Home Blog Page 57

VA Dems: GOP Statewide Candidates Continue to Back Trump’s Harmful Attacks on Virginia’s Workforce, Despite Growing Concerns of Regional Recession

By
lowkell
-
2

From the Democratic Party of Virginia (DPVA) on Virginia Republicans’ knee-jerk, cult-like support for anything/everything Trump does, even if it badly hurts Virginia, the country (or is “jerking around the entire continent of North America,” as Rep. Don Beyer put it yesterday):

GOP Statewide Candidates Continue to Back Trump’s Harmful Attacks on Virginia’s Workforce, Despite Growing Concerns of Regional Recession

Experts are sounding the alarm about the potentially devastating economic impacts of Donald Trump’s attacks on Virginia’s workforce.

In a new VPM report, the Weldon Cooper Center calculated that “a 10% reduction in federal civilian jobs, or 18,000 people, would mean a loss of 39,178 in total state employment — wiping out its previous projection of 30,000 new jobs in the commonwealth in 2025.” As noted, Trump promised to move 100,000 jobs away from the DMV area. A new Fox 5 report also details how the job cuts will “drive up unemployment, cause consumer spending to drop, and reduce tax revenue,” all of which threaten a “regional recession.”

Despite these warnings, Republican statewide candidates continue to fully support Trump’s attacks:

  • Gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears told the Associated Press that she backs Trump’s efforts. When asked about the impact on Virginians who are laid off, she doubled down and told the Fredericksburg Free-Press that they’ll be “all right.”
  • Attorney General Jason Miyares refused to join over a dozen attorney generals in challenging the authority of Elon Musk and DOGE to fire employees and wipe out entire federal agencies.
  • Lieutenant governor candidate Pat Herrity, who represents nearly 80,000 federal workers as a member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, told Fairfax Now he “fully” supports Trump’s attacks.
  • Lieutenant governor candidate John Reid has posted multiple times on social media in support of the layoffs, saying “[…] it’s gonna hurt but it has to be done.”

“Economists have been warning about the catastrophic effects Trump’s layoffs will have on every Virginian, yet every Republican candidate refuses to stand up for the Commonwealth’s workforce and economy,” said DPVA Communications Director Kelsey Carolan. “Their continued support for these attacks shows a blatant disregard for the well-being of Virginians and Virginia’s economy.”

###

Former VA Del. Mark Levine Explains the Differences between Democrats and Republicans: “Democrats love democracy…Republicans hate democracy, despise voting,” etc.

By
lowkell
-
0

See below for excellent analysis by former VA Del. Mark Levine (D-Alexandria) on “the differences between Democrats and Republicans.” I’d add a few more, such as “Democrats believe in science and reason” while “Republicans reject science and reason,” but overall, former Del. Levine nails it.

Thinking about the differences between Democrats and Republicans:

1a. Democrats think Canada is an ally and can be trusted. We don’t support a war of annexation or even a trade war with Canada. But we do support sanctions on Russia. Democrats think Russia is an enemy and cannot be trusted. We don’t support the Russian annexation of Ukraine or any other country in Europe.
1b. Republicans think Canada is an enemy of the United States and cannot be trusted. Republicans support making a trade war with Canada and even a physical war to annex what they call the 51st State. Conversely, Republicans think Russia is a friend and can be trusted. They don’t support sanctions on Russia. Republicans support Russian annexation of (at least) Ukraine, Moldova, the Baltic States, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Eastern Germany (and perhaps all of Europe) and are willing to disband NATO to allow Russian and Chinese hegemony over (at least) Europe and Asia and Africa.

2a. Democrats don’t believe in kings. They believe even Presidents should have to obey the law.
2b. Republicans believe Trump is perfect in every way. He is the Messiah. He is the King. Everything he says is always true. Trump must be worshipped like a god and never questioned. Everyone should give all their income to Trump, which they can readily do through meme coins, purchase of Truth Social, not to mention Bibles, tennis shoes, etc.

3a. Democrats love democracy, checks and balances, voting, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of the press.
3b. Republicans hate democracy, despise voting (and want to make it as difficult as possible); detest freedom of speech (and want to shoot peaceful American protesters the way Russian and China do); loathe freedom of religion (and want to forcefully teach their particular brand of “Trump Christianity” with Trump Bibles in public schools); and most importantly want all press outlets controlled by King Donald with no dissent allowed or tolerated.

