Month: January 2019

W

The purpose of this article is to discuss one aspect of the national debate on abortion.  This is NOT about Roe v. Wade, a “women’s right to choose”, “life begins at conception” or the religious issues associated with abortion. 

On 28 January, 2019, in the Virginia House of Delegates, a committee heard testimony from Delegate Kathy Tran as she defended a proposed new abortion law, HB 2491.  There was a very meaningful, telling, disgusting exchange between democrat Delegate Tram and republican Delegate Todd Gilbert. 

The Bill HB2491 seeks to repeal the state’s current restrictions on late-term abortions.  If passed, the measure will do away with the state’s requirement that second and third trimester abortions be performed ONLY to preserve the health or life of the woman.  Currently, three physicians must conclude that a third-trimester abortion is NECESSARY to preserve the health or life of the woman. Under the new law, those requirements are stripped away. 

The exchange between Delegates Gilbert and Tram: 

Gilbert: “How late in the third trimester could a physician perform an abortion if he indicated it would impair the mental health of the woman?” 

Tran: “So, I mean, through the third trimester. The third trimester goes all the way up to 40 weeks.”

Gilbert: “Okay? But to the end of the third trimester?”

Tran: “Yep. I don’t think we have a limit in the bill.

Gilbert: “Where it’s obvious that a woman is about to give birth. She has physical signs that she is about to give birth. Would that still be a point at which she could request an abortion if she was so-certified?” (long pause) Gilbert goes on to say, “she’s dilating,”.

After another long pause, Tram replies: “Mr. Chairman, that would be a decision that the doctor, the physician and the woman would make at that point.”

“I understand that,” Gilbert replied. “I’m asking if your bill allows that.”

Tran replied: “My bill would allow that, yes.”

We cannot discount this as testimony from Tram as some deranged radical.  This proposal has received support from Virginia democrat Gov. Ralph Northam as well as a number of democrat lawmakers.

Family Foundation President Victoria Cobb commented, “This bill creates abortion, virtually on demand, up until the point of birth.”

Last week, New York democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo celebrated, with great fanfare, the alteration of their existing abortion law to allow NON-DOCTORS to conduct abortions until the mother’s due date if the woman’s HEALTH (not LIFE) is endangered.  Comment:  By the very nature of childbirth, isn’t there always a risk to the woman’s health?  Google it up, it’s a long list of bad things that can/do go wrong.  The wording in that law gives every pregnant woman in New York the “go” signal for an abortion at any time, right up to the last minute. 

Time to look at a couple definitions: First-degree murder is any intentional murder that is willful and premeditated.  Second-degree murder is any intentional murder but is not premeditated or planned in advance.

Way to go New York and possibly soon-to-be Virginia!  You have now given every young female the right to commit, at least second if not first degree, murder with only a few minutes thought and walk away free. Given a scenario wherein a healthy woman can decide, within a few minutes of her baby taking his/her first breath, to have that baby killed is beyond barbaric. 

Then confound that murder with the possibility of immediate action to harvest healthy, vital organs and perhaps sell them.  Well. you say, that could never happen in America.  Take off your rose-colored glasses, go back to the 2014-15 time-frame and review the live interviews that were conducted clandestinely with Planned Parenthood physicians. Those interviews were refuted, of course, by Planned Parenthood organization but never proven to be false.

This is not about Row v. Wade.  This is not about the question of when life begins.  This is about seriously looking for an answer to the question, what have we become?  How do the tens of millions of Americans who are celebrating these new monstrous laws believe this is goodness?  How do you look into the future and see that, because of this, we will arrive at a better place?

Marv Covault

S

In SOCIALISM PART I last week I attempted to make four points

Point # 1, DISINCENTIVATION: with it there is no way for the nation to move forward.

Point # 2, WEALTH REDISTRIBUTION: Obama said his overall intention, if elected President, is wealth redistribution.  There is a second and very different method of redistributing wealth.

Point #3, IT WON’T PENCIL: Senator Bernie Sanders and his protégé, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are passionate about their version of socialism for the US, but the real question is, did they fail 4^th grade math?  It would appear so. 

