Reign of Pain Update: WaPo Asks Nancy to Compromise

A crack in the ranks? Editorial Board: Make a deal. Save the dreamers.

WE CAN recite many reasons Democrats should spurn President Trump’s Saturday afternoon offer to end the government shutdown. He should not be rewarded for having taken the government hostage. Any piece of a wall would reinforce his hateful, anti-immigrant rhetoric. He’s unreliable, having made and withdrawn similar offers in the past. This one isn’t good enough; “dreamers” need a path to citizenship, not merely a three-year reprieve.

Those are serious objections. But here is something serious on the other side of the equation: Real people. Real people, with real lives that depend utterly on what Congress and the president do now.

These are the dreamers, hundreds of thousands of young people who have played by the rules, studied, worked, made lives in this country. They are American in every way but in the eyes of the law, having been brought here as children — as first-graders, on average. Thanks to a dispensation from President Barack Obama, many of them have come out of the legal shadows and are contributing to this country. If no deal is reached, the Supreme Court is likely at some point to end that dispensation, as Mr. Trump has demanded, and they will be sent back into the shadows, or to countries of which they have no memory.
. . .
Mr. Trump’s offer should be welcomed but not accepted as the final word. There should be room to talk about the amount of money; how border security will be defined and enhanced; which categories of dreamers and TPS beneficiaries are covered; what their legal status will be, and for how long. But to refuse even to talk until the government reopens does no favors to sidelined federal workers and contractors.

Unquestionably a deal would contain galling elements for both sides; that’s the nature of compromise. But a measure of statesmanship for a member of Congress now is the ability to accept some disappointments, and shrug off the inevitable attacks from purists, if it means rescuing the lives of thousands of deserving people living among us.

It seems like the obvious first step.

Also the WaPo a truly serious argument from the Style section: Shutdown has federal spouses out of work — and on each other’s nerves

Families throughout the Washington area recently rode the emotional arc of a winter storm. Wonder at the accumulating snow. Elation over school and office closings. Sledding, shoveling, snowman-building. A cozy denouement featuring hot chocolate and movies.

Then: wet socks, crying kids, and a thousand prayers whispered in unison. Please let school and work be open tomorrow. I’ve got to get out of this place.

Many couples felt their cabin fever break when the snow began to melt. But for federal workers trapped in the void of the shutdown, there is no tomorrow. There is only one long today, with walls inching in around them and nothing to do but annoy the people they love most.

As furloughed government worker Jesse Wilinski sat feeding his son lunch at their Fredericksburg, Va., home on Monday and considering plans to fill the next day of nothingness, he admitted the obvious: “I’m very, very bored right now.”

“He needs to be at work!” his wife, Morane Chung-Wilinski, shouted over his shoulder. “He’s in my way!”

Oh, the humanity!

More Airports May Ditch the TSA and Use Private Security Instead. Good. Why should taxpayers in general assume to costs of frequent fliers? Homeland Security and TSA were a scheme by Democrats to get a new crop of government employees who vote predominantly Democrat.

AP: The shutdown today: Trump lashes out after Dems reject offer

“Nancy Pelosi and some of the Democrats turned down my offer yesterday before I even got up to speak. They don’t see crime & drugs, they only see 2020,“Trump wrote. He also accused the California lawmaker, without evidence, of having “behaved so irrationally” and moving “so far to the left that she has now officially become a Radical Democrat.”

Pelosi responded with a tweet of her own, urging Trump to “Re-open the government, let workers get their paychecks and then we can discuss how we can come together to protect the border.”

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer also dug in during an appearance in New York. “If he opens the government, we’ll discuss whatever he offers, but hostage taking should not work,” Schumer said.

So, nothings moving. I'm OK with that. Pirate's Cove, Democrats Blow Their Gaskets Over Trump’s Border Security Compromise. They have gaskets?

Linked by EBLDeborah Ann Woll, Alexa Davalos and Giorgia Whigham, Amber Rose Revah, Stay Classy: SNL Writer Sarah Beattie Offers Oral Sex For Violence Against Covington Kids and Elle Macpherson Beauty Secrets.

Reign of Pain Update: Trump Offers DACA, Pelosi Rejects

At 4 PM EDT, President Trump gave the expected speech, in which he offered to extend DACA for 3 years and extend the TPS progrgram:

The offer is expected to include Trump’s $5.7 billion demand for wall money in exchange for the BRIDGE Act — which would extend protections for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) — and also legislation to extend the legal status of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, according to a source with direct knowledge.

Democrats signaled their rejection ahead of time, too. No deal: Pelosi rejects Trump’s offer to legalize Dreamers for wall money. Well, I guess she doesn't really care about all those people being hurt by the shutdown after all:

“It is unlikely that any one of these provisions alone would pass the House, and taken together, they are a non-starter.“

Pelosi rejected the wall and repeated Democratic offers to increase other border security at ports of entry and to boost technology along the border. Some overlapped with the president’s offer, such as money for additional immigration judges and bolstering security at the nation’s ports of entry, where most illegal drugs enter.

