Why are so many people (morons) playing Russian roulette in America? I remember the "Red Asphalt" (I loved them) films when I was young and now car accidents never show mangled bodies forcing the viewer to pause and think that imprudent driving has real consequences. How often have you seen a dead addict sprawled out in the gutter anywhere in any media? 100,0000 deaths has no meaning because the media doesn't care that 100,000 mostly white young people are overdosing to death every year.
2015 wants its China policy back? Welcome to the Third Worldification of America. African-American AND White people are the minorities in the DC suburbs where I live. The other day, a lady clearing tables at the Museum of the Bible asked me if I was finished with my plate in Spanish... It is almost the end I think unless we really shut this down at borders and ports of entry, shut down the hiring of illegals, shut down phony asylum, start deporting people, and end birthright citizenship. Nikki will do none of that. She is a lightweight version of Jeb Bush.
I actually have thought for a long time that the reason there are slow downs on the highway by INFORM displays is because people slow down to try to see if they can read them. Wait till those are in Spanish too...Also, while are at it- I listen to some radio shows on IHeart while working and I often get ads in Spanish out of the blue. To quote a famous author, "Adios America!"
But I learned Spanish. My accent is not bad, I understand what is said, and leaned 100 statements and responses. I listen to Spanish radio and watch dispierta America
Me too as far as understanding a fair amount, speaking is another thing. That's how I knew what she was saying. But the point is this country is being "fundamentally transformed" or may have been already. We're back to the 70s in terms of crime and decay but with 50 million more poor immigrants and $33 trillion in debt to deal with.
I expect the signage to begin being put in Spanish soon enough and the television advertising to increasingly be in Spanish as well. The reign of black faces being ubiquitous on television will soon come to an end,
I’ll be honest, if Trump is the nominee I will not vote for him. The country is officially over in July, not November, if that’s the case. The only certainty: Republicans can be astoundingly stupid. That Trump even got this far is a major shame and stain on the party forever, possibly insurmountable.
I’m tired of “at least.” He didn’t build the wall (7 million illegal aliens later), he didn’t deport illegal aliens (he used legalizing DACA as a bargaining chip), he didn’t stop spending (he is responsible for more debt than any other president before him). He lied. Oh, but he appointed Supreme Court justices (thanks Federalist Society) and moved the Embassy to Jerusalem, something about taxes… Oh, did I mention Covid? Fauci? BLM? And now our party, economy, country, reputation and the world are in shreds. Some legacy. This country doesn’t deserve someone as good as Ron DeSantis, and he’s not nearly as good as the politicians of yesteryear. Trump is not an option for decent people with a brain between their ears.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Agree with everything -- even the commas. ANY gop would have given us those justices. They were picked by Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society.
<<. Oh, but he appointed Supreme Court justices (thanks Federalist Society) and moved the Embassy to Jerusalem, something about taxes… Oh, did I mention Covid? Fauci? BLM? And now our party, economy, country, reputation and the world are in shreds. Some legacy.>>
If that's the case then why Reagan gave us Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy? Why Bush Sr gave us David Souter? Trump could stick with the same route, but instead he chose to listen to Federalist Society. That should count for something.
Trump's major mistake was hiring Neo-Cons as his advisors. For the same reason Reagan didn't deliver on his domestic agenda, because he was surrounded by the same Neo-Cons. Same with both Bushes. That's the problem. As the saying goes, the President only as good as his advisors. We conservatives don't have paleo-conservative think tanks from which GOP presidents can pack their cabinets. That's why Ron DeSantis probably won't be any better. In all likelihood he'll choose the safe route in choosing his advisors.
AND hiring open borders Republicans, and hiring churchy Republicans still living in the 80s, (Pence) and hiring his liberal son in law and nitwit daughter, and hiring manifestly stupid generals -- all of whom he thought were Patton -- and hiring the covid lock-down fascists, (specifically putting Fauci in charge), etc, etc, etc.
Don't act like it's one "major" mistake that he's "learned from." Trump hired no one who agreed with the things he ran on because he doesn't give a shit about the things he ran on.
More excuses: Trump has an abysmally bad track record. Ron DeSantis, aside from his terrible presidential campaign, has a brilliant track record of success. If that’s a hard choice, then we are doomed.
D's campaign wasn't so bad. A few missteps, but the main thing was: the left (Dems + media) want to run against ANYONE but DeSantis. Preferably Trump, but Nitwit Nikki's a good back-up.
I guess the question is: do enough stupid republicans need a showman (Trump) to get out and vote? Or do they need a solid record of kept promises and effective governance (DeSantis)? I won’t hold my breath, but in the meantime Heavy D needs to indulge in some stylish evisceration of the Trump record.
At this point, it makes more sense to make Biden or his 11th hour replacement run on the destruction he has caused with the open border. Democrats will never close the border so it won't ever happen until they are voted out.
“Does Haley like Mexican drug cartels? Or is she simply unaware that the fentanyl problem is a Mexico-is-on-our-border problem? In her case, it’s likely stupidity....”
Until the 1990’s most high school students learned how to conduct basic research and footnote a term paper by the 10th grade so, even though Haley is a totally hysterical victimized dork, I would find it unlikely that between her, her speech writers, her position people and/or her translators that she would unintentionally be so stupid about the source of fentanyl.