Part 4, BOTTOM LINE:  we cannot afford socialism.

The centerpiece for the Democrat/Liberal/Progressive/ Socialist agenda for the next 22 months leading up to the 2020 presidential election will be health care; whether it is a One-Payer System, Medicare For All or some other National Health Care system.

Notwithstanding that Socialism has no virtues, why are Democrats/Liberals/Socialists/Progressives moving so far left?  Socialism is all about “free” and “free” buys votes.  More “free” buys more votes and lots more “free” buys lots more votes.  And when their constituency is various identity groups, they can craft a “free” program that will appeal to every group.  It may be good politics but it will eventually end badly for America for a number of reasons and not being able to afford it may be the least of our worries.

On 3 November 2018, Scott W. Atlas, MD, —a Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and a member of Hoover Institution’s Working Group on Health Care Policy— wrote a detailed and insightful article for the Wall Street Journal, entitled The False Promise of Medicare for All.

The purpose of this paper is to draw from his research and get you ready for the socialist barrage of untrue, unsupported BS they are going to use to convince their identity groups that “free health care” can become a viable, popular, fair reality. 

Obama promised a better health care system, Affordable Health Care which has proven to be just the opposite, unaffordable. As if Obama Care is not bad enough, there is a strong possibility that Single Payer, although a simple, catchy title, could be even worse.

Atlas points out that in the five years of ObamaCare, insurance premiums have doubled for individuals and risen 140% for families while deductibles have increased substantially.  Additionally, a record pace of consolidations among hospitals and physician practices, will raise health care prices as fewer hospitals compete for payers. 

For California alone, Single Payer Health Care will cost an estimated $400 billion a year, more than twice their current health care annual budget.  Nationwide, Medicare For All will cost more than $32 trillion over its first decade.  DOUBLING federal personal income and corporate taxes will not be enough to pay for it. 

Around the world, in the past half century, nationalized health care programs have consistently failed to provide timely, high quality medical care compared with the U.S. system.  The consequences are pain, suffering, death, personal disability and forgone wages. 

Last year a record 4.2 million patients were on England’s National Health Service waiting lists; with 362,600 patients waited longer than four months for treatment while 95,252 waited longer than 6 months.  All that waiting was after having received their diagnosis and referral.

In Canada last year, the median wait time between seeing a general practitioner and following up with a specialist was 10.2 weeks.  Wait time between seeing that specialist and beginning treatment was about 5 months.

In nationalized health care systems, even patients referred for URGENT TREATMENT often wait months.  In Britain, more than 19% wait 2 months or longer to begin their first URGENT CANCER TREATMENT while 17% wait more than 4 months for brain surgery.

Canadians with heart disease wait 3 months for their FIRST TREATMENT.  If you need life-changing orthopedic surgery in Canada—like hip or knee replacement—you likely wait 10 months.

In contrast to England and Canada, most US patients face little or no wait for urgent care.

A Single Payer program is no promise of access to quality medical care.  If brought to the US the only reliable promise would be worse health care and higher taxes.  America’s poor and middle class would suffer the most because—let’s face reality—rich folks don’t need health insurance of any type, they can just write a check and probably move to the front of the line or join a quality private-practice health care group. 

Whatever nationalized health system it is, WAKE THE HELL UP AMERICA, it will NOT be “free”.  You will pay like your have never paid before. There is a saying going around that you will never believe how expensive medical care can be until it is “free”.  Some years ago, the British Liberal Party sold their people on a national healthcare concept as “free” and their resulting taxes rank right up there among the highest in the world

FACT, every country that has tried nationalized health care has ended up with less quality health care professionals, much higher taxes, longer wait times for care, pain, suffering, permanent disability, forgone wages and in many cases premature death.  This is not an overstatement. 

But, you say, we are not the UK or Canada, the US can do it better. You are certainly entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts.  The fact is we have had government-run medical care in this country for decades; it’s called The Veterans Administration and it has been such a dismal failure that the whole process has been under scrutiny for the past several years and is not fixed yet. It is clearly documented that veterans have died waiting for an appointment or treatment.

