Messages

RE: Harris Condemned By House

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Why is "Jojo" in quotes? What was actually said?

RE: Harris Condemned By House

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WOW!!! There is no limit to Republican lies, disinformation and hypocrisies!

Brett, do you really think this is a "gotcha moment" against Kamala? If so, you need to start fact-checking this shit, because it is embarrassing and damaging to your credibility.

For starters, Kamala never was Biden's border czar. That is a complete lie. In fact, she was never in charge of border security or management, period. That is the responsibility of homeland security.

In reality, Biden tasked her with "working alongside officials in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras to address the issues driving people to leave those countries and come to the United States."

The following is from Politifact:

"Immigration experts said it’s hard to measure Harris’ success in her role, and that a "root causes" approach implies that the results will be seen long term, not immediately.

In July 2021, the administration published a strategy, with Harris writing the lead message, for confronting the factors that drive migration in Central America. The plan focused on economic insecurity, corruption, human rights, criminal gang violence and gender-based violence.

In March 2024, the administration said it secured more than $5.2 billion in private sector investments to the region. However, only about $1 billion has been distributed, the Partnership for Central America, a group working with the administration, reported.

The White House said the investments have generated more than 70,000 new jobs in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, provided job training to 1 million people and expanded digital access to 4.5 million people.

"Still, her engagement on this issue has been sporadic," Isacson said. "She has not traveled very often to the region or otherwise sought to make ‘root causes in Central America’ a central theme of her vice presidency."

Illegal immigration at the U.S. southern border from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador has dropped since 2021. Encounters with people from other countries, Venezuela, have risen.

"But it’s hard to prove that U.S. assistance is a central reason" for the Northern Triangle countries’ decline, Isacson said.

The issues pushing people to leave Central American countries "are extremely complex and require deep restructuring of so much in those societies," said Cecilia Menjivar, a sociology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles who specializes on immigration. "So it’s very difficult for one person to change all that, even if it is a powerful person."

If there is anyone the House should be condemning, it is Trump. Just yesterday the Washington Post reported the following:

"The Trump White House was warned that harsh sanctions on Venezuela could accelerate that country’s economic collapse and speed an exodus of millions of migrants to neighboring nations, according to three current and former U.S. government officials.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis delivered the classified assessments — part of a broader examination of how Venezuela’s economic implosion could affect migration in Latin America — to the White House National Security Council and the top two DHS officials in at least four reports between 2017 and 2019, the people said.

The Trump administration nevertheless imposed some of the harshest economic penalties in U.S. history on Venezuela."

And, of course, there's Trump instructing the House not to vote on the bipartisan border security bill that contained some of the strongest border initiatives ever proposed.

Another clue that they are totally full of shit is the fact that they never specify what she actually did, or didn't do. Again, what a load of shit!

The fact that these same hypocritical Republicans refused to vote on the border security bill proves that they are totally full of shit regarding their fake concern about the border. They are the ones who should be condemned for deliberately trying to perpetuate the border crisis for political gain.

RE: Harris Condemned By House

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I don't think Venezuela has much to do with present or future US immigration, but the Politifact article above seems quite useful for further investigation. Thanks Bananafish. I don't know enough at this time to comment further on Kamala's performance on this issue.

RE: Harris Condemned By House

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The Politifact quote I provided states that U.S. border encounters with people from Venezuela have risen.

RE: Harris Condemned By House

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Ah it seems you are right about Venezuelan immigrants to the US. I don't think Trump can be blamed for that though. The sanctions were well warranted, if you read at all about the recent history of Venezuela, with one reason being that they nationalized (stole) domestic and foreign businesses in their country.

RE: Harris Condemned By House

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Thanks for making my point. Clearly, if Trump shouldn't be blamed even though he was president and had direct control over the policy in question, then Kamala can't be blamed when she was vice-president and had no direct control over policies that directly impacted the border.

If you're unwilling to cut Kamala the same slack, then your claim that Trump shouldn't be blamed looses all credibility.

RE: Harris Condemned By House

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I never said Kamala should be blamed for the border. Some Republican said that. Like I said, I really don’t know enough to comment on it right now, and would need to do some research first about what Kamala has and has not done. I have never heard an intelligent word out of her mouth, but hey, maybe she has a brilliant plan.
My general opinion is that immigrants should be useful doing something if they are in the US, not sitting around indefinitely in some refugee or detention camp. I am from an immigrant family and I detest lazy immigrants. I don't even know what we do with our immigrants at the border right now. Heard something about catch and release? Are they allowed to work? Are they taxed? It seems like an obvious, nonpartisan idea to document these people and collect their tax revenue. And if they want to take a shortcut to get in, they pay more tax. This is a free market solution. And if they don't pay taxes, we go after their family in Mexico in cooperation with the cartels. Sinaloa, it was a pleasure doing business with you.

RE: Harris Condemned By House

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So, it was the Republicans calling Harris the Border Czar. She was never the Border Czar. Those rascal republicans at CNN, ABC, CBS, MSNBC. LOL

RE: Harris Condemned By House

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Wow!!! You really got me there. My mind is still reeling, trying to understand the absurd logic that leads you to believe this has any pertinence to the points I made. Even though it is a ridiculous waste of time I will indulge you and walk through this video with you.

For starters, the source of the video is Newsbusters, whose stated purpose is "documenting, exposing and neutralizing liberal media bias." Not ALL media bias, just liberal bias. Now there's a real objective source.

So, once one starts watching the video it comes as no surprise that it is a vignette of brief video clips spliced together, without context for any of them. Some actually show commentators from these media sources debunking the border czar claim, so that's a fly in the ointment for the basic premise. Others, though, do show commentators using the border czar phrase, but the clips are so brief that they lack context. It is impossible to know what came before or after.

But, I will bend way over backwards to indulge you even further. It always cracks me up how, since conservatives never ever admit or concede anything, even when it is shoved right in their faces, they assume Dems will do the same. Not so. Let's say the video clip does show what Lancelot claims it shows. My response would be, of course they're lying, too!

My next comment, though, would be, so what!!! Who cares???? What the hell does this have to do with those depraved Republican liars in the House.
They are the ones setting insane policy for the country. The Republicans lie about almost everything, because they know their base will lap it up, as they have zero concern for truth and honesty.

The Republican House has been in power for over a year and a half, and this is the kind of crap they spend their time on instead of working on legislation that will address many of the legitimate needs of this country, such as voting on the bipartisan border bill. It is truly one of the worst congresses in recent history.

And what about you? I thought you were so concerned about the border. You sure spent an incredible amount of time posting about it a while back. Why aren't you expressing your concern that they refuse to vote on the border bill, instead of posting this ridiculous video?

I should mention that there is widespread bipartisan consensus that the bill contains some of the most significant border initiatives in decades. And, of course, any legislation that can help is better than doing nothing.

Bottom line is that Republicans have always been lying hypocrites about the border. Twice they've had an opportunity to pass meaningful bipartisan border security legislation, first under Obama, and now under Biden, and both times they refused. THEY DON'T WANT A SOLUTION TO THE BORDER CRISIS, BECAUSE THEN THEY WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO USE IT AS A POLITICAL WEAPON AGAINST DEMS.

Now I'm sure you'll have your usual hissy fit and storm off the forum vowing not to return 😊.

RE: Harris Condemned By House

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IDK why Bananafish is so full of vitriol about this. The main reason immigration is such a hot topic is that red-leaning states at the border bear the primary brunt of federal policies, and receive little sympathy for it. Is this video worth watching? Is there anyone here who can offer a non-partisan summary of the current border situation?