People Can't Stop Sharing Jokes About Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer Sharing One Podium

[bostonangler]

 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer delivered a stinging rebuttal to President Donald Trump’s prime-time address Tuesday night, but many viewers were more consumed by the speech’s strange, double-headed visuals than its political message.

Speaking side-by-side from behind a single podium, the Democratic leaders accused Trump of “manufacturing” an immigration crisis and called on him to re-open the government. While the shared staging was perhaps intended to convey Democrats’ solidarity against Trump’s immigration policies, many social media pundits were distracted by its “bizarre-looking, two-headed” optics, and they weren’t shy about sharing their feedback.

Bill Kristol

 

✔ @BillKristol

 

 

A record night! Featuring the most simple-minded speech ever from the Oval Office and the most bizarre-looking two-headed response.

 

Dave Itzkoff

 

✔ @ditzkoff

 

 

this was the largest podium we could afford

 

Clare Malone

 

✔ @ClareMalone

 

 

Well, there's your SNL cold open for the week: Chuck and Nancy's shared podium.

 

Wayne J. Jung @waynejung

 

 

One podium, one speaker (at a time). Not a good look.

 

Ezra Klein

 

✔ @ezraklein

 

 

Well that is an awkward podium setup.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/people-apos-t-stop-sharing-030748477.html

 

 

 

 

B/A

[Pitcher]

The premise that President Trump is manufacturing a crisis is wrong.  He campaigned on this matter after many who supported him let him know of the murders, drug and human smuggling over our border, and witnessing the growing threat of terrorists and gangs harming US citizens.  The Dems are extremely wrong on the issue of border security.  Why have so many of them flipped their views on this matter and are now demanding open borders.  

 

The Dems showed us another prime example of how tone deaf they are on border security and how they will do and say anything to aggravate, embarrass, and resist anything Trump wants, even if it hurts US citizens.  In my opinion they should all be charged with treason for not upholding our laws and protecting our borders, their duty they swore to uphold.  

[Shabibilicious]

19 minutes ago, Pitcher said:

The premise that President Trump is manufacturing a crisis is wrong.  He campaigned on this matter after many who supported him let him know of the murders, drug and human smuggling over our border, and witnessing the growing threat of terrorists and gangs harming US citizens.  The Dems are extremely wrong on the issue of border security.  Why have so many of them flipped their views on this matter and are now demanding open borders.  

 

The Dems showed us another prime example of how tone deaf they are on border security and how they will do and say anything to aggravate, embarrass, and resist anything Trump wants, even if it hurts US citizens.  In my opinion they should all be charged with treason for not upholding our laws and protecting our borders, their duty they swore to uphold.  

 

And yet here we are 2 years after Trump took office....and now all of the sudden we're staring at a "National Emergency" issue on the Southern Border....where the heck were the "in total control" Republicans over that time period?  This is a Trump issue he failed at when he had complete control and now he's lashing out because he failed his base and he needs Dems as scapegoats.  As always, just my very unpopular opinion.

 

GO RV, then BV 

Edited January 9, 2019 by Shabibilicious

[Pitcher]

Nope, you’re 100% wrong as are all your Dem buddies.  Keep it up and you will have 6 more years of this President. 

[nstoolman1]

Republicans never had the 60 votes necessary to carry out anything. Too many RINOS in both the House and the Senate.

You either didn't know that or don't want to admit that.

 

[Pitcher]

Number of sick kids soars at border; tuberculosis, flu, infections land migrants in hospitals - Washington Times

Border authorities are referring 50 people a day for urgent medical care, including tuberculosis, flu and even pregnant women about to give birth, a top official said Monday, saying it’s unlike anything they’ve ever seen before.

Most of those in need of care are children, and a staggering 28 percent are under age 5, having been dragged along for the trip by parents who in many cases are hoping to use the children as a shield against speedy deportation from the U.S.

The numbers were released after a full review was done of all children in the custody of Customs and Border Protection in the wake of two illegal-immigrant children who died in U.S. hospitals in December.

CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said most of those needing help were ill when they arrived at the border, and some appear to have made the initial decision to leave even while ailing.

“Many were ill before they departed their homes,” the commissioner said. “We’re talking about cases of pneumonia, tuberculosis, parasites. These are not things that developed urgently in a matter of days.”

