Unintended Consequences

Heard on NPR today that social justice warriors are having second thoughts about police wearing body cameras, ... particularly since the videos from them are much more likely to be used as evidence in criminal prosecutions than in disciplinary actions against their law-enforcement wearers. 

Let me see, does the concept of “justice” change depending on it being modified by the word “social?” We really are well into the twilight zone.

Disturbing!

The ACLU and the SPLC have published some disturbing statistics saying a disproportionate number of people arrested in the United States are criminals. How can this be?

Extrapolation

I am friendly with a probable illegal alien from Brazil. She is an honest, hardworking nice person. I would like to extrapolate, like Jeb Bush and most Libs, that she is representative of the many thousands of illegals who are poring across our southern borders daily. But I am pretty sure this is not the case. Nor can I extrapolate from some bad apples that ICE catches, also daily, that these caravans are full of — criminals of all stripes. Illegals represent 20% of our prison population, far ahead of their representation in our general population, so there is some justification here.

And I also do know that over 70% of these “dreamers” are dreaming of living off of the American taxpayer ... and do ... while generally not assimilating into their “adopted” country. In fact, far too many of these interlopers hold the United States in contempt. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you ...

This situation is not sustainable. We must get control of our immigration process. We already legally admit well over a million immigrants into our country a year. We cannot double or triple this number with illegals and still retain our national identity and safety-net sustainability. Time is running out and it seems only Donald Trump and the American voters seem to realize this cold hard fact.

Yes, I am a hypocrite ‘cause I don’t want to extrapolate this remedy to my Brazilian friend.

QED

Open-border advocates make the slippery claim that illegal immigrants commit fewer crimes than native-born Americans. Yes, of course this must be true ... since there are 15  to 30 times more of the latter than the former. This oft-repeated mantra is meant to deceive and, unfortunately, it often does.

However, the proper comparison would be on a proportional basis. Illegal immigrants represent  about 14 percent of our federal prison population (66% of 21% ... see: Center for Immigration Studies Stats) and less reliable reports have this same approximate proportion in many state prisons and local jails. And, depending on your source, illegal immigrants represent 3% (at 11 million) to 7% (at 23 million) of our nation’s total population (323 million). Sooo, illegal immigrants must proportionally commit from 2 to almost 5 times the crimes of our native-born population.

QED.

Sunlight

 Sunlight is the best disinfectant. -- Michael Kinsley

On cable TV this morning watching talking heads, I  repeatedly heard that illegal immigrants are more law-abiding than the general population of the U.S. Is this so? The answer needs more sunlight, i.e., facts.

It so happens that roughly 15% of all prisoners under federal detention are illegal aliens (22%, for all aliens) Now this same proportion of the U.S. population (330 million) would suggest over 50 million ... and, since the estimated number of illegal immigrants is about 11 million (3% of  U.S. population), this means that illegal immigrants are five times more likely to commit federal crimes than American citizens. Actually, the ratio of criminals among illegal male aliens would be even higher for three reasons:

1) The above comparisons assume equal numbers of male and female criminals. We know that males are disproportionately represented ... so the ratio of federal crime commission is likely higher.

2) These are only federal crime numbers, they omit local crimes such as drunk driving, reckless driving, spousal abuse, drug trafficking, sex crimes, etc.

3) Because of the difficulty of prosecuting local crimes (and even some federal crimes) due to  bail jumping, language barriers and no-show court appearances, even if we had good local statistics, they would surely underestimate the true proportions of local illegal alien criminals.

Bottom line ... I would estimate that illegal alien males are at least 10 times more likely to commit crimes than the rest of us. So, dear readers, when you hear that illegal aliens are more upright and honest than American citizens (other than those people making these assertions), please don't believe this hogwash.

We need even more sunlight on this issue.

The First Ukase

President Obama has just transformed America ... as he had promised. He has issued his first ukase*... and I wonder how many more will follow?

In truth, what Obama did last night was to throw a bone to as many as 5 million illegal immigrants. This may not be all bad … except for one major flaw … and that was the way he did it. With the back of his hand he has undone what the framers of the Constitution feared most … he has become all-powerful. The people’s representatives, Congress, have just been neutered to the point of irrelevance … for they have no options. If they pass an immigration reform bill to his liking in the next six months, they will be bending to his will. If they don’t, then his ukase stands unless and until the Supreme Court finds the gumption to strip him of this authority … which may take months if not years. In the meantime the damage done will be irreversible.

The most insidious part of this ukase is that it appears to give illegal immigrants a path to citizenship … but is gift-wrapped in quite a few more presidential lies. These lies are meant to sugar-coat this blatant usurpation of power with administrative niceties that we all know will never be implemented. They are:

-        Our border’s will be made more secure

-        These newly legalized illegal immigrants will not be allowed to vote

-        These newly legalized illegal immigrants will not be eligible for Obamacare and a myriad of other welfare benefits

-        These newly legalized illegal immigrants will have to pay back income taxes and continue to do so into the future

-        Illegal-immigrant criminals will be deported

These amnesty-mitigating lies are so obvious that they are laughable … probably the side-splitting tenor of the White House meetings in which they were inserted into the president’s speech. I wonder if Jonathan Gruber was somehow involved in constructing this ukase?

* “A ukase, in Imperial Russia, was a proclamation of the tsar, government, or a religious leader (patriarch) that had the force of law.”

Unconscionable

When Barack Obama took his oath of office as President, he swore to protect the American people “from all enemies both foreign and domestic.”  So, once more our Mr. Wimple has wimped out of this primary pledge for clearly political reasons.  He has allowed (probably encouraged) his former head of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano to release tens of thousands of illegal immigrants who also are criminals of another sort back into our society to commit their crimes of choice once more. See: A Sad Breitbart Story 

His “so there” attitude (I can think of a stronger term) is meant to both display his autocratic mien and punish those who won’t support his push for illegal-alien amnesty.  I think that this heinous act on his part constitutes an unconscionable abandonment of his sacred oath of office. He is clearly not now protecting us from our domestic enemies. I only wish that Americans could be made to appreciate this indictment.

As people who can tie their shoes can clearly see, if the Obama administration won’t enforce existing statues and deport 68,000 foreign criminals, how could we possibly depend upon it to uphold any other immigration reforms … particularly those that that villainous Cheshire cat, Chuck Schumer, is trying to peddle with all of his amnesty hand-wringing?