She is an Establishment politician. Thus, her stock in trade is obfuscation and deniability. Her goal is to do the bidding of her controllers while intentionally deceiving the voters...she is a chameleon and seems so stupid because she is always striving to project substance without ever having any substance. The perfect combination of obfuscation and deniability...just like most of the Beltway.
That's a very credible account, but I also think she is massively stoopid. Evidently, she thinks so too, inasmuch as she's terrified to be on a stage again with Ron DeSantis. For good reason.
Haley, like too many in DC are clearly, in some way, compromised by either the cartel or the CCP. I can't fathom any other reason for this *America last* madness.
It's become every man for himself now. The ole Uncle Sam of "god and country and apple pie" croaked long ago.
Why is it that Republicans never produce campaign footage of Kensington Avenue in Philadelphia? Or the many horrors of the 'Streets of San Francisco?' How many more elections will Republicans lose before they fire Ronna Romney McDaniel?
Nikki Haley is our daily reminder that the Tea Party was establishment AstroTurf. Any candidate who is indifferent to the dispossessing effects of illegal immigration cannot be expected to care about the self-nullification of those demoralized by it.
Sam Quinones also wrote Dreamland, in which he documents the replacement of expensive Asian heroin by cheaper, more potent smack grown in Xalisco, Mexico. Dreamland and The Least of Us are both worth a read.
Quinones was one of my first interviews on substack. I need to have him back. Those books are amazing. He is amazing.
Incidentally, I thought I'd quoted from one of his LA Times articles in "Adios, America!" Told him it was the longest block-quote I'd ever used. I went back to look for it and realized it was one of my last minute cuts, to keep the book short enough so people would actually read it. So then I put it in a column.
Here's the story from Quinones I put in a column (instead of "Adios, America!" -
<<In 2006 — or about 5 million anchor babies ago — the Los Angeles Times’ star investigative reporter Sam Quinones (more recently, author of “The Least of Us”) previewed the new country our politicians were designing for us in a story about a Mexican illegal immigrant, Angela Magdaleno, who had just given birth to quadruplets.
That made it 10 anchor babies for Angela and her husband, Alfredo Anzaldo, also an illegal, who had three additional children with two other women.
Shockingly, Alfredo was unable to support his wife and 13 children on a maximum salary of $400 a week as a carpet installer. Nonetheless, before the quadruplets, Angela had given birth to triplets, at age 36, after undergoing an operation to reverse her tubal ligation and taking gargantuan amounts of fertility drugs — because her husband wanted a son.
The U.S. taxpayer was on the hook for her fertility treatments and multiple pregnancies. Also the free school lunches, subsidized housing and $700 a month in Social Security payments. Not to mention 100% of the health care needs of this very pricey family.
Four of Angela’s anchor babies were born underweight, one with hydrocephalus. The hydrocephalic kid had already undergone three taxpayer-funded brain operations “and will require several more,” Angela observed.
Neither Angela nor Alfredo spoke English, despite having lived in this country for 22 and 28 years, respectively. Nor did their teenage children.
Two of Angela’s illegal alien sisters — out of 10 siblings in the country illegally — had already fled California for Lexington, Kentucky, because, as one of them said, there were “fewer Mexicans there.” The sister raved about Kentucky, saying, “We’re in a state where there’s nothing but Americans,” citing the clean streets, police presence and lack of gang activity.
She’s right! Doesn’t it sound lovely? But unless DeSantis is our next president, soon she won’t be able to find a place like that anywhere on Planet Earth.>>
And just like that our cheap lettuce becomes ridiculously expensive. Not that this should shock anyone who gives a little thought to the matter. If a person with adult responsibilities has only a teenager's labor value, someone else must cover the difference.
Your linked article mentions Justice Brennan's footnote dicta on the 14th Amendment. Suppose a president were to take the position that anchor babies are not citizens and begin deporting them. Where do you think the Supreme Court would come down on the issue?
Ann almost got thru an article without mentioning Trump. Not sure why we know he won't built it. Maybe she should have listened more and talked less on her interview with VDHanson who gave Trump credit for both new barrier and replacement structures, regarding both as new wall. All done without almost any help from the Rs in Washington. Again, that listening thing.
Yes, I heard all about the "replacement structures," and remembered fondly all the Trump rallies in 2016 with the crowd shouting, "REINFORCE FLIMSY PORTIONS OF THE BORDER WITH REPLACEMENT STRUCTURES!"""REINFORCE FLIMSY PORTIONS OF THE BORDER WITH REPLACEMENT STRUCTURES!"
His "new wall", which was mostly replacement wall, is BS. But I doubt DeSantis will get it done either, maybe Trump's deportation talk will translate into action, but it certainly is no guarantee. He didn't tax remittances, build a wall, repeal the ACA, remove 'lines around the states', etc... so I have no delusions that he will keep any of his new promises. But Trump is the best alternative we have right now - most of the good things in FL, like no income tax and low regulation, was there long before DeSantis got there.
I am sorry "Most of the good things in FL was done long before DeSantis".
