Fred Hiatt’s editorial board at the Washington Post frames the question this way, “How far will Republicans in Congress take their reckless flirtation with undermining government this time?” Of course, in this case, the undermining of government is in a very specific area: the nation’s domestic security. This isn’t about whether or not your grandparents will get their Social Security check on time. This is about whether or not the Department of Homeland Security will have any money to fund their operations. We’re talking about “40,000 Border Patrol agents and Customs and Border Patrol officers, and more than 50,000 TSA aviation security screeners, 40,000 active duty Coast Guard military members, 13,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement law enforcement agents and officers, and 4,000 Secret Service law enforcement agents and officers.” We’re also talking about the “National Operations Center (NOC) which is responsible for the providing national-level homeland security awareness to support senior level decision making.”
This sprawling bureaucracy is supposed to keep our borders and entry points secure and to stay abreast of all threats of domestic terrorism, as well as interdict drugs that are coming into the country and ravaging our communities. Either their efforts are important and justified by their substantial budget, or we’re wasting a tremendous amount of effort and money.
If the funding does indeed lapse, most of these employees will still report to work, they just won’t receive a paycheck, which would send quite a message about how much the Republicans value their contributions and care about their families. I can’t imagine this will do much for the morale of the organizations that are supposed to be keeping us safe.
This is too much for Fred Hiatt:
There is room for legitimate debate over the president’s most recent unilateral moves on immigration, which we happen to agree represent executive overreach. If congressional Republicans want to attack those actions responsibly, with discrete legislation, they are free to try — though they are unlikely to muster the votes to override a presidential veto.
However, it is another thing to wield their frustration over immigration as a cudgel, holding hostage an entire department of government that is critical to the nation’s security. That is as irresponsible as it is politically ill advised.
The president will make remarks today from the headquarters of the Department of Homeland Security. Obviously, he will highlight the importance of funding the department and all their operations.
It should be remembered that the U.S. Senate passed a comprehensive immigration reform bill last year and the House of Representatives was simply too racist to even attempt to act on it, even to pass an alternative. The new, Republican-led Senate is probably too racist to pass a new immigration reform bill this term, so they aren’t even offering the president an alternative. They’re just throwing a racist temper tantrum, and if this causes a deadly security lapse, that’s just too bad for the people who die, are injured, or see more of their privacy rights eroded in the hysterical response to a successful act of terrorism.
Will Chris Christie’s embrace of anti-vaccination talking points put him in the Time Out Chair by the VSP at Morning Joe?
It will make him next week’s front runner for the GOP nomination.
As the anti-vaccination people’s grown male children become sterile, they remove their genes from the pool. Evolution in action.
“Stupid is, as stupid does.”
And the American voters last year put in a whole shit-load of “TEH STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPID!!!!” into both houses of Congress.
And now, again, we have to deal with the ramifications, of the “TEH STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPID!!!” voter’s.
Oy…
… and when it isn’t a problem, make problems by sabotaging it.
That’s the Republican leadership’s approach to governing.
I have not yet read the article, but I don’t have a problem with doing away with the TSA and security theatre.
Of course, I objected to the whole Department of Homeland Security boondoggle to begin with.
TSA – best kabuki on the planet. We knew everything we needed to know before 9/11. Nobody was looking for anything because Soviet nuclear-tipped missiles were the biggest threat. Throw in that mysterious exercise involving NORAD that morning and just ponder what it all meant. The TSA is just there to provide the illusion now that they’re doing something.
The TSA is also there to instill fear into ordinary travelers. Anyone who’s had their luggage rifled, stood in the radiation scanner with their hands in the air like a criminal before being cuffed and stuffed, or been denied a flight because they wound up on a no-fly list for secret reasons can tell you this.
Well…yes and no.
Yes it is kabuki…an elaborate system of stylized gestures and costumes/makeup/masks etc. that mimics the real life and death situations with which it is involved.
But no…it’s not only not the best kabuki on the planet, it’s the equivalent of a kabuki troupe in some third-rate Japanese city, a relatively unimportant part of the grand scam that runs it.
For the absolute best, one must look at the ongoing political fix that is running this nation today and has been running it at least since the JFK assassination.
Kabuki?
I got yer “kabuki.”
Right here!!!
Bet on it.
Bet on it.
AG