and irredeemables assume that they can say almost anything and expect no pushback, given the white working classes lack the romance of the poor and the supposed panache of the elite. A race to the bottom develops in which the more the hatred, the more the clicks and the media exposure. Minority critics expect their own identity politics affiliations to shield them from criticism. Wealthy white elites virtue-signal their disgust for those without privilege as a way of ensuring that those like themselves, who most certainly enjoy privilege, are rewarded with ideological exemptions for it.

Finally, we are learning that the entire idea of political correctness was never much about universal ideas of tolerance of the other, or insistence that language and protocols must not stigmatize individuals by lumping them into stereotyped and dehumanized collective groups. What we are witnessing, instead, is that it is fine to demonize millions, from their appearance to their purported hygiene and smell to affinities with feces and apes—if it serves political or cultural agendas.

In sum, cultural progressivism is about raw power, not principle.

https://www.hoover.org/research/license-hate-0

[Bill Tozer]

Re: Jan 14 update

“As Rod Dreher observed just a few days ago, “liberalism…does not intend to tolerate [conservative, orthodox Christians] for one more minute than it has to.” Anyone who doesn’t agree with the progressives’ increasingly radical beliefs concerning sex, race, and gender belongs on the ash heap of history, and the sooner those backward hicks can be banished there, the better. Conservatives’ continued existence in the public square is not just an annoyance, but an ongoing act of violence against women, minorities, and the queer community.”

https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/article/how-talk-someone-who-wants-put-you-gulag-0