Ok lets go down memory lane: DeSantis only won his first term by less than 1 %. He comes in and immediately fires the corrupt election leaders in certain counties(Run by democrats) and continues to crack down on the corruption. Oh I forgot Trump just complained about the election fraud but goes on to sign the inflation CARES ACT which allows the mail in ballots. The previous dopey establishment governor Rick Scott who is a senator did nothing to stop the electoral corruption.
Rick Scott almost lost his election too that year!
He bans China from buying real estate in FL, Eliminates China studies in college etc. He Opens up the country with great criticism from everyone including a majority of Floridians. Which was a gamble for him at the time. Obviously floridians agree with him because after his second election he won by 2O points! ( Despite the fact that trump criticized him the day before that election).
He stops k through 3 to stop having pornography in the classrooms.
He fires Soros DA who is not enforcing the law.
Oh when Trump was president he tweeted LAW and Order! While Desantis toughen up crimes laws so he had no damage from BLM riots.
While you ponder about trump may or not build a wall(BTW on the campaign trail he is making excuses why he never said Mexico could pay for it).
You honestly think Ron is iffy on building a wall. He rebuilt in record time the bridge after that hurricane.
"Trumps is the best alternative right now" I have family members who all voted for Trump twice who are refusing to vote for him now. I had one family member that we had to convince to vote for Trump the first time. Do you really think Trump can afford to lose some of his base. Not everyone has that much faith in a opportunistic old con man.
THANK YOU, KERRY!!! way more complete than my half-assed answer above. AND he signed e-verify in a state where the two major industries demand lots of cheap foreign labor - tourism and agriculture. AND he ended drivers licenses for illegals (a Jeb-exclamation point policy), banned sanctuary cities -- AND Martha's Vineyard! The hits never stop! Of course he'll build a wall. IT'S NOT THAT F-ING HARD.
I agree there are plenty of reasons to not vote for Trump. “Con man” is not one of them, that sounds like sour grapes, like McCain complaining about “tax cuts for the rich”. I didn’t suggest Desantis was a bad governor, he’s very good. But the way he dealt with Disney, for example, was quite tone deaf. And I don’t think he has the gut that Trump has. For his flaws, Trump’s economic team slashed through a lot of regulations that republicans have been promising to cut for decades. Fixing a bridge that needed fixing is irrelevant. Desantis only beat Haley by 2 points in IA. He’s not a great speaker. He could use some more seasoning before packing up for the White House.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! DeSantis took on the the biggest corporation in the state over whether little kids should be taught they can change their genders and you whine about it with a meaningless term like "tone deaf." what? because joy anne reid complained? boo hoo hoo. maybe that would scare you, but it didn't scare him. Trump who took on NO one, tried to give the Dems amnesty and take our guns away, backed down to Fauci etc etc -- HE has "guts."
Yeah! Call it what you want I am pissed because we have voted for politicians to build a wall and they all caved including Trump! We can't afford to wait another 4 years for a competent trustworthy man like Ron while able bodied man pour over our border! Trump is not going to win anyway!
BTW I loved what Ron did to Disney. That is what actually takes guts.
Your entitled to your opinion but i just want to remind you the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and expecting the same results, ie Trump really means it this time.
NH Governor Sununu has endorsed Haley unfortunately. Since the endorsement, I've been noticing more political signs for Haley compared to Trump 2024 signs, and almost none for Gov. DeSantis. (Yes, an unscientific poll, but troubling enough.)
Small point, but since I live within a half mile of the bridge/causeway in question, I can tell you it was reopened quickly, but 15 months later is no where near rebuilt. I pity the construction crews working on homes and condos that spend two hours each evening trying to get off island. I voted DeSantis for governor twice, and would gladly vote for him over any Democrat, but as with any politician, there's sometimes more sizzle than steak. As with the causeway, so with the challenge to Disney. Latest news I could find (8/2023) was DeSantis saying “where we are today, you know, we’ve basically moved on,” and that he'd be willing to sit down and talk with Bob Iger about ending Disney's suit against the state.
Being President of the U.S. is not like being a King or a dictator. The other branches of government have a say in what becomes law or policy. Pelosi sabotaged the wall for petty, partisan and personal reasons. Trump's tax reform was broad and sweeping. Among other things, it ended the real estate interest deduction that hit wealthy blue state voters hardest. It greatly simplified income taxation to where most people no longer itemize deductions. Imagine how much unnecessary work that eliminated for the IRS alone. Everyone takes it for granted now but no other President even tried to change the tax code. Trump was undermined by an army of Federal employees as well as his own House Speaker Ryan and his own DOJ and the FBI and CIA. Despite all of this conspiratorial weight on his office, he still managed to cut regulations which boosted our economy. Trump's 5 year old behavior cannot be defended but his accomplishments in office can.
There are areas over which the executive branch has sole control, border security is one of them, it is in the Constitution. Pelosi shouldn’t have been given the opportunity to sabotage anything. Any monkey with an R would’ve passed tax cuts. The people advising Trump, as Ann has pointed out, weren’t the true believers in his policies. That’s on him. Whoever told him he needed Congress should’ve been shown the door.
Spending is controlled by the Congress. The President is powerless to build a wall without funding which is only approved by Congress. There is a lot the president can do on his own. But spending without Congress approving the money is not one of those.
yes, if congress had defunded the entire executive branch, trump couldn't have built the wall. What do you think the president's job is? To do only what congress "funds"? OF COURSE the president has full, complete authority to build the wall, more than almost anything else the president does.
