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OCTOBER 30,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

THE PHONIES – FROM FOX:   Fox News contributor Lisa Boothe called climate change a "limousine liberal issue" on "The Big Saturday Show" in the aftermath of President Joe Biden traveling through Rome in an 85-vehicle motorcade before the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference on Sunday.  "The issue of climate change is a limousine liberal issue," Boothe said. "The Republican Party has turned into the party for the American worker, and Democrats are the party for coastal elites. This issue alone underscores that point."  Boothe also cited Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., illegally parking her "$59,000" Tesla outside of a Whole Foods store and U.S. climate envoy John Kerry "exclusively fl[ying] private" as examples of "limousine liberal issues…[that] hurt hardworking Americans the most."  "If Democrats actually cared about emissions, they would look toward things like natural gas, nuclear power as well," she continued. "But they don't care about these issues. They don't care about emissions. All they care about is virtue-signaling to their other limousine liberal friends."  We can only look with sadness at what the Democratic Party has become.  It isn't really an American party any longer.  More like something out of failed European socialism.  A new center-right party is seriously needed to keep our politics reasonably sane.

October 30, 2021       Permalink

CHICKENS COMING HOME TO ROOST – OVERNIGHT:  See those illegal immigrants coming across our southern border?  Ever wonder where they wind up?  From the New York Post: 

America’s crisis at the border is now a crisis in New York public schools.

The Biden Administration is flooding New York City and Long Island communities with thousands of unaccompanied immigrant minors captured crossing the Mexico-US border, often arriving here, as The Post recently reported, via clandestine flights in the middle of the night.

The arrival of these children, mostly teenage boys, in local schools is creating a classroom crisis that is strapping educational resources, costing taxpayers millions in un-budgeted dollars, and aiding gang-recruiting efforts, argue parents, teachers and immigration experts.

“We’re at maxed capacity for kids with special needs, but they’ll keep sending them,” lamented one high school teacher in Queens, among the communities hardest hit by the illegal-immigrant student dump.

New York City and Long Island are hotspots for shipping children rounded up illegally crossing the border without guardians, according to recent US Department of Health and Human Services data.
Fifteen counties nationwide have received more than 1,000 unaccompanied children caught at the border over the past year, reported HHS. The top five counties on the list are all in Texas, California and south Florida.

But four of those 15 counties are right here in New York: Suffolk (1,528), Queens (1,314), Nassau (1,064) and Brooklyn (1,046). The Bronx nearly made the list, with 461 unaccompanied students.

New York is the only state in America with four counties receiving more than 1,000 unaccompanied minors, despite its 1,700-mile distance from the southern border.

Data suggests that around 2,000 young migrants have arrived at Westchester County Airport just since August 8.

The 1,528 children released into Suffolk County is sixth most of any county in the nation. The HHS list includes only those counties that received 50 or more minors for the 11-month period from Oct. 1, 2020 through Aug. 31, 2021. Manhattan and Staten Island were not on the list.

These numbers are on top of the legal and illegal immigrant children arriving, or who already live here, with parents or a guardian. An estimated 504,000 undocumented immigrants live in New York City, according to a 2020 report by the city’s Department of Education.

The surge in migrant crossings during the Biden Administration has included a reported 125,000 unaccompanied minors.

The resulting influx of unaccompanied children into local schools becomes “a giant unfunded mandate and enormously unfair to the communities that are forced to accommodate these kids,” said Jessica Vaughan, the director of policy for the Center for Immigration Studies. “It causes enormous challenges for the schools, a disruption in the quality of education for all and sometimes even a crime problem that wasn’t there before.”

One Brooklyn teacher said his ninth-grade English language arts class this year has 13 children from Ecuador alone, noting that educators are not privy to a child’s legal status.

“I think it’s good for New York City because our enrollment numbers are going down. The school lost students during the pandemic,” the teacher said. “This kind of evens out the enrollment.”

But unaccompanied immigrant children often surprise administrators, teachers, students and parents when they show up suddenly at local schools, many with special education needs, minimal school time at home, and unable to speak English. Some of these children, from indigenous Central American cultures, don’t speak Spanish either, notes Vaughan.

