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This. After Hurricane Katrina, Iād estimate 75% of people working to tear down houses and repair/rebuild damage were undocumented immigrants from central america.
If the Natāl emergency is that people are coming illegally, instead of building a wall letās just give them legal documentation. Its a cheaper, better solution
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Thereās another argument, which is that not using their full power is Dem modus operandi.
Or, to put it even a different way, the reason Dems are scandalized is that they donāt think emergency powers should be used for this kind of thing. And, the next time the Dems have the White House, the reason they wonāt pull this stunt is the same, because they donāt think emergency powers should be used for this kind of thing.
Thatās just theorizing, who knows what theyāll do. Personally, Iām in favor of declaring climate a national emergency (civilization-wide, actually) and getting on with decarbonizing our economy.
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Thanks for the link! Very useful info.
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And then thereāsā¦
Said Trump:
āIt just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans. Now, it shouldnāt be that way. But if you go back, I mean it just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats. ā¦ But certainly we had some very good economies under Democrats, as well as Republicans. But weāve had some pretty bad disasters under the Republicans.ā
Trump was a registered Democrat from August 2001 through September 2009.
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Heās. Always. Projecting. (So after years of imagining how heād abuse the office of the president, heās finally able to do it.)
Iāve seen estimates between 25 and 70 billion, but no real breakdowns in terms of what that actually buys. In theory, to actually be effective, there would also need to be sensors, a parallel road and regular outposts (to be staffed with that security). I.e. even the physical infrastructure would be more than just a wall, and would add to ongoing maintenance and operation costs. Iām not sure even the 70 billion dollar estimate takes it all into account.
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If he doesnāt build the wall, he loses his base and breaks the promise that got him elected. If he does build it with the emergency order or gets blocked legally, he fulfills his promise or itās someone elseās fault. He doesnāt really care about what Democrats do tit for tat in the future. He cares about re-election.
This is a guy who has changed his party affiliation multiple times in the past depending on what suited him.
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It seems weird for Pelosiās counterpoint to be āwell, when we get in the White House weāll use the same argument to take your gunsā. Whatās that supposed to achieve, apart from activating Turmp voters, which is what he wants?
This seems like something that would be better played by letting it linger in awkward silence like the dank political fart that it is. Making a big thing out of it just serves Turmpās goal of generating a news cycle where Fox can pretend heās succeeded at something, when the real big picture is that he still hasnāt.
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Careful now, or youāre going to give the TGOP a stroke.
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Exactly my thought. Trump is threatening to overreach and the result will be wasted money. She is threatening overreach and the result would be violating peopleās constitutional right to defend themselves and their family (and to defend America against the government). That feeds into every paranoid Republicanās worst nightmare.
It is not something that you threaten ahead of time if youāre smart. And you especially shouldnāt let that cat out of bag if you think that you can block Trumpās plan legally.
I donāt think it is an emergency. Not passing it for two years doesnāt prove that though, it could have just been important for most of that time and become an emergency today!
The hard parts will be he has been blathering about this for weeks or maybe months. That doesnāt sound very emergency to me. Also a judge may just decide to declare that it clearly wasnāt am emergency in mid 2018, and instruct 45ās administration to describe what has changed abut the situation since then.
Or maybe a judge actually thinks the executive branch should be able to declare whatever it likes an emergency (after all congress passed the law that effectively signs part of congresses power away to the presidentā¦and congress even put a limit of āwe can override declarations with a 2/3 super majority voteā).
Iām not going to bet on what happens.
Iām in agreement that it isnāt an emergency, and he shouldnāt get away with it, but Iām not thinking it is strictly on itās face unconstitutional.
Ah, yeah, thats the one.
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The Disciples of Christ (Christian Church) have long provided a spiritual home for Baptists, Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, Episcopalians, Church of Christ believers, those who donāt identify with any denomination, those who have more doubts than answers, and anyone that is fed up with doctrinal rigidity. The Disciples of Christ (Christian Church) have always been an ecumenical (unity) movement who provide an open table of fellowship to those desiring to live into the example of Jesus.
First Christian Church Canyon is an open and safe space for people of all walks of life, cultural backgrounds, theologies, and experience (or inexperience) with the Christian spiritual life.
Ah, blaspheming heretics! /s
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Thread for highlights:
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āThe wall is the least important thing we are talking about, but politically this might be the most important.ā
Transcript of President Trump telling the President of Mexico in 2017 that the wall is unimportant and he is only focused on it for political reasons.
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Iām not sure youāre looking at the same constitution I am. The one Iām looking at prohibits the executive branch from spending money on things without congressional approval. If he had been still about the wall, then declared an emergency and started building it, there would be a very slim argument that it was constitutional. But since heās had a very public spat with congress about wall funding, and had indeed agreed in principal to a spending bill that did not include it in December, this is a transparent end-around of Congress, and thus the constitution.
About 2/3 of the proposed wall is in the 9th judicial circuit. Remember them? They are the ones who used Trumpās own words against him to block his Muslim bans time and time again.
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If Trump and McConnell set the precedent that the executive can make any policy Congress is unwilling to fund an emergency, the next Democratic president has no excuse not to declare Climate Change, healthcare, wealth inequality, etc. an emergency.
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Doesnāt the 1040 federal tax form have a place for miscellaneous deductions? How about a large group of people claim the Trump Deduction of 100% of what they normally owe on the basis of āthe government is doing not a good job, and Donald Trump said in that case you shouldnāt pay themā as a form of civil disobedience?
If Trump does exactly what he threatened by declaring a state of emergency, then goes down to the border and holds a photo op of him breaking the first ground on the wall it may be a spark in a powder keg. Some of the residents of Texas whose land will be seized (should the eminent domain procedures pass the courts system) probably wonāt hold to the jury box as their only tool of resistance; they may jump directly to ammo.
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I think it would be terrible if he gets away with this. Those saying that it opens the doors for dems to use it for climate change, gun control, etc. should keep in mind that that will only further entrench the precedent which will, inevitably, be used for less humanitarian ends.
Also, Iām surprised he hasnāt yet floated the idea of funding the wall by selling advertising on it.
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Nonsense! That other time we sent troops to the border didnāt spawn an entire genre of conspiracy theories at all.
And, of course, peopleās reactions to the conspiracy theories that didnāt develop were levelheaded and intellectually consistent. Itās not like we called out the Texas national guard to be sure that disused Wal Marts werenāt being turned into detention camps; because why would we be against that sort of thing?
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