OK Ann, So you are voting for Biden in November or holding out for Michelle Obama just to teach Trump a lesson? Even without a wall, Trump stemmed the flow of illegals. In stark contrast to the more than 9 million (probably double that number) that have been welcomed and rewarded by Biden. Maybe Trump realized that the wall was not the most immediate and effective way to reduce illegal immigration given the tools at his disposal. Never let the perfect become the enemy of the reasonably good. Even Jamie Dimon has admitted that Trump was by far better than what we have now.
It would be done through our trillion dollar military budget, if Biden can send billions to Ukraine and Obama can send plane loads of cash to Iran, sans Congress, this would’ve been a no brainer. Understand, Trump is my guy, but mostly for two reasons-all the crap the liberals have thrown at him, and the lack of a good alternative.
I do agree that Trump's people could have and should have been more creative in dealing with the border. But Trump's border policies were working and compare them with what we have today. Opposition from Democrats and activist judges gummed up everything Trump ordered. His own state department employees were in open rebellion against him. Our only hope is for him to take a far more draconian approach to those people if he wins in November. Vindman should have been court-martialed and Yovanovich and Fiona Hill fired if not prosecuted.
A wall would be useful in certain areas for keeping out humans, but I don't think it would do much to stop the cartel drug traffic. Do a google search on tunnels under our border. There have been hundreds of them already found and God knows how many that haven't been found. Also any wall we build will be on US territory which means the aliens are in the country and could claim asylum at the wall. Building a wall along the Rio Grande is especially challenging. We need tough penalties for those who are in our country illegally no matter how they got here. A prison in Africa comes to mind. But let's face it, we aren't going to do the hard thing. No politician is even talking about such actions.
Build the wall a half mile into Mexico. Tunnels can be fumigated. We'll have a lot more agents to fumigate when they're not chasing bands of peasants running across every 50 yards.
It is great having Neocon Nikki Haley in the race because it makes it easy to identify who the Uniparty stooge is this year. Another way to spot the swamp creature in the race is to see who Democrats prefer. Democrats are turning out in droves to vote for Nikki in the Republican primaries. The Republican party primaries have become a means of computing how many Democrats will cheat in the primary. Democrats can't believe how stupid Republicans are that they don't cheat in elections. Of course you can't cheat in the Democrat primaries because they won't hold any that have anyone on the ballot except Biden.
YES. And the media love her. She's the back-up plan to Trump. Both sure losers.
<<Another way to spot the swamp creature in the race is to see who Democrats prefer. Democrats are turning out in droves to vote for Nikki in the Republican primaries.>>
Latest polling is that Neocon Nikki is all the rage with "Independents" in NH. The same people who adored the insufferable John Kasich. 'Oh he's not a -bad- Republican.' 'Why don't you all vote for him?' Translation: (It will be easy for us to beat his sorry ass in the general. heh-heh)
"in one of the biggest actions the administration has taken against fentanyl trafficking, the U.S. on Tuesday announced a series of indictments and sanctions against 14 people and 14 firms across China and Canada related to the import of the drug to the United States." - biggest - lol. Turns out one of the crimes was providing pill dies for oxycodone. We'd probably do better if we invaded Honduras at this point. Those guys know how to build walls around every house and property
While having a wall would be better than no wall it seems like an ineffective way to curtail illegal immigration. Better to fine and prosecute businesses who hire illegals, deny illegals ALL forms of social welfare, end birthright citizenship and detain and deport illegals on site.
all that, too, but every time a Dem president comes in, every single thing you mentioned, other than the wall, ends. We need a LAW not an executive order on anchor babies. otherwise that too will switch back and forth. (And 80% of Republicans don't want to do your list.). A wall is forever.
And if Haley were ever confronted with facts that Ann just recited Nimrata would exclaim "I never said China was responsible for the fentanyl epidemic". Nimrata always claims she never said thing's that she has indeed said about certain subjects and people.
Sorry Ann, for after Iowa I don't think Ronata DeSantis has much of a shot. The problem I have with DeSantis is he thinks he can bring the Florida legislature with him if elected president. At best there will be a split legislature in 2025.
That's not the way the military-intelligence-globalist-banking-pharma-Is'ril complex sees it. Question is, can anyone be elected president--or survive in the job--who attempts to interfere with the complex?
Why are so many people (morons) playing Russian roulette in America? I remember the "Red Asphalt" (I loved them) films when I was young and now car accidents never show mangled bodies forcing the viewer to pause and think that imprudent driving has real consequences. How often have you seen a dead addict sprawled out in the gutter anywhere in any media? 100,0000 deaths has no meaning because the media doesn't care that 100,000 mostly white young people are overdosing to death every year.
2015 wants its China policy back? Welcome to the Third Worldification of America. African-American AND White people are the minorities in the DC suburbs where I live. The other day, a lady clearing tables at the Museum of the Bible asked me if I was finished with my plate in Spanish... It is almost the end I think unless we really shut this down at borders and ports of entry, shut down the hiring of illegals, shut down phony asylum, start deporting people, and end birthright citizenship. Nikki will do none of that. She is a lightweight version of Jeb Bush.
