Josh Harder’s office wants you to know that he is very disappointed that President Trump declared a national emergency over the need to build a wall on our southern border. Harder said: “We need to have a serious conversation about fixing our immigration system, not govern crisis to crisis.”
How many decades has it been, Josh, that Congress has shown they are not interested in stopping the stem of illegal immigration into the United States that is costing taxpayers far from than the $5 billion to complete the wall already started?
It’s really sad that both parties have been unwilling to do what needs to be done to stop this economic blood letting. The sad thing is that any American would want unbridled illegal immigration to continue because we pay for all the poverty and drugs coming across the border.
It used to be that you came here, you became productive and were not going to be a financial burden on the taxpayers. There are approximately 12.5 million illegal immigrants in our country, estimated the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). FAIR estimates that at the federal, state, and local levels, taxpayers shell out approximately $134.9 billion to cover the costs incurred by more than 12.5 million illegal aliens, and about 4.2 million citizen children of illegal aliens. Those costs include education ($1.6 billion), medical costs ($17.1 billion), justice ($13.1 billion) and welfare ($45.8 billion). The $136 billion total is reduced by only $19 billion in taxes paid by illegals, leaving a $116 billion burden on those here legally. That amounts to a burden to U.S. taxpayers of about $8,075 per illegal alien.
The total cost of illegal immigration to U.S. taxpayers is both staggering and crippling. In 2013, FAIR estimated the total cost to be approximately $113 billion. So, in under four years, the cost has risen nearly $3 billion – a disturbing and unsustainable trend.
Five billion dollars seems like a drop in the bucket compared to what it’s now costing taxpayers.
Let’s not forget all the taxes that aren’t pay through under the table workers who are trying to stay under the government’s radar as well as the cost of crimes committed and auto accidents whereby drivers are without insurance to cover damage.
The wall definitely needs to be finished.
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My oldest son and I rarely see eye-to-eye politically.
He was raised under my roof, alright, but he went off to UC Davis and came out so liberal I couldn’t believe the transformation.
Bret often does not hold back in commenting on my Facebook posts – even ones that I don’t think should be controversial.
Let me give you the latest example. There is a homeless guy who routinely parks outside the office. He sleeps in his van and often drags everything out into the street like it’s a campsite. He also has a dog (why does it seem like all homeless drag around a dog?). On Tuesday last week he was standing – I kid you not – with a blanket over his head as he leaned against his van. He just stood there. It was ridiculous looking. So I snapped some video and posted it.
Bret didn’t like it, posting: “Why point out someone at their worst at their expense? It’s a human being.”
For a millisecond I felt like I did wrong and then I thought, no, because obviously his identity is a mystery; there was no public embarrassment.
My girlfriend didn’t see Bret’s point, saying, “There is no expense to this person as they have no verifiable identity. Calling attention to this type of behavior helps the rest of the population learn what not to do. (My experience tells me I’m safe to assume that drugs are playing a role in this person’s life.) What not to become, unless of course, you want to become a public spectacle. I do not encourage this behavior or what led to it. Seeing this doesn’t take away my heart for him/her as a human or desire to see his/her needs be met.”
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I often wonder why so many people go sideways in life. I mean, nobody looks at their class picture and thinks, “I wonder which one will be the crazy homeless guy strung out in life?” Still, we all know it happens. Everybody gets the same opportunities yet not all become successful.
I think our education system needs to show that bad choices can lead to bad lifestyles, such as drug addiction, homelessness, poor health or even death.
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I will be the first to admit praise for a Democrat when it happens – and it happened last week. Gov. Newsom nixed high-speed rail between LA and San Francisco, Jerry Brown’s now-dead pet project that squandered billions of our hard-earned cash. He then dismissed Felicia Marcus as the chairperson of the State Water Board. It seems Newsom is romancing the Valley, the forgotten red-headed stepchild of the state.
Newsom wants to keep the high-speed rail between Merced and Bakersfield to help stimulate the Valley’s economy.
Such attention from a governor is refreshing.
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I am still angry beyond words that Newsom pulled the California State National Guard off the border. It angers me that he and his Democrat Party are so beholden to wanton lawbreakers at the border.
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I saw a great meme the other day that read: “I don’t care about taxes of a billionaire who became POTUS. Show me taxes of politicians who became millionaires while in office.”
So true. That includes Obama.
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Oh brother. A 10-year-old cub scout was caught kneeling during the Pledge of Allegiance at a Durham, N.C. City Council meeting. Liam Holmes was asked why he did so and said: “What I did was took a knee against racial discrimination, which is basically when people are mean to other people of different colors.”
I don’t quite see the connection between allegiance to America and a protest against people being mean to other people” but I’m sure some adult coached him on that.
How about all these people who are making knee protests at the obviously inappropriate time by maybe writing a letter to the editor or standing on the street corner with a sign reading, “Hey, ya’ll, be nice to each other”? Makes for a greater impact, I say, and you don’t disrespect your country or the flag in the process. But I’m sure the 10-year-old didn’t think that one through.
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Is this real? Can people really feel this way or are they trying to muscle their way to their 15 minutes of fame? Ari Dennis of Florida, mother of an infant child, insists that genitals don’t indicate gender. She’s raising the child as a “theyby.” “We did not assign a sex at birth, which means when they were born, they had genitals, we know what they are, we just chose to acknowledge that those genitals don’t indicate anything about gender,” she told a reporter.
You’re right, Ari, you didn’t assign gender. Did God. So respect what the rest of humanity has known for thousands of years – biology.
This column is the opinion of Jeff Benziger, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Ceres Courier or Morris Newspaper Corp. of CA. How do you feel about this? Let Jeff know at jeffb@cerescourier.com
