National emergency

[Alan]

why did it not become an emergency now after two years in office? Why wasn’t this handled with a majority in the house and senate?

is it not the job of congress to appropriate funds to be spent and how they are spent?

I find all of this so confusing. Even republicans are saying it is a poor idea.

As far as I can tell, it's a matter of semantics. The Democrats were all in favor of 700 miles of fencing and technology upgrades during the end stages of the Bush administration and yet for some reason it wasn't completed during the Obama era. Now, trying to get it back on track and calling it a wall has got the same Democrats up in arms about the possibility that Trump may fulfill a campaign promise and a self-serving media is keeping the short attention span folks up in arms about all those poor unfortunates who simply must enter the country illegally because we're all such racists (that's really good for ratings ya know).

I think it's a bad idea to declare a national emergency to accomplish the goal, but if the political landscape accepts the Democrats efforts to dis-approve what they've previously approved, the same landscape will allow the President a little leeway in accomplishing it.

[jp1]

It would be curious to look at a variety of theings regarding oreviously declared ‘national emergencies’. (And for the record i think it’s appalling the numver of ‘national emergencies’ that are still officially ‘national emergencies’. And think that we need to update our laws to change this).

For instance, how many previous national emergencies were not considered to be real emergencies by the oresident’s opposing party. Or even more important, how many national emergencies involved congress abrogating it’s responsibility to decide how the government should spend money.

I suppose the republicans can decide to get themselves behind this but just as the dems are surely sorry that they made the short-term decision to change the fikibuster rules to get some judges appointed, so too will the republicans rue their decision to get behind fake national emergencies. And, sadly, our whole nation will suffer the consequences.

[Baldilocks]

Democrat and Republican are just two different sides of the same coin. When the devil tempted Jesus, he offered him all the Kingdoms of the world if he would bow down and worship him. I wonder how he could offer something if it wasn't his. Democrat and Republican

[flowerseverywhere]

Alan, I still don’t understand why it is a national emergency now and it wasn’t three months ago. I agree with everyone it’s all fun and games on both sides, but what about the vast majority of us in the middle who saw Obama, Clinton’s, Bush’s faults as well, and just want what is best for the country?

I guess with Trump I find it very hard to trust him as we see so many of his very fine people caught up in webs of lies. They seem to be the super rich and/or who live by a separate set of rules. In my heart I am for making sure borders are safe and even some walls/ fencing where experts say it is needed. We do need to revise some of our immigration laws for sure. however this monument to Trump that he said Mexico would pay for and the exaggeration, lies and bullying make it very difficult for me to think makes any sense at all

and where is that replacement for Obamacare we heard about for nine years? And shoring up our infrastructure? And crises that are being swept under the rug, I guess it’s the premise that if you don’t talk about them they will go away. Like our looming water crisis? The Colorado River has been dammed and diverted almost to extinction for instance. So that is one of the biggest problems I have. Focusing everything on one subject and pitting Americans against each other instead of the bigger picture of what is really best for the citizens of the US, not for a very narcissistic leader.

[gimmethesimplelife]

Can't wait until Trump is gone!!!!!

You and me both. This just gets worse day by day. Rob

[gimmethesimplelife]

Alan, I still don’t understand why it is a national emergency now and it wasn’t three months ago. I agree with everyone it’s all fun and games on both sides, but what about the vast majority of us in the middle who saw Obama, Clinton’s, Bush’s faults as well, and just want what is best for the country?

I guess with Trump I find it very hard to trust him as we see so many of his very fine people caught up in webs of lies. They seem to be the super rich and/or who live by a separate set of rules. In my heart I am for making sure borders are safe and even some walls/ fencing where experts say it is needed. We do need to revise some of our immigration laws for sure. however this monument to Trump that he said Mexico would pay for and the exaggeration, lies and bullying make it very difficult for me to think makes any sense at all

and where is that replacement for Obamacare we heard about for nine years? And shoring up our infrastructure? And crises that are being swept under the rug, I guess it’s the premise that if you don’t talk about them they will go away. Like our looming water crisis? The Colorado River has been dammed and diverted almost to extinction for instance. So that is one of the biggest problems I have. Focusing everything on one subject and pitting Americans against each other instead of the bigger picture of what is really best for the citizens of the US, not for a very narcissistic leader.

I could not agree with your post more, Flowerseverywhere. Rob

[ApatheticNoMore]

I think climate change, ecosystem collapse, ocean acidification, the 6th great extinction, and insect die off might be natural emergencies. Oh well what do I know ...

I favor immigration restrictions too, just in the scheme of things, and how ridiculous Trump's solution is (why not enforce it against employers?)... please.

[Teacher Terry]

Flowers, I totally agree. His speech is on now and it’s a combination of lies and non-sensical repeated words. It’s painful to listen too and embarrassing as well for our country. The rest of the world thinks the US is a bunch of uneducated, racist morons.

[Alan]

Alan, I still don’t understand why it is a national emergency now and it wasn’t three months ago.

Three months ago the Democrats did not have control of the purse strings and there was no rush to get it done. Once they took control they made it clear that they would not allocate one dollar for border walls and it became clear that the Democratic base demanded their representatives resist at every turn.

It's happening now because if no amount of negotiation gets the job done, brute force tactics are the only recourse.

[ApatheticNoMore]

His speech is on now and it’s a combination of lies and non-sensical repeated words.

it always was, noone could have read the debates and not suspected "something is wrong with this guy". I mean I can suspect Ted Cruz would have made a worse President, and I can be pretty sure Carlie Fiorina would have (she came across as an insane hawk), but they could string together an argument that held together semantically (no matter how much I may have disagreed with it). Trump's speech was always incoherence. IT STOOD OUT as such. So those who say Trump's performed well in the debates, uh not by my standards.

It’s painful to listen too and embarrassing as well for our country. The rest of the world thinks the US is a bunch of uneducated, racist morons.

they are factually incorrect on the education part, on average Americans have a LOT of years of schooling, more on average than much of the rest of the world. How much they learn from it ... I don't know. But they can think the problem is education if they want, it's probably a lack of values and heart and well to a large part a rigged political system (I mean the electoral college and so on). Racism there is some of considering overt racists have been running and winning some places lately.