Agents have spotted a new trend in the traffic from Central America to the U.S., with smuggling organizations using commercial buses to get people through the journey in less than a week. That’s far faster than the 25 to 30 days it takes most migrants who walk or take a mixture of transportation to get from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras through Mexico and to the border.

‌

Mr. McAleenan said the commercial buses are also delivering migrants to parts of the border such as western Texas and New Mexico that have traditionally been less afflicted by the flow of immigrants crossing into the U.S. illegally.

The faster trip also makes it easier for sick people to come, and provides “confidence for parents to bring younger children” along as well, he said.

As of Monday, 17 of the people referred for medical care were still hospitalized, Mr. McAleenan said.

The deaths of a 7-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy in CBP custody in December have drawn fierce criticism, with some Democrats and a number of immigrant-rights groups saying the agency has blood on its hands.

The girl arrived with her father as part of a group of more than 160 people at a remote part of the border in New Mexico, hours from the nearest Border Patrol station. Her father at first told agents she was healthy, but later alerted them when she began to vomit and then lose consciousness.

Agents revived her twice and she was flown by air ambulance to a hospital where she later died after suffering major organ failure.

The boy died Christmas Eve after six days in CBP custody, having been transferred to multiple facilities because of overcrowding due to the new surge of people.

His initial illness was diagnosed at a hospital as a common cold, then he was deemed to have a fever. He was treated and released, but hours later, back at a border holding facility, he vomited.

His father declined medical attention, but an agent during a later welfare check said the boy looked ill and had him taken back to the hospital, where he died.

The boy’s mother, back in Guatemala, told Reuters news agency they had been told by neighbors that if he brought the child, the father would get more lenient treatment by U.S. authorities and would be quickly released into the U.S. where he could disappear into the shadows, live in the U.S. illegally and find work.

She was referring to a 2015 court ruling in the Flores case, which saw an Obama-appointed judge issue a decision that forces the government either to separate children from their parents — a practice that was tried earlier this year, to much criticism — or to release both parents and children within about 20 days.

That ruling was appealed by the Obama administration, but was mostly upheld by an appeals court.

Homeland Security officials say families released rarely show up for deportations. About one-third of them cut off ankle bracelets almost immediately after they’re released, authorities say.

“It’s no secret that we are seeing an increase of family units and unaccompanied aliens minors as a direct result of the Ninth Circuit’s Flores Settlement Agreement and the 2008 [Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act] — these are clear gaps in U.S. law that smugglers and traffickers are taking advantage of,” said Katie Waldman, a Homeland Security spokeswoman.

Investigations into both December deaths are ongoing and final medical evaluations have not been publicly detailed.

But border illnesses are nothing new.

During the 2014 surge of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) authorities reported massive chickenpox and other communicable disease outbreaks.

The numbers of children crossing now exceed that previous surge, with 22,000 children nabbed at the border in December, out of about 60,000 total immigrants who were either caught sneaking in, or were encountered at border crossings.

Since Dec. 22 there have been 450 medical cases that needed treatment, including flu, parasites, blood infections, abscesses, tuberculosis and pneumonia, Mr. McAleenan said.

Part of the surge could be that the government is looking more closely at those in its custody. Where before agents deferred to parents on whether their children needed care, the two recent deaths suggest parents can’t be trusted to know dangers or admit to them.

Every child in CBP custody was given a new medical check last week, including taking vital signs. Medical pros from the Coast Guard and the Public Health Service are going to be on site moving forward, the government says.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also been roped into duty to look at the infectious diseases, with U.S. officials saying they think the shelters where migrants stage in Mexico before crossing the border could be an incubator.

 

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/dec/31/number-sick-kids-soars-border/

[Shabibilicious]

1 minute ago, nstoolman1 said:

Republicans never had the 60 votes necessary to carry out anything. Too many RINOS in both the House and the Senate.

You either didn't know that or don't want to admit that.

 

 

Last I looked Trump has a (R) by his name

 

GO RV, then BV

[Pitcher]

After last night we know who wants to uphold their sworn duties to protect our borders.  

[Shabibilicious]

3 minutes ago, Pitcher said:

Nope, you’re 100% wrong as are all your Dem buddies.  Keep it up and you will have 6 more years of this President. 

 

Ooh ooh....so if the Dems give Trump his glorious Wall money he'll go away quietly....and release his 800,000 American hostages, so they can get back to work and feed their families?  

