Abbott Defies U.S. Supreme Court - Denies Feds Border Access

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has decided to play politics with the situation at the Texas border. He has ordered the Texas National Guard and state troopers to take over a park in Eagle Pass, and put up razor wire to stop immigrants. This has already resulted in the deaths of 3 immigrants (two of them children) as they denied Border Patrol entrance so they could try to save the people.

The Supreme Court has ruled that Texas must allow the Border Patrol to access the border and remove the razor wire. Abbott has refused, and continues to order the installation of the razor wire. He also continues to allow Border Patrol officers access to the border.

This amounts to sedition. No state has the right to ignore federal law or Supreme Court decisions about that law. Sadly, the Constitution doesn't mean much to today's Republican Party. Many Republicans in Washington have encouraged Abbott to continue his actions. And 25 Republicans governors have signed a statement backing Abbott's shameful, dangerous, and illegal actions.

The crazy part of this mess is that a bipartisan Senate bill could reach the Senate floor this week -- a bill that would solve the crisis at the border. But House Republicans, at the behest of Donald Trump, are saying they will refuse to pass the bill. It seems that Republicans want the border crisis to continue so they can keep playing politics with the issue.

Here is a list of the Republican governors supporting Abbott's illegal defiance of the Supreme Court:

• Governor Kay Ivey, Alabama
• Governor Mike Dunleavy, Alaska
• Governor Sarah Sanders, Arkansas
• Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida
• Governor Brian Kemp, Georgia
• Governor Brad Little, Idaho
• Governor Eric Holcomb, Indiana
• Governor Kim Reynolds, Iowa
• Governor Jeff Landry, Louisiana
• Governor Tate Reeves, Mississippi
• Governor Mike Parson, Missouri
• Governor Greg Gianforte, Montana
• Governor Jim Pillen, Nebraska
• Governor Joe Lombardo, Nevada
• Governor Chris Sununu, New Hampshire
• Governor Doug Burgum, North Dakota
• Governor Mike DeWine, Ohio
• Governor Kevin Stitt, Oklahoma
• Governor Henry McMaster, South Carolina
• Governor Kristi Noem, South Dakota
• Governor Bill Lee, Tennessee
• Governor Spencer Cox, Utah
• Governor Glenn Youngkin, Virginia
• Governor Jim Justice, West Virginia
• Governor Mark Gordon, Wyoming

Border Patrol Officers Shame Themselves (And The Nation)

With their treatment of both adults and child refugees in the border camps, the Border Patrol has not covered itself in glory. Their treatment of those individuals has violated even the most basic of human rights.

That would be bad enough, and would be cause for Congress to investigate what is going on at the border. But a few thousand Border Patrol officers have gone even further by participating in a Facebook page for officers, where they displayed their worst misogynistic and xenophobic views. They shamed themselves and the nation.

Here is how the nonprofit news service ProPublica reported what they found:

Members of a secret Facebook group for current and former Border Patrol agents joked about the deaths of migrants, discussed throwing burritos at Latino members of Congress visiting a detention facility in Texas on Monday and posted a vulgar illustration depicting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez engaged in oral sex with a detained migrant, according to screenshots of their postings.

In one exchange, group members responded with indifference and wisecracks to the post of a news story about a 16-year-old Guatemalan migrant who died in May while in custody at a Border Patrol station in Weslaco, Texas. One member posted a GIF of Elmo with the quote, “Oh well.” Another responded with an image and the words “If he dies, he dies.”

Created in August 2016, the Facebook group is called “I’m 10-15” and boasts roughly 9,500 members from across the country. (10-15 is Border Patrol code for “aliens in custody.”) The group described itself, in an online introduction, as a forum for “funny” and “serious” discussion about work with the patrol. “Remember you are never alone in this family,” the introduction said. . . .

ProPublica received images of several recent discussions in the 10-15 Facebook group and was able to link the participants in those online conversations to apparently legitimate Facebook profiles belonging to Border Patrol agents, including a supervisor based in El Paso, Texas, and an agent in Eagle Pass, Texas. ProPublica has so far been unable to reach the group members who made the postings. . . .

The Border Patrol Facebook group is the most recent example of some law enforcement personnel behaving badly in public and private digital spaces. An investigation by Reveal uncovered hundreds of active-duty and retired law enforcement officers who moved in extremist Facebook circles, including white supremacist and anti-government groups. A team of researchers calling themselves the Plain View Project recently released a hefty database of offensive Facebook posts made by current and ex-law enforcement officers.