Currently, less than one third of Americans are enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid.  Fact:  between 2004 and 2017 “mistakes and improper Medicare and Medicaid payments” averaged $48 billion per year.  $48 BILLION.  Does that support making Medicare available for all?  Do we therefor surmise that all that graft, corruption, mistakes and improper payment will magically disappear?  I am much more inclined to believe the $48 billion will grow right along with the times-three expansion of the program.  Why? 

Answer.  What makes you believe for one minute that the federal government can effectively and efficiently “run” any new big program?  The federal government has a pretty clear and remarkable history when it comes to “running” big, national programs.  What do the Postal Service established 1775, Social Security 1935, Fannie Mae 1938, War on Poverty 1964, Medicare and Medicaid 1965, and Freddie Mac 1970 all have in common?  Two things, they are big federal government programs run by the government and they are all broke.  And the Democrats/Liberals/Socialists/Progressives all expect you to believe them when they call it “free” and that it will be successful!

Question for the Democrats out there.  Which of the facts above don’t you understand?  You are part of an intelligent electorate; how can you possibly be sucked in to this scam?  Just listen to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez talking to America about how we will pay for One Payer or Medicare For All.  She begns with cuts in Defense. 

Ok, Alexandria, I will “ see” your “cut” in Defense spending and raise you to completely disbanding  the military; take the Defense budget to zero for the next four years.  That “saving” will still fall short of what the government needs to support Medicare For All for ONE year.  It’s 4^th grade math Alexandria and you just don’t get it. 

Having said all of the above, the bottom line is not about dollars, it is about something bigger, something much more important, something that IS America.  Too often we use a shorthand to define our Democracy as simply a system of free elections and we leave it at that.

As stated by Isaiah Berlin more that 30 years ago, “The defining proposition of democracy is that it mandates means (elections, parliaments, markets) but not ends.  Democracy leaves the goals of life entirely up to the individual.  Where the totalitarian, socialistic states decree life’s purposes. 

Furthermore, the late, brilliant writer Charles Krauthammer put it more succinctly—I paraphrase, “we must fight for a vision of limited government that, while providing for the helpless, is committed above all to guaranteeing individual liberty and pursuit of one’s own ends.”

The Democratic party has moved so far left in an effort to be heard above the shouts of the “free” radical left and socialists, they have forgotten about America. They have betrayed the party of FDR, of Harry Truman, of JFK. They are willing to bet America’s future on winning an election. They are willing to go forward— leaning so far to the left— with a single-minded mission of bringing down the current administration out of a pure passion of hate. 

I’m disgusted, dismayed, but mostly just disappointed in part of my America.

Marv Covault

R

First, Pelosi tells the House Democratic caucus they cannot go home because they may need to be in Washington to vote on re-opening the government. Meanwhile she schedules herself to be out of the country on a Congressional Delegation overseas visit. 

The itinerary:  Brussels, Egypt, Afghanistan……. why these three?

BRUSSELS:  The only reason to visit Brussels is NATO.  For decades US presidents have complained about members not living up to the membership requirement……devote 2% of your GDP to defense spending.  They never paid any attention until President Trump looked them in the eye and demanded they get with the program; the US taxpayers are tired of footing 70% of the NATO bill.  A significant number of the member nations are complying.  Do any of you believe for a minute that Nancy is going there to tell them how much she is pleased with what President Trump has done?  Not in this lifetime.  Whatever she does/says will be disruptive and completely out of her lane. 

EGYPT:  Only reason to go to Egypt at this point in time is because last week Secretary of State, Pompeo was there to deliver a major foreign policy speech concerning terrorism in particular and the Middle East in general.  If you didn’t hear it, it is worth your time to read it.  In effect, he said we, the US, are here for you in the world-wide fight against Islamic terrorism but when the feces hits the rotary, you better be ready to pony-up, play a big-time role and pay your own way.  Foreign policy is the purview of the Executive Branch and Nancy has no business sticking her nose into it.  But she doesn’t care.    