4a. Democrats believe that those who take bribes should be put in jail. We believe that those who have committed fraud in the hundreds of millions of dollars, sexual assaults, or other serious felonies should be imprisoned.
4b. Republicans think everyone should be forced to bribe all Republican officeholders and most of all Trump and Musk. They praise the tens of millions of dollars Trump has extorted from media companies who pay him off so as not to lose the freedom of the press they once had. Republicans have a word for bribes: “tips.”

5a. Democrats believe the Federal Government should be effective, efficient, and should serve the American People.
5b. Republicans believe the Federal Government should fire its best workers; make them do time-consuming meaningless tasks; abandon their jobs to do showy public-relations work; give up all their classified secrets to the Russians; be replaced by more expensive, unknowledgeable, and uneducated conspiracy-focused ideologues; and should do their best to make billionaires richer and Trump even richer by robbing our tax dollars and by making bogus investigations into anyone who disagrees with King Donald I.

6a. Democrats think high inflation is a bad thing. We don’t think we should raise prices 20% or 25%. We recognize that President Biden worked hard to lower inflation to close to 2%.
6b. Republicans love massive inflation. They want to increase prices 25%, 50%, or even 100% just so that King Donald gets his way. They are proud that inflation is 4% but want it to go higher. If it reaches hyperinflation, they will finally achieve their tariff goals.

7a. Democrats oppose recession and love economic growth. We are proud that President Biden gave us an unemployment level so low that we have not seen lower since the 1950’s. We think the 3% increase in GDP in 2024 has been excellent. We also are proud that President Biden lifted more children out of poverty than any President since Lyndon Johnson.
7b. Republicans hate economic growth. They are cheering the projected drop in GDP from +3% to -3% predicted by the Federal Reserve (the worst positive to negative drop in post-war America). They are hoping for skyrocketing unemployment to come too in the Trump recession (that they will somehow blame on Biden). They know businesses hate uncertainty and massive numbers of public and private employees will be laid off. But as long as a few billionaires make more money, they are more than willing to sacrifice 99% of Americans. They want to shift more of the tax burden from the three richest billionaires in the world (all Americans: Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos) that own more wealth than the bottom 300 million Americans so that the 300 million Americans pay more of their hard-earned income to these top three richest people in the world.

8a. Democrats believe Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are good programs relied on by the vast majority of Americans as security for old age and ill health.
8b. Republicans want to see massive cuts in all these programs, in the hopes we go back to the times of the Great Depression before any of these programs existed. They specifically praise the time of the “robber-barons” when a few rich billionaires controlled virtually aspect of American society while most workers endured almost slave-like conditions in factories.

I could go on and on. These are just a very few examples of the clear differences between American’s only two viable political parties.

You may protest and say, “I’m a Republican and I don’t believe any or most of that.”

All I can say to you is maybe you were a Republican and it’s true that’s not what the Republican Party used to believe. (Ronald Reagan, for example, is clearly rolling in his grave on the first point I mentioned.). But all elected Republicans clearly believe these eight points now. If they didn’t, you would find elected Republicans pushing back on any one of these Trumpian notions. Can you name any that have fought back against all 8 of these? Can you find one Republican that has pushed back hard on any of them?

If you find you were a Republican but the current Republican Party no longer represents your values, then please join us. We welcome you into the Democratic Party. We may not agree on everything. But on these 8 basic principles, Democrats entirely agree.

Feel free to share. Ask your former Republican friends which vision (a or b) best describes their own views.

Friday News: “Trump’s Policies Have Shaken a Once-Solid Economic Outlook”; American Jewish Committee Says Trump’s Use of Word “Globalists” Is “a coded word for Jews”; “Did Trump just rein Elon in?”; People Going Silent “a sign that we’ve crossed the line into some form of authoritarianism”

By
lowkell
-
12

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, March 7.

Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA08) On Trump Tariff Chaos: “Trump is jerking around the entire continent of North America right now; it’s stupid and it has to stop.”

By
lowkell
-
1

From Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA08) re: “tariff whiplash” and a bear market on Wall Street thanks to Trump’s tariff insanity/idiocy:

Beyer On Trump Tariff Chaos: “Trump Is Jerking Around The Entire Continent Of North America Right Now”

March 6, 2025 (Washington, D.C.) – Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA), who serves as Senior House Democrat on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee (JEC) and is a member of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, issued the following statement today after President Trump paused tariffs on some imports days after he announced them, for the second time in two months:

“Trump is jerking around the entire continent of North America right now, it’s stupid and it has to stop. Today there are businesses that don’t even know if the goods they trade in are subject to Trump’s tariffs. Everything Trump does on trade seems designed to maximize chaos and uncertainty.