And in early 2018, federal investigators found a raft of disturbing and racist text messages sent by Border Patrol agents in southern Arizona after searching the phone of Matthew Bowen, an agent charged with running down a Guatemalan migrant with a Ford F-150 pickup truck. The texts, which were revealed in a court filing in federal court in Tucson, described migrants as “guats,” “wild ass shitbags,” “beaners” and “subhuman.” The messages included repeated discussions about burning the migrants up.

Several of the postings reviewed by ProPublica refer to the planned visit by members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, including Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Veronica Escobar, to a troubled Border Patrol facility outside of El Paso. Agents at the compound in Clint, Texas, have been accused of holding children in neglectful, inhumane conditions. . . .

One member encouraged Border Patrol agents to hurl a “burrito at these bitches.” Another, apparently a patrol supervisor, wrote, “Fuck the hoes.” “There should be no photo ops for these scum buckets,” posted a third member.

Perhaps the most disturbing posts target Ocasio-Cortez. One includes a photo illustration of her engaged in oral sex at an immigrant detention center. Text accompanying the image reads, “Lucky Illegal Immigrant Glory Hole Special Starring AOC.”

Another is a photo illustration of a smiling President Donald Trump forcing Ocasio-Cortez’s head toward his crotch. The agent who posted the image commented: “That’s right bitches. The masses have spoken and today democracy won.”

The posts about Escobar and Ocasio-Cortez are “vile and sexist,” said a staffer for Escobar. “Furthermore, the comments made by Border Patrol agents towards immigrants, especially those that have lost their lives, are disgusting and show a complete disregard for human life and dignity.”

The head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Joaquin Castro, reviewed the Facebook discussions and was incensed. “It confirms some of the worst criticisms of Customs and Border Protection,” said Castro, a Democrat who represents San Antonio. “These are clearly agents who are desensitized to the point of being dangerous to migrants and their co-workers.” He added that the agents who made the vulgar comments “don’t deserve to wear any uniform representing the United States of America.”

It's Time To Stop The "War On Drugs"

The War on Drugs hasn't made much sense for a while now. This country has spent wel over a trillion dollars to enforce drug prohibition and ballooned our prison population to the largest in the world (both in actual numbers and per capita the population). And exactly nothing has been accomplished. Drugs are just as available now as they ever were -- to all ages and levels of society. And making matters even crazier is the fact that the deadliest drug of all, alcohol, is legal because it is the drug of choice of those in power.

I say nothing has been accomplished, but what I mean by that is that nothing good has been accomplished. The War on Drugs has created several vicious drug cartels (who are very willing to kill to protect the vast profits they are making because drugs are illegal). It has also created a huge underground economy where no income taxes or sales taxes are ever paid (taxes that every level of government could really use in this recession). And it has created a huge prison population that is sucking both state and federal coffers dry.

It has also done something else (just like it did the first time prohibition was tried). It has diverted police efforts away from fighting real crimes -- crimes against persons and property. And it has greatly increased corruption in policing agencies at all levels. Since October of 2004 (just 7 years ago) at least 132 Customs Agents and Border Patrol Officers have been indicted or convicted of corruption/bribery. When you include the corruption in sheriff's departments, local police departments, and state police agencies that number grows much larger. Most police officers are honest hard-working individuals, but for many others the lure of big money is just too great.

The War on Drugs, just like the first attempt at prohibition, was started with good intentions. But it has never lived up to those intentions. Like the prohibition of alcohol in the past, the prohibition of drugs has done far more harm to this country than good. It is time to recognize that drug possession and use is not a crime, it is a medical problem. The only effective way to fight it is through treatment and education. Addicted individuals must be offered treatment and children must be taught from an early age the truth about drug use.

And when I say the truth must be taught, I don't mean students should be shown a fried egg and told that is their brain on drugs (which even a child can tell is ridiculous). And we must stop lumping all drugs together as though they are equally bad for your health. That is simply not true. Each drug has its own level of danger, and at least one (marijuana) is not life-threatening at all. In fact, two of the most dangerous drugs of all, alcohol and tobacco, are already legal -- in spite of the fact that they claim more lives each year than any of the illegal drugs.

We need to have a national discussion -- not on whether to decriminalize drugs, but on how to do it. I personally believe we should make the addicting drugs available with a doctor's prescription. Less dangerous drugs should be legalized and controlled similar to alcohol -- especially marijuana. And all of them should be heavily taxed (including at the growing and production and distribution levels).