AFGHANISTAN, a war zone:  She will, of course, be treated according to her office and given the full briefing.  However, I’m afraid of what she is going to say when she returns and how much damage it may do. 

The bottom line; there is no limit to how dangerous a power-hungry person like her can be.  She is on a one-mission campaign…..destroy the Trump presidency. She is a power freak in a power position and cares nothing about how the American electorate feels about the major issues of the day…….internal security, the economy, foreign affairs.

Her only concern is her personal legacy……..I brought him down.  Not what she was able to accomplish for America.  A powerful, dangerous, shadow-president, her Democratic caucus appears powerless to challenge her while she is simultaneously buoyed by the daily support of the main-stream media. 

It’s going to be a tough couple of years of pure unadulterated RESISTANCE.  

One thing that could be done is to take every nonsensical piece of legislation that comes out of the House and immediately put it to a vote in the Senate.  Let the people see what every Representative and Senator is voting for and against.  Show America the resistance.  Show America what the Democratic/Liberal/Socialist/Progressive agenda actually looks like and let them judge for themselves. 

Unfortunately, the problem with that course of action is Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnel.  To date, his inclination is to table everything “that will not pass the Senate.”  Bad move. 

Marv Covault

S

Point # 1, DISINCENTIVATION: As you read on, keep in mind this one word, disincentivization

Point # 2, WEALTH REDISTRIBUTION: Late in his 2008 presidential campaign, Obama was caught unawares on an open-mike and during a discussion with “Joe the Plumber”, Obama said his overall intention, if elected President, is wealth redistribution. 

Point #3, IT WON’T PENCIL: Senator Bernie Sanders and his protégé, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are passionate about their version of socialism for the US, but the real question is, did they fail 4^th grade math?  It would appear so. 

Part 4, BOTTOM LINE:  we cannot afford socialism.

One thing many Republicans have wrong about Bernie/Alexandria, is that the United States may end up looking like Venezuela.  Venezuela’s President Maduro is a combination of socialism and extreme ignorance. Probably not where the US is headed. 

What Bernie/Alexandria are advocating for is actually the European model of socialism.  For the past few decades most of the European nations and their Social Democratic political parties (or Democratic Socialists, a slight distinction between the two) have adopted many socialist underpinnings.

This is France today: tax the rich, big centralized government, stifling regulation, weak military capability, nationalized programs with health care as the centerpiece, welfare state, extreme labor unions, a 35-hour work week and policies that discourage incentive/initiative.  Thank you, Barak Obama. We hear you Bernie.  Welcome aboard Alexandria. Not Venezuela, not Cuba, not the defunct Soviet Union, Obama/Bernie/Alexandria, although unstated, advocate for this French model. 

France optimizes the results of years of European political movement to the far left.  France has arrived; they are the poster child.  And they are in BIG trouble on all fronts because that socialist chicken has finally come home to roost. 

Conversely, capitalism works.  It works amazingly well especially when combined with a democratic form of government.  That’s where we are today.  Leader of the world.  Envoy of the world.  Hundreds of millions want to immigrate here.  Why? To work hard and strive for the American dream. 

My description of French socialism, three paragraphs up, and its failure, can be summarized by one word.  Disincentive.  There is no part of socialism that makes you jump out of bed in the morning, wanting to get to work as quickly as possible and make things happen.  Innovate—willingly work hard—produce—prosper—achieve—become a model, a mentor and live the dream. That is exactly what is happening all over America today and we should change all that to a one-word description of our future; Point # 1, DISINCENTIVIZED?  Yes, according to Bernie and Alexandria, we should. 

The Wall Street Journal recently had a graph showing nations’ tax burden as a percent of its Gross Domestic Product, GDP.  This is a valid way to illustrate the comparative tax burden among nations.  France is # 1 on that list because 48% of the goods and services the individuals produce goes back to the government as taxes.  By comparison the US tax burden relative to GDP is only 27%.  The top twelve nations in terms of the extreme tax burden are Social Democratic European nations. 