COMMENT:  We have nothing against the kids, of course.  It isn't their fault that they're pushed across the border.  But how unfair this whole process is – unfair to American children, and to American taxpayers.  The Biden administration is grossly negligent.  I think it sees these illegals as potential Democratic Party voters.  I guess the next step we'll see is the lowering of voting standards.  No citizenship required.

October 30, 2021       Permalink 

OCTOBER 29,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

THE APPEARANCES HERE ARE AWFUL – FROM FOX:    New York Attorney General Letitia James, who oversaw the investigation into sexual harassment allegations against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo among other cases, announced Friday that she's running for governor.  "New Yorkers need a governor who isn’t afraid to stand up to powerful interests on behalf of the vulnerable. Throughout my career, I’ve taken on big forces and New Yorkers know I will never back down when it comes to fighting for them," James said in a statement. "Today, I am proud to announce my candidacy for governor of New York so we can bring transformational change that uplifts all New Yorkers."  The move, which was forecasted this week, came just one day after prosecutors filed a misdemeanor charge against Cuomo for alleged forcible touching, a charge that carries a potential one-year prison sentence.  It's not right.  No matter what we may think of Andrew Cuomo, it's not right for the person who just prosecuted him and drove him out of office to immediately demand that office for her own.  This is not a third-world country, at least not yet.  These kinds of gimmicky maneuvers raise questions about the integrity and motives of the prosecutor's office.  Bad appearance.

October 29, 2015       Permalink

WHO YOU GONNA CALL, A SQUAD OF PSYCHIATRISTS? – OVERNIGHT:  The anti-police nuts are at it again.  Aren't you excited to welcome them?  From Fox: 

Minneapolis residents planning to vote in favor of a ballot measure next week that would replace the city's police department will be disappointed with the outcome, according to law enforcement experts.
Ballot question No. 2 will ask voters on Nov. 2 if they prefer to amend the city's charter to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a Department of Public Safety that would be responsible for "a comprehensive public health approach to safety."

It needs 51% of voter approval to pass.

"Frankly, I find it disingenuous," Betsy Smith, a spokesperson for the National Police Association who spent 29 years as a Chicago-area police officer, told Fox News. "I think there are going to be people who are going to vote for this thinking ‘Yay, we’re going to abolish the police' and that's not what's happening."

The measure was put on the ballot after Yes 4 Minneapolis, a coalition of businesses and organizations, gathered 22,000 signatures to do so.

The city became the epicenter of the police reform movement following the death of George Floyd, who died last year during an encounter with Minneapolis police officers. The event unleashed a racial reckoning on police tactics and social injustice.

Supporters of the measure have said it will not defund or abolish the police department but rather not have police officers respond to every call for service in cases where mental health counselors and other professionals are needed instead, citing police shootings that have stemmed from mental health-related calls.

The question was put on the ballot because thousands of residents recognize the Minneapolis Police Department has a "fundamental flaw and cultural problem that made the city of Minneapolis the epicenter of a global reckoning on race, " Yes 4 Minneapolis spokesman Javier Morillo told Fox News.

"What people tend to say, and especially voters of color, is: "What I want is something very simple. I want to be able to call for help when I need it and I want to be able to not fear that help when it arrives,'" he said. He said the group's vision is "public safety that prioritizes a public health lens so that we ensure that professionals who are trained in their fields are responding to calls that are relevant to those fields."

Smith said police departments already have social workers that respond to calls. She noted that the Minneapolis Police Department is one of the most progressive in the sense they have always had some of the best training and equipment.

In addition, changing public safety agencies will cost the city millions, she said.

COMMENT:  The voters had better read the fine print.  We certainly have no objection to well-trained specialists working with the police to reduce violence, but it's an illusion to think that street criminals can be successfully confronted by Dr. Percy Highthoughts.  When a crime is in progress, and life is on the line, it's the well-trained and well-equipped officer who makes the difference.

"Police reform" is perfectly reasonable when police conduct is below standard.  But "reformers" often end up making war on the good cops rather than on the criminals.

October 29,  2015     Permalink