There is already substantial support for doing this with marijuana. A recent Gallup Poll (taken between October 6th and 9th of a national sample of 1,005 adults with a margin of error of 4 points) verifies this. It shows that 50% of Americans think marijuana should be legalized, while only 46% oppose that. Here is the polls demographic breakdown (with the percentages shown being those in favor of legalization):

Men...............55%
Women...............46%

Liberals...............69%
Moderates...............57%
Conservatives...............34%

18 to 29...............62%
30 to 49...............56%
50 to 64...............49%
65 & over...............31%

Democrats...............57%
Independents...............57%
Republicans...............35%

West...............55%
Midwest...............54%
East...............51%
South...............44%

The War on Drugs has been a miserable failure -- both financially and in human terms. And it has done serious damage to our society. It is time to end it.

Why Won't Lou Dobbs Tell The Whole Truth ?

Last year, two Border Patrol agents were convicted of breaking the law, and were sentenced to 11 and 12 year terms in a federal prison. Since that time, CNN commentator Lou Dobbs (pictured above) has taken up their cause.

According to Dobbs, these were "two outstanding Border Patrol agents" who were just doing their jobs when they got into a gun battle with a smuggler. He says they are being punished by the United States government for just doing their jobs. He has used part of 131 different shows and one full-hour show to spread this message.

He has even gone so far as to call President Bush "gutless" for not immediately pardoning the two agents. I'm not usually a defender of Bush as you regular readers know, but I really don't see that Bush could have pardoned these two men. Dobbs is not telling the whole story. He is only telling a very slanted version.

Here is how the SPLC describes what really happened:

Border Patrol agents Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos and José Alonso Compean attacked an unarmed border-crosser who was trying to surrender, shot at him 15 times and wounded him as he fled, then tampered with the crime scene and failed to report the shooting as required to their supervisors. For their crimes, a federal court in Texas sentenced the men last year to terms of 11 and 12 years in prison.

Why are so many associated with the law-and-order right singing the praises of these two felons? Because the man who was shot turned out later to have been part of a marijuana-smuggling operation. Ramos and Compean didn't know that at the time — the man was on foot and tried to surrender, and the agents only found the drugs in a van after he managed to flee on foot back to Mexico, badly wounded.

Once you know the truth, these agents don't sound so outstanding. They are neither innocent nor heroic, as Dobbs would have us believe. They are criminals who belong exactly where they currently are -- in prison.

So why is Dobbs not telling the whole truth? I think it's because this incident doesn't fit in with his simple black and white view of the world. He's spent the last few years trying to demonize undocumented immigrants and lionize Border Patrol agents.

But the truth is a bit more complicated than that. Sometimes undocumented immigrants are just men and women trying to feed, clothe and provide a better future for their families. Sometimes even criminals are unarmed and surrender peacefully. And sometimes law enforcement officers break the rules and are unnecessarily violent.

Personally, I just don't see how anyone, even someone opposed to illegal immigration, can defend the criminal actions of these agents.

Bush Lies About Border Fence

After all the lies told by Bush and his cohorts since he took office, I guess I should be getting used to them by now -- but I'm not. Each time I get upset and wonder how America can keep putting up with a president that continually lies to us.

Last week, Bush gave an interview to McClatchy Newspapers. He discussed the proposed border fence to be built in Texas. Bush said he realized that a lot of Texas ranchers thought the fence was a bad idea, and said, "I presume we're not going to build a fence on places where people don't want it."

It took less than a week for Homeland Security director Michael Chertoff to show us Bush was lying again. On friday Chertoff said, "This is a national issue that requires a national decision. This is not a local issue." Chertoff said he would listen to local communities, but the communities would not have a veto on where the fence was going to be built.

In the final analysis, the fence is going to be built whever the Border Patrol wants it to be built. The economic impact on border farmers, ranchers and communities does not matter. The environmental impact on wildlife in the area does not matter. The relationships between Texas and Mexican cities do not matter.

The only thing that does matter is for the Republicans to look good to their bigoted supporters by building a fence. Then without accomplishing a thing, they can claim they've done something about homeland security and immigration.

Why would Bush lie about this? Bush is not very bright, and he gets flustered when he's asked the hard questions. I think he just gives the easiest answer, whether it's even close to the truth does not matter.

He's been getting away with lying to the American people for several years. Why would he change now?