 

GO RV, then BV

[MyLadiesDaddy]

3 minutes ago, Shabibilicious said:

 

Ooh ooh....so if the Dems give Trump his glorious Wall money he'll go away quietly....and release his 800,000 American hostages, so they can get back to work and feed their families?  

 

GO RV, then BV

If he went away quietly, would you give him the wall? 

[Pitcher]

President Donald Trump's efforts to halt migrant caravans and limit asylum have not deterred Central American minors and members of their families from rushing toward the USA, according to data released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Wednesday.

Border Patrol agents apprehended 27,518 members of family units in December, the highest monthly total on record. That figure has steadily climbed for five months, even as Trump made stopping migrant caravans the centerpiece of his midterm election strategy and drove Washington into a partial government shutdown over funding for his border wall.

Those caravan members, most of whom tried to exercise their legal right to request asylum in the USA, contributed to a third straight month of more than 60,000 migrants being detained at U.S. ports of entry and arrested in the vast stretches of border in between.

The Trump administration points to those numbers as proof that the situation along the southern border is at "crisis" levels that requires the expansion of the border wall. Trump used a national TV address from the Oval Office on Tuesday night to make that case.

The administration has also used the growing number of migrants to try to end asylum for victims of domestic abuse and gang violence and to prevent migrants who enter the country illegally from applying for asylum. Both of those moves were blocked by federal courts.

Trump's decision to force all asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases are decided continues to be enforced.

The number of migrants apprehended trying to cross the border remains far lower than it was in the 2000s, when Border Patrol agents routinely arrested more than 100,000 migrants a month and twice made more than 200,000 arrests in a month.

Democrats and other critics of the administration accused Trump of using the migrant caravan as a political tool to get the border wall he promised throughout his presidential campaign.

"Manufacturing a crisis at the border, shutting down the government, lying in prime time to the American public and executing a power grab just to build a medieval, ineffective wall is too much," Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, a Los Angeles-based immigrant rights organization, said late Tuesday.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/01/09/migrant-caravan-trump-crackdown-has-not-slowed-flow-families-us/2523034002/

[nstoolman1]

He could have a rainbow behind his name. If the votes aren't there he can't sign spit. You must think because he has an R by his name everything will be passed.

Thanks to the foot draggers and Never Trumpers he can not get the legislation to sign.

We now are witnessing Never Learners in DC also. 

[Shabibilicious]

1 minute ago, ladyGrace'sDaddy said:

If he went away quietly, would you give him the wall? 

 

I'd give him billions for "border security" if it were up to me....but it's not.  He made a huge mistake when he made his campaign all about "A Wall".....he should have talked about border security instead.  All that aside, with Donald preaching thousands of times that Mexico is going to pay for "A Wall" and being so sure of himself about it, I'm putting all of my eggs in that basket....I'm sure they are going to pay rather than you and me.

 

GO RV, then BV

[Pitcher]

It’s not just about the “Wall”. And you know it.  It’s about Border Security as Trump said last night.    Look Shabbs I know you want Border Security, you said you did in another post with me.  What you and the Dems want is to RESIST anything Trump wants.  I get that. It’s politics but the Dems are wrong to play politics with this issue.  NATIONAL SECURITY, SOVEREIGNTY OF OUR BORDERS, should never be trifled with when it comes to politics.  Wrong battle Shabbs, it makes you and Dems look foolish.

[Shabibilicious]

1 minute ago, Pitcher said:

It’s not just about the “Wall”. And you know it.  It’s about Border Security as Trump said last night.    Look Shabbs I know you want Border Security, you said you did in another post with me.  What you and the Dems want is to RESIST anything Trump wants.  I get that. It’s politics but the Dems are wrong to play politics with this issue.  NATIONAL SECURITY, SOVEREIGNTY OF OUR BORDERS, should never be trifled with when it comes to politics.  Wrong battle Shabbs, it makes you and Dems look foolish.

 

Trump is the only one keeping the government closed and 800,000 Americans to find other means to pay their bills.....He said on video he was proud to do it, to carry that mantle fo the shutdown....HE SAID IT.  FACT.  Why don't you guys call a shot a shot and hold him responsible for it?  I'm amazed how you all deny he owned it.

 

GO RV, then BV

[Pitcher]

It takes 2 to Tango.  Why won’t the Dems give him his measly 5 B, or .011% of the National Budget.  He’s playing hardball with the Dems. Good.  I hope he closes another 20% of the Government.  