How do you know if you are no longer in the USA? The signs are no longer in Spanish
I actually have thought for a long time that the reason there are slow downs on the highway by INFORM displays is because people slow down to try to see if they can read them. Wait till those are in Spanish too...Also, while are at it- I listen to some radio shows on IHeart while working and I often get ads in Spanish out of the blue. To quote a famous author, "Adios America!"
But I learned Spanish. My accent is not bad, I understand what is said, and leaned 100 statements and responses. I listen to Spanish radio and watch dispierta America
No too hard to do
Me too as far as understanding a fair amount, speaking is another thing. That's how I knew what she was saying. But the point is this country is being "fundamentally transformed" or may have been already. We're back to the 70s in terms of crime and decay but with 50 million more poor immigrants and $33 trillion in debt to deal with.
I expect the signage to begin being put in Spanish soon enough and the television advertising to increasingly be in Spanish as well. The reign of black faces being ubiquitous on television will soon come to an end,
this is an EXCELLENT piece!!
I’ll be honest, if Trump is the nominee I will not vote for him. The country is officially over in July, not November, if that’s the case. The only certainty: Republicans can be astoundingly stupid. That Trump even got this far is a major shame and stain on the party forever, possibly insurmountable.
Well, at least Trump gave us three originalist SCOTUS justices, which is more than can be said about Ronald Reagan.
I’m tired of “at least.” He didn’t build the wall (7 million illegal aliens later), he didn’t deport illegal aliens (he used legalizing DACA as a bargaining chip), he didn’t stop spending (he is responsible for more debt than any other president before him). He lied. Oh, but he appointed Supreme Court justices (thanks Federalist Society) and moved the Embassy to Jerusalem, something about taxes… Oh, did I mention Covid? Fauci? BLM? And now our party, economy, country, reputation and the world are in shreds. Some legacy. This country doesn’t deserve someone as good as Ron DeSantis, and he’s not nearly as good as the politicians of yesteryear. Trump is not an option for decent people with a brain between their ears.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Agree with everything -- even the commas. ANY gop would have given us those justices. They were picked by Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society.
<<. Oh, but he appointed Supreme Court justices (thanks Federalist Society) and moved the Embassy to Jerusalem, something about taxes… Oh, did I mention Covid? Fauci? BLM? And now our party, economy, country, reputation and the world are in shreds. Some legacy.>>
YES, YES, YES.
If that's the case then why Reagan gave us Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy? Why Bush Sr gave us David Souter? Trump could stick with the same route, but instead he chose to listen to Federalist Society. That should count for something.
Trump's major mistake was hiring Neo-Cons as his advisors. For the same reason Reagan didn't deliver on his domestic agenda, because he was surrounded by the same Neo-Cons. Same with both Bushes. That's the problem. As the saying goes, the President only as good as his advisors. We conservatives don't have paleo-conservative think tanks from which GOP presidents can pack their cabinets. That's why Ron DeSantis probably won't be any better. In all likelihood he'll choose the safe route in choosing his advisors.
AND hiring open borders Republicans, and hiring churchy Republicans still living in the 80s, (Pence) and hiring his liberal son in law and nitwit daughter, and hiring manifestly stupid generals -- all of whom he thought were Patton -- and hiring the covid lock-down fascists, (specifically putting Fauci in charge), etc, etc, etc.
Don't act like it's one "major" mistake that he's "learned from." Trump hired no one who agreed with the things he ran on because he doesn't give a shit about the things he ran on.
I agree with your points Ann, but what should we do if Trump is the nominee again?
More excuses: Trump has an abysmally bad track record. Ron DeSantis, aside from his terrible presidential campaign, has a brilliant track record of success. If that’s a hard choice, then we are doomed.
D's campaign wasn't so bad. A few missteps, but the main thing was: the left (Dems + media) want to run against ANYONE but DeSantis. Preferably Trump, but Nitwit Nikki's a good back-up.
Biden gets a second term.
I guess the question is: do enough stupid republicans need a showman (Trump) to get out and vote? Or do they need a solid record of kept promises and effective governance (DeSantis)? I won’t hold my breath, but in the meantime Heavy D needs to indulge in some stylish evisceration of the Trump record.
Bush Jr also had a good track record as governor of Texas, yet he was a terrible disappointment as president.
He also got China to "promise" to buy more soybeans. Lol. Did they ever buy those soybeans? I could never mind anything on it.
Stay at home and be part of the problem, then. We have a country to save but you're a quitter.
Elections. The voters decide.
Whose going to talk to the communists leaders of North Korea and China man to man face to face? Giggling Kamala?
Until the boarder is buttoned down all the speeches and political theatrics ring as hollow as Nikki’s head.
At this point, it makes more sense to make Biden or his 11th hour replacement run on the destruction he has caused with the open border. Democrats will never close the border so it won't ever happen until they are voted out.
“Does Haley like Mexican drug cartels? Or is she simply unaware that the fentanyl problem is a Mexico-is-on-our-border problem? In her case, it’s likely stupidity....”
Until the 1990’s most high school students learned how to conduct basic research and footnote a term paper by the 10th grade so, even though Haley is a totally hysterical victimized dork, I would find it unlikely that between her, her speech writers, her position people and/or her translators that she would unintentionally be so stupid about the source of fentanyl.