“This inane back-and-forth will impose severe economic costs on our nation as we lose credibility with our trading partners. Across the country businesses are delaying decisions, investments, and hiring, because they don’t know what this administration will do and they simply can’t trust that Trump won’t pull the rug out from under them. All of this is bad for the economy, which is being reflected in worsening outlooks for growth, job creation, inflation and obviously the stock market.

“Trump keeps touching the hot stove and unfortunately Republicans are refusing to do the smart thing which is to turn off the damn stove.”

Beyer is the co-lead, with Rep. Suzan DelBene, of legislation to rein in Donald Trump’s abuses of International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariff authorities, and the sponsor of forthcoming legislation to provide urgently needed oversight of presidential tariff authorities under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. He recently released a Joint Economic Committee report titled “Trump’s Tariff Plans Will Drive Up Costs For The Average American Family Between $1,600 And $2,000 Per Year.”

Rep. Beyer serves on the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, and is Chair of the New Democrat Coalition Trade Task Force.

Video: Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA07) First 45 Days of Trump Administration Have “Truly Been an Abomination”; Sees “Rapid Retreat” from the American Dream

By
lowkell
-
1

Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA07), speaking on MSNBC with José Díaz-Balart this morning, really nailed it on all fronts. Also, see below the MSNBC video for audio of Rep. Vindman’s tele-townhall last night, which 7,000 participated in, according to Rep. Vindman.

  • “Well look it’s pretty significant…the ‘Five Eyes’ have been the bedrock of our intelligence sharing for decades now. They’re our most trusted partners. And they’re losing confidence that we’re a trusted partner. And if you think about the the first 45 days of this Administration, it’s truly been an abomination, whether you’re looking at domestic policy or foreign policy, our about face on Ukraine policy, turning towards dictators and away from our democratic allies is really problematic. And so how do you not lose confidence in this Administration and what they’re doing?”
  • “Well look, we should be talking to our allies and our adversaries. We need to keep open lines of conversation. I mean, during the entire Cold War we obviously had a hot line to the Soviets. So we we need to continue to have those conversations. But that doesn’t mean we give away the farm  before we even start negotiating, or pander to them, refusing to call a dictator a dictator and calling the democratic-elected leader of a a country fighting for its freedom and sovereignty a dictator, I mean that’s that’s outrageous. I think there’s a middle ground there. We’re nowhere near it, this is more of an about face and and folding – it’s weakness [rather] than keeping lines of communication open.”
  • “It’s enormous, it’s basically the end of the post-WW2 rules-based order that the United States helped enshrine. I gave a speech on the floor right on the anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine talking about the end of of pax Americana. I mean, this is an enormous realignment. And I think it’s unfortunate because it’s based on some misunderstanding. The US is not the only partner. We’re the preferred partner for everybody, but we’re not the only partner and we’re seeing that with Ukraine and the European allies that are standing up and offering potentially an air umbrella, troops on the ground and additional resources. So it’s highly problematic, it’s damaging to our national security, our alliances. Our relationships overseas have been what made this country strong and allowed this country to prosper, provided some level of of predictability. And we’re seeing that evaporate and that’s having an impact already on our economy.”
  • “I think it’s ridiculous. I mean again, these are folks that are fleeing oppression, aggression, their cities are being rained with bombs and it’s outrageous. They’re refugees, very much like I was a refugee when I first came to to this country, that are looking to the United States that has been a haven for generations and now we’re forsaking them. It’s unacceptable. And I don’t trust this administration at all to make the right decisions. I’m very disappointed.”
  • “Up to this point, this country has always had the American dream, it’s been alive. When you come to this country as a refugee not speaking any English, but learning English, decades of of education, military service and end up in Congress representing almost 800,000 Americans, what better representation of the American dream is there? And that’s been true up until this point. But we’re seeing such a rapid retreat in these first 45 days; like I said, it’s an abomination. I’m hard pressed to think of a worse 45 days, self-inflicted by any Administration in this country’s history – whether it’s turning away from our values or the economy and predictability. I mean it’s terrible, and I think the American people are waking up to this threat and making their voices heard just like 7,000 did last night in the tele-townhall that I had.”

 

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11) and More Than 100 House Democrats Demand OPM Reinstate All Unlawfully Fired Federal Employees

By
Blue Virginia
-
3

From Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11)’s office:

UPDATE 2:19 pm – Another press release from Rep. Connolly, and a good one at that!

