A coupla things ...

1.  A couple of Border Patrol/ICE people tell me that the US does not effectively charge an entry fee to non-US citizen individuals seeking to enter the US legally across the southern border.  The point made by these border and immigration professionals is that the money would enable the construction and installation of more and better border barrier systems.  They make the point that where border barrier systems have been installed the flow of illegal migrants is much reduced.  Mexico evidently collects such a fee in the San Diego sector.  My question for the lawyers is whether or not such a fee would be legal if put in place under an EO or would this require legislation?

2.  We now have had Obama Derangement Syndrome (ODS),  Clinton Derangement Syndrome (CDS),  Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS),  and United States Derangement Syndrome (USDS).  I propose yet another Derangement Syndrome.  This would be the Russia/Iran Derangement Syndrome (RIDS).  In this syndrome now prominent on both sides of the political divide, the Russia of Pushkin, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, etc. disappears to be replaced altogether by Ivan the Terrible, Lenin, Stalin and the Soviet Union writ large to condemn Russia in our minds to the status of crafty inherently hostile barbarians.   Well, pilgrims, maybe it ain't so!  Ukraine?  Are we really solidly behind a coup generated government of Nazi sympathizers in Kiev?  Are we really?  Is there really evidence that Russian Army troops are fighting in eastern Ukraine?  Is there? Or is this claim just another example of Borgist (foreign policy establishment) information operations?  Do we still remember that the Crimea was for centuries an integral part of Russia, not the Ukraine, until Khruschev, a Ukrainian, arbitrarily gave Crimea to the Ukraine.  The Russians took it back?  What a surprise.  What a surprise!  That doesn't fit with the "rules based world order?"  Well, maybe there is something wrong with the rules that the Borg loves so much.  Russia intervened in Syria to prevent a  jihadi/Gulfy/Israeli/US handover of the country to the grip of a salafi satrapi of Saudi Arabia?  Well, God bless them!

3. The Borg evidently thinks it bestrides the world as the standard bearer of the aforementioned "rules," commanding from the imperial capital on the Tiber/Potomac.  A reminder of this "thought," is the statement today in the corporate media that the US "ordered" Soleimani, the IRGC Quds force commander (foreign interventions) not to leave Iran and he has had the effrontery to visit Moscow.  Tell me pilgrims, what is the sense of such a statement.  How is Soleimani a terrorist?  He carries out his country's foreign policy as do our people for US policy.  His men worked with Iraqi insurgents to fight us during our adventure in country building?  Mathis, McMaster and all that crew are so deeply embittered by war that they cannot see the foolishness of that?  They should grow up.  "We fought them and they fought us."  Germany, Japan, Spain, etc.?  Come on!  Grow up!

4.  Pelosi appears to me to be demented.

5.  "Shithole?"  Well, SWMBO and I have lived and visited in many a "shithole."  Haiti, Salvador, Yemen, and any number of African dumps closely resemble that description.  Rude?  Yes, certainly, but he is the "hard hat" president.  IMO most Americans agree with him on this. 

6.  A lot of the newer, younger people on Foxnews' air appear to be making their reportage into the new CNN.  pl

Comments

[TonyL]

Colonel,

"5. "Shithole?" Well, SWMBO and I have lived and visited in many a "shithole." Haiti, Salvador, Yemen, and any number of African dumps closely resemble that description. Rude? Yes, certainly, but he is the "hard hat" president. IMO most Americans agree with him on this. "

No. Most Americans do not agree with him on this. These countries are not shitholes. They are just poor and underdeveloped countries.

[turcopolier]

Tony L You do not write well. Your assertion is in regard to your opinion and not the opinion of "most Americann" as was my statement. i will wager that you have little real life experience of "shitholes." In my experience the poor condition of these countries is largely the fault of their inhabitants. The US should stop propping them up and should let the world economy deal with them. pl

[Willybilly]

Your best Coupla things ever, straight to the point

[Joe100]

Colonel -

My recollection is that Ukraine's Constitution provided for Ukraine to secede to Russia through a referendum, so If my recollection is correct we don't have an argument that there was anything illegal about the transition.

