Glenn Reynolds: Biden and the Border
So the war over the border between Texas and the Biden Administration is now in the “Sitzkrieg” stage. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has essentially declared war on illegal immigration. He invoked Article I Section 10 of the United States Constitution, which forbids states from declaring war except when “actually invaded” (or in such imminent danger as to admit of no delay) and, by implication, allows them to declare war when that happens. He also invoked the Guarantee Clause of Article IV, which requires the federal government to protect the states against invasion.
Abbott’s legal argument is that since he’s being invaded, he’s entitled to respond, and since the federal government is defaulting on its obligations it has no business – it’s basically estopped from – complaining. There was a lot of huffing and puffing at the time, with members of Congress calling on President Biden to federalize the Texas National Guard and the like, but basically, nothing happened. The Supreme Court vacated an injunction forbidding the Border Patrol from cutting the barbed wire that Texas had installed along the border, but – contrary to many media reports – didn’t rule that what Texas had done was illegal, or order Texas to stop policing the border.
Now not much is going on. The big complaints about immigration are mostly coming from outside Texas, places like New York City where illegal immigrants beat police with impunity, being released without bail after being arrested. (The usual endgame for this sort of thing in other societies has been death squads, organized either by police or by police-adjacent groups, taking out those whom the legal system cannot or will not control; we’ll see what happens in New York City.)
But next month Texas’s law allowing the state to apprehend and effectively deport illegals will go into effect, and that’s when the sitzkrieg is likely to end. Following are my (very) preliminary thoughts.
Biden is caught between trying to please factions in his party that think every immigrant — legal or not — is a good immigrant, and the majority of Americans who are horrified by illegal immigration:
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/18/1117953720/a-majority-of-americans-see-an-invasion-at-the-southern-border-npr-poll-finds
On a typical year, that might not be big thing. On an election year, it’s huge.
Save a pig!
Buy a cow!
Sponsored by the Cattleman’s Association of Austin Texas.
Yippy…yi…yeah….Cow Patty.
She rode into town to find the man who killed her Daddy.
Yippy…yi…yeah…Cow Patty…
Honestly, a Seniors moment.
or too many nightcaps, Jojo.
The usual end game for this sort of thing. Nice turn of phrase.
Joe Pooh, or Old Man Crazy, doesn’t care what is happening to Texans or America. He’ll be dead soon. Somebody his age should know that could happen any day, but Joe was never bright to begin with plus he thinks he’s some kind of tough guy because he’s POTUS. And that’s why the “worst” scenario could happen.
This isn’t a tea tax.
A new Texas map?
Looks okay, but get rid of the orange along the St Lawrence River and seaway.
https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1754032811663663432?
Why? It works for me.
Agreed! We don’t need the recipients of equalization payments (and I DO include Ontario in that group!)
If Ontario were left alone to do what was needed to bring the economy up, they would belong in this map. Think Ring of Fire, mining, manufacturing, farming, etc.
Now if you wanted to carve out the Greater (cough, cough) Toronto area, that would be more appropriate. Sort of like carving Edmonton out of Alberta.
I’m on the fence about whether Ottawa should be carved out too, but I’d hate to miss the opportunities this map would create. Maybe if the de-amalgamated back to original cities, Ottawa could be out while Kanata, Nepean, Gloucester et al could be in.
This needs to be made into a flag or bumper sticker.
Nothing can survive the economy of scale.. With everything turned up to 11 these days, failure is what they want..
Sold out by forces that no longer have any use for opposition.. They would rather argue with themselves in a computer model..
Not even fish can survive the economy of scale!