Ranking Member Connolly Launches Government-wide Investigation into Elon Musk’s DOGE Infiltration of Federal Agencies
 Washington, D.C. (March 6, 2025)—Today, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent letters to the 24 CFO Act agencies requesting immediate clarification regarding the shadowy activities of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) teams within each agency and across the federal government.

“The actions of employees operating under the ‘DOGE’ moniker have thus far been shielded from transparency and accountability, but this cannot continue.  The American public has a right to know how Musk’s DOGE teams are operating and how the actions of DOGE employees undermine lifesaving services, expose sensitive taxpayer data, and contribute to other unlawful activity,” wrote Ranking Member Connolly.

Elon Musk claims that all of DOGE’s actions are “maximally transparent,” but Congress and the American people have had no real insight into the actual operations of DOGE.

The Trump Administration has attempted to shield DOGE from government transparency laws, such as the Freedom of Information Act, while Congressional Republicans block efforts to bring Mr. Musk to testify before Congress, despite concerns from their own constituents.  What little information is known about DOGE comes from Mr. Musk’s posts to the social media platform he owns, X, and DOGE’s own website, which is riddled with factual errors.  What little is known is deeply troubling. For example, Mr. Musk admitted that DOGE accidentally cancelled Ebola prevention efforts.

To bring DOGE out of the shadows and understand its true impact on the people’s government, Ranking Member Connolly asked for responses to his requests for documents and information no later than March 14, 2025.

Click here to read the letters to the 24 CFO Act agencies.
Ranking Member Connolly and More Than 100 House Democrats Demand OPM Reinstate All Unlawfully Fired Federal Employees
 
Washington, D.C. (March 6, 2025)—Today, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, led 141 House Democrats in sending a letter to Acting Director Charles Ezell of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) urging the agency to reinstate all unlawfully terminated probationary status federal employees and cease plans to carry out further reductions in force (RIFs). 

“We write in strong opposition to the expansion of the Trump Administration’s efforts to purge nonpartisan civil servants from the federal workforce, specifically recent unlawful mass terminations of employees in probationary status,” wrote the Members.  “Indiscriminately firing thousands of these employees threatens the future of the nonpartisan federal workforce and our government’s ability to deliver life-saving services to the American people.  We strongly urge the Administration to reinstate all unlawfully terminated probationary status employees and cease plans to carry out further reductions in force (RIFs).” 

As of May 2024, it is estimated that more than 220,000 federal employees held probationary status, although that number could be much higher.  Federal employees are placed on a probationary period when they hold less than one year of service, but may also be in a probationary status if they transfer positions, offices, or departments, or receive promotions.

The Trump Administration is attempting to terminate en masse probationary status employees because these employees have fewer legal protections.  Some reports indicate the Administration terminated employees without proper individualized performance reviews or notice.  In many cases, the termination notices, which were sent via email, were inaccurate, misspelled employee names, or included vague information about employee performance.

“Our offices have received countless reports that individuals who were terminated under this RIF order based on ‘performance’ had documented excellent performance records and in some cases were employed by the federal government for decades,” the Members emphasized. “These arbitrary and capricious dismissals have already produced a chilling effect on skilled workers who desire a career with the federal civil service. These firings will also eliminate institutional expertise and undermine the strong, merit-based, and skilled federal workforce.” 

The letter follows recent victories for federal workers who were unlawfully terminated by DOGE’s efforts to dismantle the federal workforce:

  • On February 27, 2025, Ranking Member Connolly released a statement following a ruling by a federal judge blocking the Trump-Musk Administration’s unlawful mass firings of federal workers nationwide from several agencies, including the National Park Service, Department of Defense, the Bureau of Land Management, and others.
  • On March 4, 2025, the National Science Foundation reinstated most of the probationary employees it had laid off at the direction of the Trump Administration’s orders to cut its workforce.  The move to reinstate these employees with backpay and no break in service is the result of guidance from OPM and the federal courts.
  • On March 5, 2025, Special Counsel Dellinger applauded the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board’s stay of all likely unlawful terminations of probationary employees at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In his statement, Special Counsel Dellinger called “on all federal agencies to voluntarily and immediately rescind any unlawful terminations of probationary employees.”

Click here to read the letter to Acting Director Charles Ezell.