[Patrick D]

Colonel,

"In my experience the poor condition of these countries is largely the fault of their inhabitants."

I've lived in or visited many of those countries in the Middle East, South, and Southeast Asia. Strange that people there maintain nearly spotless households but treat public and outdoor spaces in general like a dumpster and latrine, no? Never really came up with an explanation I was satisfied with other than "culture".

[iowa steve]

An apt and accurate summary of our world.

On the "s***hole" remark--maybe he could have gotten away with using "deplorables" instead.

[raven]

The "hard hat president" who never wore either a hard and or a steel pot. Big whoop.

[Jony Kanuck]

Colonel,

I find myself nervous this morning: Syria Deragement Syndrome!
The attack on the Russian airbase at Hmiemem appears to be the work of the US or Israel. Putin says he knows who & how much. The non HTS 'moderate' rebel counter attack against the SAA offensive in Idlib has been checked. It was almost a near run thing; the headchoppers have a dozen or more SAA prisoners. The 'moderate' jihadis couldn't have attacked without a huge
delivery of ordnance; SAA has captured a Turkish APC. With a background of US troops in eastern Syria, Israeli air strikes against the SAA in Syria & Sessions announcing an enquiry into Hizbollah drug running, I'm wondering how soon there will be a (deliberate) 'accident'. Or is it just crazy to let irrational actors; salafist jihadis, Israelis & sultan Tatip get into a
position where they could create a confrontation between the US & Russia. Maybe I should not drink brandy & read ME news before bed!

[Kerim]

Come on, the people living in those shitholes will readily admit that they are indeed living in shitholes.
And I agree with the Colonel that the people and their governments are responsible to a large degree for creating these shitholes.

[jjc]

I think the term "shithole" does reflect the condition of many places on this planet, and more accurately than words like "underdeveloped." However, placing the blame on the inhabitants is a little harsh. In Haiti, for example, the last popularly elected President -who had some plans and ideas for local development - was removed at gunpoint twice, the second time leading to a UN sponsored military occupation which continues to this day. In Africa, development has been tied to IMF/World Bank schemes which have, deliberately, resulted in cycles of debt and austerity. Historically, leaders sensitive to the development needs of the people have been removed and neutralized, such as the shameful assassination of Congo's Lumumba in the early 1960s. The Congo today - resource rich - truly is a shithole, but with a lot of outside help in keeping it that way.

[Tom]

Sir
I whole heartedly agree with you. My only squabble would be with that line: "Are we really solidly behind a coup generated government of Nazi sympathizers in Kiev?" It is not with the factual statement as such. But with the conotation. Basically the Ukrainians are the losers of history. That is why you can nowadays smear Bandera. Unfortunately his enemies were no better. I mean the death squads of the NKVD which are conveniently forgotten today.
Having said all of that let me add that I generally don´t like the "moralistic" version of our news. That is the way those r2p people will try to badger one into interfering in some faraway country. The poor Ukrainians. And the bad Russians. In reality they are cut from the same cloth. I happen to know some of the volunteers on the Russian side and they like the Svastica no less than their Ukrainian frenemies.
Those volunteers hate Putin. And really and honestly one of the foremost reasons why
I hate what the West did in the Ukraine is that it forced Putin to the same side like these people.

[Oilman2]

Colonel -

Your point number 6 is spot on. I don't watch MSM except when waiting in a lobby somewhere, but have been forced to do that a lot lately. This has been slowly evolving via replacing older bimbos with ever younger ones. I doubt they are vetted for much more than their looks and connections, and they are far too young to have been much of anywhere for the most part.

I am waiting for them to begin discussing what politicians are wearing any day now...