Instead, she wants robotic dogs to patrol the border:



Dallas Morning News: Protect Dreamers and build the wall, and we can all win. I guess not. AllahPundit: Is There Any Chance The Senate Would Pass Trump’s New Immigration Compromise?. I presume Trump checked with Cocaine Mitch to see if it was viable in the Senate, but then maybe it's just to opening to more negotiation.

Meanwhile, the mood in Washington D.C. is getting ever more toxic. Politico,  ‘Feel like I’m going to strangle you’: Shutdown breaks Congress’ spirit, LMT Online, citing the WaPoo, Shouting, near fisticuffs, emotions high: Today's Washington could get worse.

AllahPundit: Pelosi: We Were Going To Fly Commercial To Afghanistan — But Trump’s Letter Created A Security Risk

They leaked the commercial travel plans too? To whom? That’s a serious allegation, all but accusing the White House of having deliberately created a security risk to Pelosi to deter him from making it to the region on her own. Who did that? Name names.

A WH official calls it "a flat out lie" that the admin leaked details of Pelosi's commercial travel last night, as her spox claims. There doesn't appear to be evidence that those specific plans were leaked, though Trump did announce the trip and encourage her to fly commercial.

— Sarah Westwood (@sarahcwestwood) January 18, 2019

Da Beast: What Trump Just Wrecked by Canceling Pelosi’s Trip to Afghanistan. Wa Free Be GOP Senators: No Official Travel for Pelosi or Anyone If Budget Deadlines Aren’t Met. I'm good with that.

"During a government shutdown, Congress and the White House should experience pain, not the American people," Lankford added.

Conservative senators had expressed deep concern about Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R., Ky.) original plans to let senators leave town next week, when the government shutdown passes the 30-day mark, while the House remains in session and hundreds of thousands of furloughed government workers remain in limbo.

WaEx: Ted Cruz: Pelosi terrified of Trump speaking directly to Americans during State of the Union

“Nancy Pelosi is terrified, number one, of her extreme left-wing base,” Mr. Cruz said Wednesday. “She is captive of them. And number two: The position of congressional Democrats in this shutdown is objectively unreasonable. In 2013, Chuck Schumer and every Senate Democrat voted in favor of 350 miles of border wall. They have right now shut down the government down to stop 234 miles of border wall. I don’t know how you explain why you voted for 350 miles, but you shut the government down to stop 234 miles. That is incoherent.”

Mr. Cruz added that the real reason Democrats want to delay Mr. Trump’s address is because it would allow shutdown analysis to be totally filtered through the mainstream media.

“The State of the Union is an enormous platform for the president to speak directly to the American people,” he said. “She doesn’t want people focusing on the substance of this issue. She wants their information to come from the mainstream media, rather than to come directly from the president.”

I'm no fan of SOTUs in general, but this is probably true, and it partly what today's offer was about.

Meanwhile TSA shows the dedication of gubermint workers. Absences Still High as TSA Predicts Airport Holiday Travel Crush (Bloomberg).

Contrary to reports you'll see in the WaPoo: Farmer Says He’ll Give Trump An Easement To Build The Wall

Some shutdown links from the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 01.18.19

Animal Magnetism: Rule Five Shutdown “Crisis” Friday, BattleSwarm: Two Essays – Workers v. Elites, Da Tech Guy: Lifson Flashes The President’s Shutdown “Trump” Card, Don Surber: Shutdown Hurts Democrats, So Mueller Leaks, Legal Insurrection: Pelosi Claims White House Leaked Commercial Plans, White House Calls Her A Liar, also, Trump Grounds All Unapproved Congressional Travel On Government Aircraft During Shutdown, Weasel Zippers:  Letter From OMB Adds Insult To Injury For Pelosi, Others Grounded By Government Shutdown

Foreign Influence on Our Elections

Good when it's for the Democrats, right? These immigrants can’t vote. So they’re working hard to influence those who can

On Sept. 5 2017, the Trump administration announced the end of a program that protects undocumented immigrants who arrived as children, known as DACA and started by the Obama administration in 2012.

That date was crucial for Maria, a domestic worker and native of Argentina who lives in Miami-Dade and has two children, 21 and 23 years old, who are among the 800,000 beneficiaries of DACA.

“That Sept. 5 I said, ‘I have to do something. I have to contribute my two cents for the change I want to see,” said Maria, who asked to be identified only by her first name because she’s undocumented. “There’s a big risk for us. The risk of losing my children’s education, the house, everything we have built here.”

That’s how Maria, who arrived on a tourist visa in 2000 and overstayed it to settle in Miami because of an economic crisis in Argentina, wound up working to turn out the vote in the midterm elections.

Maria cannot vote, but has knocked on dozens of doors around Miami to urge those who can to vote.

She’s part of a growing number of people who cannot vote because they are undocumented or green card holders but are hitting the streets to urge voters to cast their ballots.

Their goal is to persuade voters to support candidates who promise to protect immigrants, because they understand that their future in this country is at risk and depends on those votes. Although President Donald Trump is not on the ballot, they are working to turn the midterm elections into a referendum on presidential policies and rhetoric they view as anti-immigrant.