There are, unfortunately, tens of millions of American Democrats/Liberals/Socialists/Progressives (take your pick) who are willing to take that risk and shift to socialism.  Why not, they argue, maybe it is a good idea. We will get a “free” college education, “free health care”, some nice government bureaucrat to oversee our largest corporations, some government committee will select the Boards of Directors for our large, successful, profitable corporations.  The list is long.  The government will “run” things so we don’t have to worry about doing it.  We can just sit back and enjoy the fruits, not of our labor, but the fruit the government chooses to give us.

Capitalism works.  We didn’t just invent the idea a few decades ago.  It is what this county IS and always has been.  Is it a nice comfortable straight line slightly tilted upward forever?  No, capitalism can be a bumpy ride but in the end initiative, ingenuity, grit and confidence ALWAYS wins out.  Not sometimes, ALWAYS.  Post-Obama confidence in the economy and in the country are high, there is a surge in new small businesses, wages are up, new jobs are up and former welfare junkies are back in the marketplace competing for good-paying jobs.

Let’s take a look at those rich folks, who Democrats/Liberals/Socialists/Progressives are asking to pick up the socialist tab.  Generally speaking, other than a few trust-fund kids, the rich folks work very hard.  They are risk-takers because no one tells them they can’t.  They don’t always win but they learn and move on and move up. And up. And up. And then they have more money than they can spend.  They have become part of the “top one percent.” What to do, put their excess money under the mattress?  No, they invest it. 

Capitalism doesn’t just “happen”.  It has to be continuously fed and nurtured. the fuel for capitalism is, quite naturally, capital; principally money.

Let’s say you are the proud owner of a growing, so far successful, company because you can be. No one, including the government, is telling you that you cannot or that you should not or that you must get permission; “Mother, may I?” It’s just you with a good idea, initiative, ingenuity, know-how and good energized employees.  This is the antithesis of disincentivized.

You have your company in position to expand, be bigger, be better; you have everything except capital.  What a bummer.  You could go to the bank but they are generally pretty conservative with their money and your plan has some risk involved.  Also, there are those darned interest payments always coming due.  So, instead of borrowing from a bank, you print some paper stock certificates and sell them. On the certificate is a serial number and a “value” which is really the “price”.  This piece of paper comes with no guarantees of success.  Also, no interest due and no due date for redemption.

Who, in God’s name, would ever buy such a thing?  Aha, someone who has more money than they need.  Those rich guys and gals; those “one per centers.” They take a look at you and your company and, in reality, bet on the come.  They buy your pieces of paper with absolutely no guarantee of a dime in return.  You say thanks and tell them you promise to work hard, be smart, and do everything you can to make a lot of money.  And when you do, out of gratitude, you will pay dividends and, oh by the way that $100 piece of paper might someday be worth $1000 or $10,000 and you didn’t have to lift a finger.

Ain’t that a great story?  Bernie and Alexandria would call it a fairytale.  We call it capitalism at its best.  We call it the American way.  We call it success, we call it our future.

That brings us back to the beginning and Point # 2, WEALTH REDISTRIBUTION.  There are two vastly different ways to go about wealth redistribution.  People and corporations produce goods and services which equals a nation’s gross domestic product, GDP.  People and corporations are then heavily taxed by the government and the money is redistributed back into the welfare state; socialism. 

An alternative is to keep corporate and individual taxes as low as possible and let the rich folks “redistribute” their wealth in order to “feed” corporate growth.  When corporations grow, the economy grows which promotes higher employment, more high-paying jobs and higher wages (exactly what is happening today).  Ultimately, this formula can generate even greater tax revenue for the government.  But instead of using the revenue to support welfare, it can be used for positive purposes. 

Back to the Bernie/Alexandria model of government, paying for everything, free tuition, health care, etc. etc. etc.