[JohnH]

Add North Korea to that derangement syndrome list...highlighted by Sheryl Atkinson, whose ad repeatedly proclaims many times per evening that "some national security experts say that North Korea is the greatest threat to America."

Talk about yellow journalistic propaganda designed to prepare the people for war...

[Brenda Turner]

Colonel you would agree with Donald John Trump, Sr. Two sides of same coin. Ask the Carrier employees how he champion work class white folk.

[Laura]

The "hard hat" President...hardly. My husband wore a hard hat and he showed up for work every single work day prepared to work, having studied the plans, with clean tools in working order and with respect for all the men and women he worked with every day. Those would include the Mexican laborers who dug the trenches and moved the rocks. He actually worked for a contractor with PhD in Philosophy who ALSO respected the laborers he hired. And NO ONE in either category EVER talked about other human beings with either the intent or language of DT or they would not have lasted long on the crew.

I don't think DT would last 2 minutes on a typical construction job as "one of the guys"....because he isn't. He is exceptionally NOT a regular working man.

[turcopolier]

Laura

I did not say he is or was an actual "hard hat." I said he was the hard hats (human collective) president. This is an artfully constructed persona designed in my opinion to insulate him psycholgically from rejection by the nouveau riche elites in NY City. The old money people are even more unlikely to have much to do with him. pl

[turcopolier]

Brenda Turner

Thanks for the demonstration of TDS. Yes, Carrier has laid off some people and so he is obviously a liar and I must be as well. Pathetic. pl

[turcopolier]

Tom

After my first five or six "shitholes" I learned not to get personally involved in their pain. pl

[turcopolier]

jjc

Yes, the world screws the "shithole" locals, but they let the world screw them and are generally glad to take the money. pl

[SmoothieX12]

No. Most Americans do not agree with him on this.

So, that is why there are huge lines of applicants for visa and permanent residence applications in Liberia's, Kongo's and Botswana's embassies? Right? There is such a thing called "voting with one's own feet". For some reason refugees from ME also try to get into Europe, not into sub-Saharan Africa or Haiti.

[turcopolier]

Kerim

Yes. As an example, the area around Taiz, Yemen is potentially rich agriculturally and the Yemenis have had a lot of financial and agricultural training/advice help but they don't want to be farmers of export commodities. Full stop. pl

[turcopolier]

raven

Don't be boring. I said he is the hard hats' president. He is a fraud like all politicians. pl

[turcopolier]

Patrick D

Yes, there is nothing wrong with them as humans, but they lack a sense of collective identity and responsibility for their communities as wholes. In a word, they don't give a damn about what the streets look like. that is not about them, personally. pl

[SRW]

The countries that the Trumpster calls "shitholes" are rough places when compared to the US, but they send some of their most talented people to our country. From Bloomberg View an excerpt on African immigrants.

" According to Census data, more than 43 percent of African immigrants hold a bachelor’s degree or higher -- slightly more than immigrants from East Asia. Nigerian immigrants are especially educated, with almost two-thirds holding college degrees -- a significantly higher percentage even than Chinese or South Korean immigrants. African immigrants are also very likely to hold advanced degrees, many of which are earned at U.S. universities. By many measures, African immigrants are as far ahead of American whites in the educational achievement as whites are ahead of African-Americans.
That education translates into higher household income. Nigerian-Americans, for instance, have a median household income well above the American average, and above the average of many white and Asian groups, such as those of Dutch or Korean descent.

My gripe is that Trump equates the worth of these people with the place where they come from, probably like most of his supporters.

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2015-10-13/it-isn-t-just-asian-immigrants-who-excel-in-the-u-s-

[SmoothieX12]

The attack on the Russian airbase at Hmiemem appears to be the work of the US or Israel. Putin says he knows who & how much.

Putin plays, with Russia's MoD, good cop-bad cop for Erdogan. It is clear that Ankara is not a coherent politically place. On the other hand, neither is Washington. But I am still leaning more away from Israel (or US) involvement. Erdogan is simply given a way out.