She is an Establishment politician. Thus, her stock in trade is obfuscation and deniability. Her goal is to do the bidding of her controllers while intentionally deceiving the voters...she is a chameleon and seems so stupid because she is always striving to project substance without ever having any substance. The perfect combination of obfuscation and deniability...just like most of the Beltway.
That's a very credible account, but I also think she is massively stoopid. Evidently, she thinks so too, inasmuch as she's terrified to be on a stage again with Ron DeSantis. For good reason.
Stoopid and Scummy...it’s a shame that Nikki never had a chance to team up Norman Mineta for the Nitwit Party!s dream ticket !!!
Haley, like too many in DC are clearly, in some way, compromised by either the cartel or the CCP. I can't fathom any other reason for this *America last* madness.
It's become every man for himself now. The ole Uncle Sam of "god and country and apple pie" croaked long ago.
Why is it that Republicans never produce campaign footage of Kensington Avenue in Philadelphia? Or the many horrors of the 'Streets of San Francisco?' How many more elections will Republicans lose before they fire Ronna Romney McDaniel?
Nikki Haley is our daily reminder that the Tea Party was establishment AstroTurf. Any candidate who is indifferent to the dispossessing effects of illegal immigration cannot be expected to care about the self-nullification of those demoralized by it.
Sam Quinones also wrote Dreamland, in which he documents the replacement of expensive Asian heroin by cheaper, more potent smack grown in Xalisco, Mexico. Dreamland and The Least of Us are both worth a read.
Quinones was one of my first interviews on substack. I need to have him back. Those books are amazing. He is amazing.
Incidentally, I thought I'd quoted from one of his LA Times articles in "Adios, America!" Told him it was the longest block-quote I'd ever used. I went back to look for it and realized it was one of my last minute cuts, to keep the book short enough so people would actually read it. So then I put it in a column.
Here's the story from Quinones I put in a column (instead of "Adios, America!" -
<<In 2006 — or about 5 million anchor babies ago — the Los Angeles Times’ star investigative reporter Sam Quinones (more recently, author of “The Least of Us”) previewed the new country our politicians were designing for us in a story about a Mexican illegal immigrant, Angela Magdaleno, who had just given birth to quadruplets.
That made it 10 anchor babies for Angela and her husband, Alfredo Anzaldo, also an illegal, who had three additional children with two other women.
Shockingly, Alfredo was unable to support his wife and 13 children on a maximum salary of $400 a week as a carpet installer. Nonetheless, before the quadruplets, Angela had given birth to triplets, at age 36, after undergoing an operation to reverse her tubal ligation and taking gargantuan amounts of fertility drugs — because her husband wanted a son.
The U.S. taxpayer was on the hook for her fertility treatments and multiple pregnancies. Also the free school lunches, subsidized housing and $700 a month in Social Security payments. Not to mention 100% of the health care needs of this very pricey family.
Four of Angela’s anchor babies were born underweight, one with hydrocephalus. The hydrocephalic kid had already undergone three taxpayer-funded brain operations “and will require several more,” Angela observed.
Neither Angela nor Alfredo spoke English, despite having lived in this country for 22 and 28 years, respectively. Nor did their teenage children.
Two of Angela’s illegal alien sisters — out of 10 siblings in the country illegally — had already fled California for Lexington, Kentucky, because, as one of them said, there were “fewer Mexicans there.” The sister raved about Kentucky, saying, “We’re in a state where there’s nothing but Americans,” citing the clean streets, police presence and lack of gang activity.
She’s right! Doesn’t it sound lovely? But unless DeSantis is our next president, soon she won’t be able to find a place like that anywhere on Planet Earth.>>
https://anncoulter.com/2023/06/28/could-somebody-keep-trumps-promises/
I FOUND IT! It's in "In Trump We Trust" page 128.
Whether to laugh or cry, jeez...
This is why many of us drink.
And just like that our cheap lettuce becomes ridiculously expensive. Not that this should shock anyone who gives a little thought to the matter. If a person with adult responsibilities has only a teenager's labor value, someone else must cover the difference.
Your linked article mentions Justice Brennan's footnote dicta on the 14th Amendment. Suppose a president were to take the position that anchor babies are not citizens and begin deporting them. Where do you think the Supreme Court would come down on the issue?
DeSantis' Vineyard stunt was impressive... but that was then. He's more passionate about Israel's wall than America's now.
Ann almost got thru an article without mentioning Trump. Not sure why we know he won't built it. Maybe she should have listened more and talked less on her interview with VDHanson who gave Trump credit for both new barrier and replacement structures, regarding both as new wall. All done without almost any help from the Rs in Washington. Again, that listening thing.
Yes, I heard all about the "replacement structures," and remembered fondly all the Trump rallies in 2016 with the crowd shouting, "REINFORCE FLIMSY PORTIONS OF THE BORDER WITH REPLACEMENT STRUCTURES!"""REINFORCE FLIMSY PORTIONS OF THE BORDER WITH REPLACEMENT STRUCTURES!"
