I’m sorry to report that Democrats in Congress are not having a good week.
Can you believe another government shutdown? In the Senate, 51 Republicans and 1 Democrat voted to keep the DHS fully open and 47 Democrats voted to shut down DHS agencies which includes TSA, FEMA, and the Coast Guard. (Sixty votes, a super majority, are needed to pass this bill in the Senate.)
So, which Party wants to keep DHS functioning, and which one opposes it?
Democrats voted to shut down funding for TSA, FEMA, and the Coast Guard because they are mad at ICE. ICE arrested and removed 4000 criminal immigrants out of Minnesota. ICE also found over 3000 “lost” immigrant children in Minnesota who were released without any follow up to keep track of them. Offsetting those 7000, two disobedient protesters got killed.
Meanwhile, ICE reached a deal with Mayor Frey. We know ICE is leaving Minneapolis. We don’t know how many of the 4000 immigrants that ICE arrested and deported will have to be returned. The mayor refers to these criminals as “neighbors.” I doubt if he wants any murderers or sex offenders living next door.
Democrats demanded that ICE agents wear body cameras. A day later they demanded they not wear cameras. They realized the cameras can identify “peaceful protesters” who are disobeying, spitting, punching, and driving over ICE agents. (Note that my comments are about Democrat leaders, not about immigrants.)
Democrats in Congress do not want to restrict voting to only people who can prove they are U.S. citizens. But ordinary Democrats and almost every other American want Photo IDs with proof of citizenship. It’s common horse sense.
The Democrat Party is not the same as Democrats of a hundred years ago. Or even fifty years ago. Upton Sinclair was a popular Socialist but he never got elected to any office. Senator Huey Long of Louisiana pushed some socialistic plans (Share the wealth!) but never got any adopted. But today, the mayor of New York City, the Virginia Governor, and several candidates are adopting or pushing socialistic policies.
Republicans have changed since Coolidge and Hoover, and we can discuss that at another time.
Historic quotes by Will Rogers: (on Socialism and Communism)
“It’s absolutely impossible for any Socialist to say anything in a few words… If Socialists worked as much as they talked, they would be the most prosperous style of Government in the World.” (There’s Not a Bathing Suit in Russia, 1927)
“Communism is like Prohibition. It’s a good idea but it won’t work.” (WA #254, Nov. 6, 1927)
“The idea was that the fellow managing the bank was to get no more than the man that swept it out. Well, that talked well to a crowd, but (Russia’s) got no more of that than we do.” (Saturday Evening Post, Nov. 6, 1926)
(From Moscow), “You have heard of equality of the sexes in Russia. That’s not so. The women are doing all the work.” (DT #2516, Aug. 28, 1934)
(No Weekly Comments next week.)