[Pitcher]

Btw, you never held Barry responsible for closing the Government to get his way.  

All we heard was those pathetic Reps won’t negotiate with me. Boo Hoo. 

 

[Shabibilicious]

1 minute ago, Pitcher said:

It takes 2 to Tango.  Why won’t the Dems give him his measly 5 B, or .011% of the National Budget.  He’s playing hardball with the Dems. Good.  I hope he closes another 20% of the Government.  

 

I see....so you think the Dems should Tango....but not Trump. smh  

 

GO RV, then BV

[Pitcher]

I’ll go with you all night Shabbs, you and your Dem buddies need to get off your sanctimonious butts and reach a solution to Border Security.  

[Shabibilicious]

Just now, Pitcher said:

Btw, you never held Barry responsible for closing the Government to get his way.  

All we heard was those pathetic Reps won’t negotiate with me. Boo Hoo. 

 

 

Can't say if that's true or not.....you would need to provide a link, could be true though.  I just don't remember.  I do remember Republicans pushing back at everything President Obama did though....and them calling his wife a man, and the Birther thing.

 

GO RV, then BV

[Shabibilicious]

1 minute ago, Pitcher said:

I’ll go with you all night Shabbs, you and your Dem buddies need to get off your sanctimonious butts and reach a solution to Border Security.  

 

I'm not a member of Congress, sorry, Pitch.

 

GO RV, then BV

[Pitcher]

I already stated it takes 2 to tango and it takes 2 sides to reach a deal.  The Dems are trying to embarrass the President and are playing politics with our Border Security. What’s so hard about that. Why does it always have to be the Dems way or NO way. Compromise that’s what politicians are supposed to do.  Do I need to play the Elections have Consequences speech.

[Pitcher]

Shabbs you hate Trump, we get it but I don’t give a rats a** about any politician who believes in open borders. My phone number is listed on my page. Feel free to call me or better yet hop on a plane and come to Houston. I will show you first hand the tragedy of open borders.  

 

I skeen my calls so leave ave a message when you arrive.  I’ll pick you up and give you a weapon to defend yourselve as we drive through the barrio around midnight.  

[Sage449]

[bostonangler]

 

Beyond the wall: The White House wish list for immigration funding

Ahead of President Trump’s primetime Oval Office address Tuesday, the White House issued a press release outlining a variety of additional funding demands from Congress, to address what Trump has described as a “the security and humanitarian crises” on the United States’ southern border.

The new proposals reflected requests outlined in a letter to lawmakers by Acting Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought following negotiations over the weekend. In addition to $5.7 billion Trump has requested for the construction of a steel barrier along 234 unspecified miles of the southwest border, the request calls for billions of dollars in additional funding for a variety of border-related projects, including expanding immigration detention facilities to their largest-ever capacity and new inspection technology to “deter and detect narcotics, weapons, and other materials that pose a threat to the United States.”

The White House email presents the additional funds as necessary to secure what President Trump and administration officials insist is a border “overwhelmed with illegal immigration, gang violence, crime, drugs, and human trafficking.”

In fact, after reaching a record low during Trump’s first year in office, illegal immigration across the border with Mexico returned to 2016 levels last year. Border states report no big surge in crime, and most illegal drugs, by far, are smuggled into the country by air, sea, tunnels or hidden in cars and trucks at official ports of entry.

Yahoo News spoke to various immigration advocates and border policy experts about the latest requests. Some of the proposals were well-received, such as “$800 million to fund enhanced medical support, transportation, consumable supplies, and additional temporary facilities necessary to ensure the well-being of those taken into custody,” programs that promise to further crack down on weapons and narcotics smuggling, and Trump’s willingness to “work with Congress to facilitate expanded in-country processing of refugee claims.” Others, like the request for record number of detention beds and a surge in immigration enforcement agents, elicited reactions ranging from suspicion to concern to outrage.

The consensus was that the request showed how the Trump administration’s own policies have resulted in a manufactured crisis on the border, raising questions about the justification for its new spending demands.

“Nothing in here is necessary to solve the border crisis created by the president’s bad policies,” said Alex Nowrasteh, a senior immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

Nowrasteh singled out as one example the request for $211 million to hire 750 additional Border Patrol agents. He dismissed assertions by CBP officials that agents on the ground are understaffed and overwhelmed by the situation at the border. While the numbers of children and families presenting themselves at southwest border have been on the rise, overall apprehension numbers remain at historic lows.