“It’s something we have seen before, people who cannot vote working to get out the vote. But this year, we’re seeing impressive numbers,” said Andrea Cristina Mercado, executive director of New Florida Majority, which works to increase electoral participation among communities of color.

“And it’s not just a referendum, because we also have the opportunity to win the Senate and the House. If we want to stop Trump we have to win one of the two,” said Mercado. “So this is a referendum with very serious political consequences.”

In previews years, undocumented immigrants have joined campaigns to get out the vote. But they have mostly been so-called Dreamers who were brought to the United States as children, studied in U.S. schools and are more politically savvy.

Many of them have become prominent voices in the national conversation on immigration. Several worked in the Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton campaigns and others support moderate Republican members of Congress.

But this election season it’s not just the Dreamers pitching in. It includes their parents, aunts, uncles and neighbors, people who clean homes or schools or take care of the elderly and the sick. Some don’t speak English very well and are still learning how the U.S. electoral system works.

One Republican political analyst said the participation of immigrants who are undocumented in electoral campaigns, although valuable as a human resource, could turn into a double-edged sword.

“Before, the most polarizing issues for voters were social issues such as abortion, gun control and gay marriage. In the current political climate, the most polarizing issue is immigration,” said Jesse Manzano-Plazas, a Miami Republican consultant and political analyst.

“There may be people who don’t like that an undocumented person is trying to influence elections in this country. That’s where they have to be very careful with their message,” Manzano-Plazas added. “It’s an advantage only if it’s handled in an effective way.”

When can we expect to see Mueller indicting some of these ladies for "Fraud Against the United States?", his all around favorite charge.

To conspire to defraud the United States means primarily to cheat the Government out of property or money, but it also means to interfere with or obstruct one of its lawful governmental functions by deceit, craft or trickery, or at least by means that are dishonest. It is not necessary that the Government shall be subjected to property or pecuniary loss by the fraud, but only that its legitimate official action and purpose shall be defeated by misrepresentation, chicane or the overreaching of those charged with carrying out the governmental intention.

Reason #5898 That Trump Was Elected

Mexican man assumed American identity for 37 years

A Mexican man who was deported twice and had a history of arrests was able to assume the identity of an American citizen and receive more than $360,000 in government benefits for nearly four decades, California court records show.

Andres Avelino Anduaga used a fake birth certificate starting in 1980 to develop a seemingly legitimate persona by applying for a California driver's license, Social Security number and U.S. passport, according to documents obtained by the San Diego Union-Tribune. The official U.S. documents identified him as Abraham Riojos, born in Texas in 1958.

Anduaga, who's actually 66 years old and a resident of Tijuana, Mexico, pleaded guilty last week in San Diego to theft of public property and being a previously removed unauthorized immigrant in the U.S., the newspaper reported Saturday.

He has agreed to pay back government agencies what he stole but could face additional fines and 12 years in prison when sentenced in May.

$360 k in 37 years?  That's not even $10 k per year, not even a living wage. Now wonder he couldn't afford to live in the US!

Investigators turned to border crossing records, finding frequent travels indicating Riojos had likely been living in Mexico.

So where did the money come from?

An analysis of Anduaga's benefits showed he first applied for Supplemental Security Income benefits in 1989 and was awarded payments retroactive to 1988. He received monthly payments — $244,441 total — until Aug. 1, 2016, according to his plea agreement.

He also qualified for Medi-Cal benefits and payments and received $112,981 total. In addition, he illegally received more than $3,486 in food stamps under a county program, according to records.

DACA ends with a whimper:  DACA's March 5 'deadline' marks only inaction. Trump offered Democrats a great deal, and they refused. They'd rather have the issue than a solution.

Reason #5890 That Trump Was Elected

Abigail Hernandez

DACA student arrested in Upstate New York after threatening school shooting

. . . police were notified on February 16 about the threat being made against East High School. Staff within the Rochester City School District called police at 5:08 p.m about a threat posted on the East High School Facebook page. The threat said, "I’m coming tomorrow morning and I’m going to shoot all of ya bitches.”

RPD Deputy Chief La'Ron Singletary said it took investigators days to arrest track down because she made the threats from a fictitious social media account. It took time for investigators to track down the person to whom the account belonged.

When officers responded to the home of Abigail Hernandez on February 20, they said they found a shotgun inside the home. Police did not clarify if the shotgun was registered to Hernandez or anyone living at the home in which it was discovered.

Hernandez was arrested and charged with making a terroristic threat. She was remanded to the Monroe County Jail at the time in lieu of $15,000 bail.

As officers were investigating, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents determined Hernandez was an illegal immigrant who was in the United States under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

I think most of us sympathize with the plight of the so called "Dreamers" who were brought to this country before they could have any role in the decision to break the law. But this constant drumbeat about "our wonderful Dreamers" is just nauseating. They are for the most part, the children of the bottom of the barrel of Mexican and Central American society, and many of them remain in that state in ours. Contrary to media reports they have higher rates of criminality than US Citizen.

President Trump is right to insist that any solution to the problem of DACA must involve better border control to ameliorate the problem of illegal aliens bringing in their kids, and forcing us to deal with the consequences.

Linked at Pirate's Cove in the weekly "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup" and links.