His "new wall", which was mostly replacement wall, is BS. But I doubt DeSantis will get it done either, maybe Trump's deportation talk will translate into action, but it certainly is no guarantee. He didn't tax remittances, build a wall, repeal the ACA, remove 'lines around the states', etc... so I have no delusions that he will keep any of his new promises. But Trump is the best alternative we have right now - most of the good things in FL, like no income tax and low regulation, was there long before DeSantis got there.
What has D ever NOT gotten done? Even removing Soros D.A.s - something even I couldn't have dreamed of.
I am sorry "Most of the good things in FL was done long before DeSantis".
Ok lets go down memory lane: DeSantis only won his first term by less than 1 %. He comes in and immediately fires the corrupt election leaders in certain counties(Run by democrats) and continues to crack down on the corruption. Oh I forgot Trump just complained about the election fraud but goes on to sign the inflation CARES ACT which allows the mail in ballots. The previous dopey establishment governor Rick Scott who is a senator did nothing to stop the electoral corruption.
Rick Scott almost lost his election too that year!
He bans China from buying real estate in FL, Eliminates China studies in college etc. He Opens up the country with great criticism from everyone including a majority of Floridians. Which was a gamble for him at the time. Obviously floridians agree with him because after his second election he won by 2O points! ( Despite the fact that trump criticized him the day before that election).
He stops k through 3 to stop having pornography in the classrooms.
He fires Soros DA who is not enforcing the law.
Oh when Trump was president he tweeted LAW and Order! While Desantis toughen up crimes laws so he had no damage from BLM riots.
While you ponder about trump may or not build a wall(BTW on the campaign trail he is making excuses why he never said Mexico could pay for it).
You honestly think Ron is iffy on building a wall. He rebuilt in record time the bridge after that hurricane.
"Trumps is the best alternative right now" I have family members who all voted for Trump twice who are refusing to vote for him now. I had one family member that we had to convince to vote for Trump the first time. Do you really think Trump can afford to lose some of his base. Not everyone has that much faith in a opportunistic old con man.
THANK YOU, KERRY!!! way more complete than my half-assed answer above. AND he signed e-verify in a state where the two major industries demand lots of cheap foreign labor - tourism and agriculture. AND he ended drivers licenses for illegals (a Jeb-exclamation point policy), banned sanctuary cities -- AND Martha's Vineyard! The hits never stop! Of course he'll build a wall. IT'S NOT THAT F-ING HARD.
I agree there are plenty of reasons to not vote for Trump. “Con man” is not one of them, that sounds like sour grapes, like McCain complaining about “tax cuts for the rich”. I didn’t suggest Desantis was a bad governor, he’s very good. But the way he dealt with Disney, for example, was quite tone deaf. And I don’t think he has the gut that Trump has. For his flaws, Trump’s economic team slashed through a lot of regulations that republicans have been promising to cut for decades. Fixing a bridge that needed fixing is irrelevant. Desantis only beat Haley by 2 points in IA. He’s not a great speaker. He could use some more seasoning before packing up for the White House.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! DeSantis took on the the biggest corporation in the state over whether little kids should be taught they can change their genders and you whine about it with a meaningless term like "tone deaf." what? because joy anne reid complained? boo hoo hoo. maybe that would scare you, but it didn't scare him. Trump who took on NO one, tried to give the Dems amnesty and take our guns away, backed down to Fauci etc etc -- HE has "guts."
I
Yeah! Call it what you want I am pissed because we have voted for politicians to build a wall and they all caved including Trump! We can't afford to wait another 4 years for a competent trustworthy man like Ron while able bodied man pour over our border! Trump is not going to win anyway!
BTW I loved what Ron did to Disney. That is what actually takes guts.
Your entitled to your opinion but i just want to remind you the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and expecting the same results, ie Trump really means it this time.
NH Governor Sununu has endorsed Haley unfortunately. Since the endorsement, I've been noticing more political signs for Haley compared to Trump 2024 signs, and almost none for Gov. DeSantis. (Yes, an unscientific poll, but troubling enough.)
Small point, but since I live within a half mile of the bridge/causeway in question, I can tell you it was reopened quickly, but 15 months later is no where near rebuilt. I pity the construction crews working on homes and condos that spend two hours each evening trying to get off island. I voted DeSantis for governor twice, and would gladly vote for him over any Democrat, but as with any politician, there's sometimes more sizzle than steak. As with the causeway, so with the challenge to Disney. Latest news I could find (8/2023) was DeSantis saying “where we are today, you know, we’ve basically moved on,” and that he'd be willing to sit down and talk with Bob Iger about ending Disney's suit against the state.
Being President of the U.S. is not like being a King or a dictator. The other branches of government have a say in what becomes law or policy. Pelosi sabotaged the wall for petty, partisan and personal reasons. Trump's tax reform was broad and sweeping. Among other things, it ended the real estate interest deduction that hit wealthy blue state voters hardest. It greatly simplified income taxation to where most people no longer itemize deductions. Imagine how much unnecessary work that eliminated for the IRS alone. Everyone takes it for granted now but no other President even tried to change the tax code. Trump was undermined by an army of Federal employees as well as his own House Speaker Ryan and his own DOJ and the FBI and CIA. Despite all of this conspiratorial weight on his office, he still managed to cut regulations which boosted our economy. Trump's 5 year old behavior cannot be defended but his accomplishments in office can.