“Every government agency in history has claimed they’re short-staffed,” said Nowrasteh.

“The reason why these agents are so busy right now is because the Trump administration is requiring them to work with the rest of government to vet these people to an insane degree when they ask for asylum, make them stay on other side of border in Mexico for weeks or months, and have to house them, according to administration’s policy, in detention facilities for long periods of time. The administration has given them more work to do, even though the numbers are totally manageable,” he concluded.

 

Kirstjen Nielsen, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, speaks at a newly fortified border wall structure in Calexico, Calif., in October. (Photo: Gregory Bull/AP File)

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Some policy experts endorsed the White House call for at least $563 million for 75 additional Immigration judges and support staff, to reduce the backlog of pending immigration cases, acknowledging that the result may ultimately be to more quickly facilitate more deportations. Nowrasteh and Randy Capps, director of research for U.S. programs at the Migration Policy Institute, said hiring additional immigration judges and support staff would help clear the backlog of over 800,000 cases currently pending in immigration courts.

 

“The crisis that we have is not a border security crisis as much as it is an asylum system crisis, because it takes forever for people to have asylum claims adjudicated,” said MPI’s Capps. “A lot more needs to be done to resolve that, but hiring more immigration judges will help.”

But others, like Gregory Chen, director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and ACLU federal immigration policy counsel Madhuri Grewal, criticized the request for more funds for immigration judges as disingenuous, citing a variety of actions the administration has taken — particularly under the direction of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions — to restrict immigration judges’ discretion on their dockets and, they suspect, hamper the court’s efficiency.

According to immigration data collected by Syracuse’s Transactional Records Clearing House, or TRAC, the immigration court backlog nearly doubled within the first year of Trump’s presidency and has continued to grow in the initial months of fiscal year 2019. Chen added that the immigration court backlog has been exacerbated by the partial government shutdown, with the Justice Department canceling all scheduled court hearings for non-detained individuals, who make up the vast majority of people in immigration court.

“Immigration court is a fundamental, critical aspect of the [immigration] process … and the administration has shut it down,” said Chen. “The fact that the administration is asking for more funds [for immigration court] illuminates the hypocrisy of its overall requests for a border wall and this additional funding.”

The items on the White House wish list that raised the greatest concern were those that didn’t appear to be directly connected to border security at all: “$571 million for 2,000 additional Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel to enforce immigration laws, combat gang violence, catch drug smugglers and stop human traffickers” and “$4.2 billion to increase immigration detention capacity inside the U.S. to a record 52,000 beds.”

 

Migrants wait for intake at the Central Processing Center on June 17, 2018, in McAllen, Texas. (Photo: U.S. Customs and Border Protection via Getty Images)

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“This administration has continued to increase use of detention in thousands of cases, when it has been demonstrated that detention not necessary,” said Chen, criticizing the administration’s “unbridled willingness” to use detention as a deterrent for migrants, including those with legitimate asylum claims.

“There’s no reason that this administration needs to be seeking this incredibly high level of funding for 52,000 detention beds,” said the ACLU’s Grewal. “On any given day, 52,000 immigrants should not be in detention.” She argued that increasing detention only serves to increase deportation numbers and to “feed into the narrative that we have to lock them up.”

Capps pointed out that both the 2,000 additional ICE agents and 52,000-bed detention capacity have previously been part of the president’s annual budget requests and, even under a Republican- controlled Congress, they have been denied.

“It’s like he shoehorned them into the request,” said Capps, suggesting that the president is now trying “to force Congress to approve things they wouldn’t support before.”

“This is extortion,” said Simon Rosenberg, a longtime Democratic strategist and founder of the New Democratic Network, a progressive Washington think tank. Rosenberg argued that, regardless of the details, what’s most outrageous is the method by which Trump is making these requests.

“He knows what he wants to do is never going to pass Congress, so he’s creating a mechanism to go around Congress, which is this government shutdown,” said Rosenberg.

“What is missing from the president’s demands is any kind of justification that any of this is actually needed,” he continued. The administration, he argued, despite its repeated claims that there is an immigration crisis, has yet to provide reliable evidence “that the border is weaker than it was a year ago … no data to show a massive increase in the flow of narcotics, no data showing a massive increase of people coming over the border.”

https://news.yahoo.com/beyond-wall-white-house-wish-list-immigration-funding-004407107.htm

 

B/A