Video: Fmr. Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA05) Defends Al Green, Says Dems Should Have Stood Up for Him Instead of “sitting down looking slack jawed”

By
lowkell
-
3

Remember, as you listen to former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA05), that this isn’t exactly a flaming liberal or reflexive Trump hater. To the contrary, when Riggleman was in Congress, he voted 91.9% of the time with Trump. And yet today, Riggleman is clearer and more direct about the threats posed by Trump, Musk, etc. than the vast majority of Democrats – let alone Republicans, who have barely uttered a peep as Trump/Musk have trampled the authority of Congress, most supposed conservative principles, our alliances and international reputation, etc.

Anyway, with that in mind, check out the following thoughts by Rep. Riggleman on Democrats’ “decorum” – and Al Green’s protest – at Trump’s disgraceful, lie-filled State of the Union speech the other night.

“You know, first of all, I know Al Green and he’s a kind and decent man. You know, regardless if I was on the other side of the aisle with Al, he always treated me with such respect. It was hard to see that happen to Al. I want to say that first. And Al, Denver is here if you need to give me a call.

And the second thing, too, when you’re talking about Medicaid, you know, Al is sort of correct.  You know, a lot of times in the January 6th committee, we were looking at the primary actors. It was the secondary actors that were causing most of the problem, and they didn’t practice operational security. And when you look at Elon Musk for DOGE and what Al Green is talking about, who is actually supposed to be the DOGE leader is Amy Gleason, who worked for Russell Street Ventures, and Brad Davis, which is supposedly a consultancy that helps with rural health care. She also had her own company and what’s what Al is talking about. And maybe, you know, you need analysts to look at this in the media is who is actually running DOGE. What are the cuts are they making, and why do they think there’s a mandate to cut Medicaid? And who is that actually benefiting? I think we have to follow the money thing here.

So I think what Al was saying was correct. What I would have liked to have seen, though, is more Democrats stand up for him. You know, most of them are sitting down looking slack jawed. I think they needed to stand up, applaud, or maybe go to the back with him or leave with him. That’s actually showing something. I don’t think waving signs is. So listen, I was there when Rush Limbaugh was given the medal of freedom. So I know crazy speeches of Donald Trump. This is like nothing I’ve ever seen with the hyperbole. But I also think there needs to be a lot of action, you know, about individuals looking at DOGE, looking at Medicaid, and the people that are actually doing the work – the second-tier people that are doing the work, what are they actually doing? And I hope the media takes a good look at that also…”

So…why can’t Democrats speak like this, act more assertively, etc?  Why are they being so timid in confronting the grave threat to our constitution, the rule of law, Congress’ authority as a (theoretically, at least!) co-equal branch of government, etc? Do they really think that by greeting Trump at the White House (as President Biden did, bizarrely), attending Trump’s inauguration (even more bizarre!), talking about how they want him to succeed (ditto!), etc., they’re going to actually cause Trump to change course – or to result in success in some other way?  Because…nope, that ain’t gonna happen!

Thursday News: “The world is beginning to tire of Trump’s whiplash leadership”; “Hopes of US golden age fade as investors start to worry about ‘Trumpcession’ risk”; “Trump Was Always Going to Betray Veterans”; Trump’s “Making Mice Transgender” Claim Was, Of Course, a Wild Lie

By
lowkell
-
19

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, March 6.

Video: Sen. Mark Warner Says Trump’s SOTU Address Was Long and “Painful”; Calls Out Trump’s “dark vision not only for our country but for our world”; Walks Back Remarks on Fox “News” Yesterday…

By
lowkell
-
1

See below for video and a few highlights from Sen. Mark Warner’s press availability earlier today. Also, a few notes of interest regarding Sen. Warner in the last day or so:

  1.  He called out Trump’s “dark vision not only for our country but for our world”
  2. As the saying goes, Warner “revised and extended his remarks” (aka, he walked them back after getting a TON of criticism – like this from Ruth Ben Ghiat, one of the country’s leading experts on fascism and authoritarian leaders – for going on Fox “News” and praising Trump for supposedly bringing down illegal immigration numbers). This afternoon, Warner said “My words yesterday – they were not great, let me be the first to acknowledge that…I’d like to take them back.”
  3. Sam Altman, a wealthy tech entrepreneur who has donated to Democrats in the past but also gave $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, is headlining a high-dollar fundraiser for Warner on March 20 in San Francisco. This would seem to be a sign that Warner, who turned 70 in December 2024, is intending to run for reelection in 2026…
  • “Last night, I sat through the longest State of the Union speech ever. And I got to tell you it was pretty painful…the fact checkers had so many falsehoods that they had to correct that that was a new record as well…most of the stock gains that came since his election wiped out because of these tariffs against…two of our closest Partners Canada and Mexico…. This was a guy that was supposed to be elected on the basis of bringing down um grocery prices; the opposite is taking place.”
  • “I’m proud to join my friend of 40 years, Tim Kaine, where he’s going to contest… this national emergency declaration against Canada; does anybody really believe Canada is our enemy? And the truth is the data shows there’s more fentanyl – we need to end fentanyl coming into America but there’s more fentanyl going from America to Canada than vice versa…”
  • “The one thing we did hear is Trump is going to double down on these actions, he’s going to unleash Musk even more; and I think that spells real economic chaos for Virginia, it spells enormous economic challenge for the whole country in terms of prices…”
  • “One thing about veterans is they got great memories, and they are very strong in terms of advocating for the rights that they deserve; I mean, we have a sacred obligation for those men and women that have defended our country and their families to honor the commitment that we’re going to take care of for example their health care and other benefits they earned. And I can tell you this has already taken effect these cuts – we’ve seen a couple thousand veteran V.A. officials cut already…do you really think we’re going to get folks to come work there [at the new V.A. healthcare facility in Fredericksburg] when you see the threat of cutting back anybody that’s a probationary employee that means in the first two years? It is disrespectful to our veterans, it flies in complete face of the you-can’t-believe-what-Trump-says-look at-what-he-does. And…to make matters worse, about a third of our federal workers are veterans; we have the highest concentration of veterans per capita of anywhere in the country. So you’re getting a double whammy… it’s disrespectful to our veterans and they deserve better. And I hope this might be finally an issue where my Republican colleagues who love to say they support the military will actually speak up rather than cowering behind Elon Musk’s actions”

Video: Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11) and CATO Institute Scholar Discuss How, Actually, in Complete Contradiction to Republicans’ Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric, the Data Shows “More Immigrants, LOWER Homicide Rates”

By
lowkell
-
0

Spot-on by Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11); I wish more Democrats would to this, as the ENTIRE PREMISE of the Republicans’ smearing of immigrants – that supposedly they commit more crimes than native-born Americans – is FALSE. As Rep. Connolly says:

“So the correlation between immigration and crime is false, as you point out, Mr. Bier…I find it ironic that you characterized, correctly in my view, President Trump’s and Tom Homan’s approach to immigration as lawless, when they’re invoking law-and-order and crime as their rationale for their lawlessness. Could you expand on the lawlessness and the irony of the fact that, as you point out in your testimony, the crime rate among immigrants is half that of the native population.”

And as David J. Bier – director of immigration studies at the libertarian Cato Institute – puts it in response to Rep. Connolly:

“That’s right. I have a table in my written testimony you can look at – top 20 cities for immigration court filings over the last four years, 19 of those cities saw a decline in their homicide rate. If you look at all of the major cities, there’s a negative correlation between increasing numbers of immigrants and the homicide rate. So that means more immigrants, lower homicide rates; that holds true across the United States. So I think the correlation that’s trying to be made is…more illegal immigrants, more chaos, more crime. That does not hold. What we do see under this Administration is an increasing willingness to ignore the laws. As I mentioned, he signed an executive order that says he can ignore due process rights for people who are accused of being in the country illegally. This is an incredibly dangerous assertion of of authority and should be investigated by Congress.”

And finally, here’s Rep. Connolly:

“I would just argue that the premise of this hearing is false. We have local law enforcement cooperating with the local political leadership and it’s working – it’s bringing down crime rates. And the proposition that immigrants cause crime is false, in fact patently false as your testimony I think would demonstrate, Mr Bier. And the idea that these are sanctuary cities that need to be punished is simply a war on urban America.”

Bingo. But good luck breaking through the right-wing noise machine, as well as completely amoral/cynical/irresponsible politicians like Donald Trump and Glenn Youngkin, who demonize immigrants (and NOT just undocumented immigrants) to score political points, distract people from their own failed records, fear monger, demagogue, etc. It’s really disgusting, and by all rights, NOBODY should vote for anyone who does that. Of course, that would assume we lived in a well-informed country, where people immediately understood when a politician was blatantly lying to them, attempting to manipulate them, etc. But clearly, we don’t live in such a country, based on the fact that Republicans’ bashing of immigrants appears to work, politically, for them. Ugh.

1...565758...3,397Page 57 of 3,397












EVEN MORE NEWS

POPULAR CATEGORY

©