Let’s begin with Bernie/Alexandria idea to tax the rich at or above 70% like the French do and see how that might work out.  In the US in 1920 the top marginal tax rate was 73%, 90% during the 1950s and 69% in 1981. It may have seemed like a good idea at the time but it wasn’t.  It went away because it didn’t work.  It did not generate the trillions of dollars Bernie/Alexandria need to finance their pipe dreams. 

Bernie/Alexandria talk continuously about taxing the top one percent, the wealthiest folks in the US, to pay for all their “free” programs.   If you define the “top 1%ers as the top 1% in annual income earned, that would be about 1,275,000 households earning an AVERAGE of $440,000 a year totaling about $560 billion dollars.  Fully taxed at 70% provides tax revenue of about $392 billion. The cost of the socialist’s government-run “Single Payer Health Care plan (free health care for all) is estimated to average about $3 trillion a year for the first ten years.  Sorry Alexandria, the 1%ers come up about $2.6 trillion short just for the one program (if their entire income was fully taxed at 70% which, of course, it would not be).   As they say in Montana, Point #3. “IT WON’T PENCIL”. 

What does “free” mean when applied to programs that support the entire population, such as free health care for all.  One thing that is not free is your freedom.  You want a free education, free health care, a guaranteed monthly stipend?  We could try it but there is ALWAYS a price.  Bernie’s/Alexandria’s price is your freedom.  Freedom to “be all you can be”.  Give up your freedom and you will be all the government tells you you can be and no more.  What is the incentive to even go to work?  What is the incentive to think of a better way?  What is the incentive to work harder? Under socialism, “free” equals disincentivization of the entire society. 

Come on America, WAKE THE HELL UP!  Do you want to be in the streets every weekend with your yellow vest like the French are, protesting against everything their government has become and what it has done to that one-proud and prosperous nation? 

In a few months, yes months, the democrats/Liberals/Socialist/Progressive party will hold its first 2020 Presidential Campaign debate.  Mark my words, what we are going to hear is how one candidate can “out-free” the others.  You will not be able to recognize the real Democratic party, it’s gone.  WAKE THE HELL UP AMERICA.

Point #4, BOTTOM LINE.  Notwithstanding what has been said above, Socialism is, at its core, about economics, not politics.  That begs the question, if Bernie/Alexandria, et al believe socialism is so great, why don’t we see any economists in the US writing or speaking about is virtues?  Answer, because it has no virtues. 

Please stay tuned for SOCIALISM, PART II, perhaps next week

Marv Covault

We all keep our front door closed as a deterrent.  It makes us feel safe and secure. (Our personal “Wall”)

We are caring people and the most benevolent society in the world.  If someone who is “in need” knocks on your door, you will open it and probably find a way to help out.  (Processing 800,000 asylum claims)

If they knock down the door or sneak into your house, you call 911.  (Border Patrol/ICE)

It’s that simple. 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

On 3 January, President Trump invited Congressional leaders to the White House to hear a briefing from Secretary Nielsen, Home Land Security.  The democrats present kept interrupting (decorum?) to the point that she was unable to complete the briefing.  So, on 4 January, the President sent a signed letter to every member of Congress with the following facts (rounded numbers) from Nielsen’s briefing:  

In FY 2018, 17,000 adults with existing criminal records were arrested while attempting to illegally cross the border.

In FY 17/18 ICE officers arrested 235,000 illegal aliens on criminal charges within the US.   (Yes, what a good idea, let’s do away with ICE); 100,000 for assault, 30,000 for sex crimes, 4000 for homicides. 

We are now averaging 60,000 illegal aliens a month on the US/Mexican border.  

Last month alone, 20,000 minors were smuggled into the US.

The immigration court backlog is 800,000 cases. 

There has been a 2,000% increase in asylum claims in the past 5 years.  About 90% are rejected by the asylum courts. During the months-long process, the immigrants have been necessarily released into our society.  Thereafter, they fail to report for their court hearing and become illegal aliens. 

In FY17, 3800 known or suspected terrorists were prevented from entering the US.

In FY17, 6000 gang members were apprehended at the Southern Border and removed by ICE. 

In FY18, 60,000 unaccompanied children illegally crossed the Southern Border.