There are areas over which the executive branch has sole control, border security is one of them, it is in the Constitution. Pelosi shouldn’t have been given the opportunity to sabotage anything. Any monkey with an R would’ve passed tax cuts. The people advising Trump, as Ann has pointed out, weren’t the true believers in his policies. That’s on him. Whoever told him he needed Congress should’ve been shown the door.
Spending is controlled by the Congress. The President is powerless to build a wall without funding which is only approved by Congress. There is a lot the president can do on his own. But spending without Congress approving the money is not one of those.
yes, if congress had defunded the entire executive branch, trump couldn't have built the wall. What do you think the president's job is? To do only what congress "funds"? OF COURSE the president has full, complete authority to build the wall, more than almost anything else the president does.
OK Ann, So you are voting for Biden in November or holding out for Michelle Obama just to teach Trump a lesson? Even without a wall, Trump stemmed the flow of illegals. In stark contrast to the more than 9 million (probably double that number) that have been welcomed and rewarded by Biden. Maybe Trump realized that the wall was not the most immediate and effective way to reduce illegal immigration given the tools at his disposal. Never let the perfect become the enemy of the reasonably good. Even Jamie Dimon has admitted that Trump was by far better than what we have now.
It would be done through our trillion dollar military budget, if Biden can send billions to Ukraine and Obama can send plane loads of cash to Iran, sans Congress, this would’ve been a no brainer. Understand, Trump is my guy, but mostly for two reasons-all the crap the liberals have thrown at him, and the lack of a good alternative.
I do agree that Trump's people could have and should have been more creative in dealing with the border. But Trump's border policies were working and compare them with what we have today. Opposition from Democrats and activist judges gummed up everything Trump ordered. His own state department employees were in open rebellion against him. Our only hope is for him to take a far more draconian approach to those people if he wins in November. Vindman should have been court-martialed and Yovanovich and Fiona Hill fired if not prosecuted.
A wall would be useful in certain areas for keeping out humans, but I don't think it would do much to stop the cartel drug traffic. Do a google search on tunnels under our border. There have been hundreds of them already found and God knows how many that haven't been found. Also any wall we build will be on US territory which means the aliens are in the country and could claim asylum at the wall. Building a wall along the Rio Grande is especially challenging. We need tough penalties for those who are in our country illegally no matter how they got here. A prison in Africa comes to mind. But let's face it, we aren't going to do the hard thing. No politician is even talking about such actions.
Build the wall a half mile into Mexico. Tunnels can be fumigated. We'll have a lot more agents to fumigate when they're not chasing bands of peasants running across every 50 yards.
It is great having Neocon Nikki Haley in the race because it makes it easy to identify who the Uniparty stooge is this year. Another way to spot the swamp creature in the race is to see who Democrats prefer. Democrats are turning out in droves to vote for Nikki in the Republican primaries. The Republican party primaries have become a means of computing how many Democrats will cheat in the primary. Democrats can't believe how stupid Republicans are that they don't cheat in elections. Of course you can't cheat in the Democrat primaries because they won't hold any that have anyone on the ballot except Biden.
YES. And the media love her. She's the back-up plan to Trump. Both sure losers.
<<Another way to spot the swamp creature in the race is to see who Democrats prefer. Democrats are turning out in droves to vote for Nikki in the Republican primaries.>>
Latest polling is that Neocon Nikki is all the rage with "Independents" in NH. The same people who adored the insufferable John Kasich. 'Oh he's not a -bad- Republican.' 'Why don't you all vote for him?' Translation: (It will be easy for us to beat his sorry ass in the general. heh-heh)
But was Nikki's father a mailman? Hard to top that.
"in one of the biggest actions the administration has taken against fentanyl trafficking, the U.S. on Tuesday announced a series of indictments and sanctions against 14 people and 14 firms across China and Canada related to the import of the drug to the United States." - biggest - lol. Turns out one of the crimes was providing pill dies for oxycodone. We'd probably do better if we invaded Honduras at this point. Those guys know how to build walls around every house and property
Or if we simply aped Mexico's strategy of keeping Guatemalans out.
While having a wall would be better than no wall it seems like an ineffective way to curtail illegal immigration. Better to fine and prosecute businesses who hire illegals, deny illegals ALL forms of social welfare, end birthright citizenship and detain and deport illegals on site.
all that, too, but every time a Dem president comes in, every single thing you mentioned, other than the wall, ends. We need a LAW not an executive order on anchor babies. otherwise that too will switch back and forth. (And 80% of Republicans don't want to do your list.). A wall is forever.
And if Haley were ever confronted with facts that Ann just recited Nimrata would exclaim "I never said China was responsible for the fentanyl epidemic". Nimrata always claims she never said thing's that she has indeed said about certain subjects and people.
Sorry Ann, for after Iowa I don't think Ronata DeSantis has much of a shot. The problem I have with DeSantis is he thinks he can bring the Florida legislature with him if elected president. At best there will be a split legislature in 2025.
Haley is like a spineless jellyfish that takes the shape of whatever vessel she is in. Definitely not a presidential material.
That's not the way the military-intelligence-globalist-banking-pharma-Is'ril complex sees it. Question is, can anyone be elected president--or survive in the job--who attempts to interfere with the complex?