In FY17, 135,000 illegal and inadmissible family units arrived in the US. 98% of family units and unaccompanied alien children are never removed. In FY18 the number skyrocketed to 161,000.

So far, in the first 4+ months of FY 2019, we have seen a 280% increase in family units over what we experienced in FY18.

Every week 300 Americans are killed from heroin use, 90% of which floods across our Southern Border.  6,500 lbs were seized in FY18, a 22% increase over FY17. 

In FY18 2,400 lbs of fentanyl was seized, a 73% increase over FY17.  That is enough fentanyl to overdose and kill every man, women and child in the US.

In FY 18, 282,000 lbs of cocaine were seized.

From FY 17 to FY 18 there was a 38% increase in methamphetamine smuggling. In FY18, 248,000 lbs were seized at the border.

Many of the migrants are sick; 50 per day are referred to medical providers.

Among the female immigrants traveling to the border, 31% are sexually assaulted in route.

Chuck Schumer, in more sane times said, “Illegal immigration is wrong, plain and simple.  Until the American people are convinced that we will stop future flows of illegal immigration, we will make no progress on dealing with the millions of illegal immigrants who are here now, and are rationalizing our system of legal immigration.  That’s plain and simple and unavoidable.”  A pure, simple, sane description of the problem and what needs to be done.

President Trump: “Illegal immigration is NOT progressive; by every measure, it is unfair, unjust, uncompassionate, and cruel. Senators Obama and Clinton, Schumer and many other democrats in the House and Senate voted for a hard, physical barrier.”

Conclusions from this briefing:

1. Facilities are inadequate (Congressional budgets propose additional cuts), Border Patrol is overwhelmed, technology cannot ever fill all the voids 24/7. 

• A nation that fails to control its borders cannot fulfill its most basic obligations to its citizens—physical safety, economic security, essential public services, and the uniform protection of our laws.

• Loopholes in federal laws prevent removals and provide a magnet for illegal entry. For example, if an illegal minor, or those traveling with a minor, merely set foot on US soil, they cannot be successfully returned home.  This provides the incentive for even more families and unaccompanied children to make the perilous journey to our border.

• Every time Speaker Pelosi gets behind a microphone she says, “a wall is immoral, it is unamerican.”  What IS immoral, is to sustain a failed system that allows 60,000 UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN to cross that border at their own peril. 

What we have on the border now are all the pieces of a solution—walls, barriers of various configurations, Border Patrol agents, cameras, drones, etc.  But the statistics in President Trump’s letter tell us clearly that they are insufficient now and what is in place will be vastly insufficient going forward to the point of being overwhelmed. 

We do not have sufficient deterrence.  Our closed and locked front door is a deterrent.  Walls deter.  The walls we have currently in place deter. More walls will deter more.  And “more” is what is absolutely essential.  Now!

Every Democrat that ever previously voted for the wall or spoke out in favor of greater deterrence, should be ashamed of their own hypocrisy. Google up what Presidents Clinton and Obama have said publicly with great emotion about securing our southern border. Their point, it is unacceptable to not have complete control of our borders.     

Democrats, what is it about these numbers that you do not understand?

We have a humanitarian and national security crisis. 

TO THE CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATIC CAUCUSES:  I ACTUALLY BELIEVE YOU MUST, INTELLECTUALLY, UNDERSTAND THE NEED FOR MORE DETERRENCE. UNFORTUNATELY, YOU ARE OVERCOME WITH THE EMOTION OF POLITICAL RESISTANCE. SHAME ON YOU AS A SOLID CONGRESSIONAL CAUCUS AND SHAME ON ALL OF YOU INDIVIDUALLY WHO LACK THE COURAGE TO DO SOMETHING ESSENTIAL TO INSURE THE SAFETY AND SECURITY OF OUR NATION AND OUR PEOPLE.   

And where is the main-stream media with respect to President Trump’s overwhelming message?  THE MOST INSIDIOUS POWER THE MEDIA HAS IS THE POWER TO IGNORE.

Marv Covault