Chaos Manor View, Sunday, September 11, 2016

Nine Eleven: 15 years

Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for the West as it commits suicide.

James Burnham

If a foreign government had imposed this system of education on the United States, we would rightfully consider it an act of war.

Glenn T. Seaborg, National Commission on Education, 1983

Deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

I watched the 15^th Anniversary of the attack on the United States with some misgivings. I recall when it first happened, no one thought that we’d go so far as to create new bureaucracies, spend hundreds of billions of dollars, get into land wars in Asia, quadruple the national debt, while failing to rebuild the twin towers taller and stronger and better; but we have managed to do so, and more. If the purpose was to bring financial and bureaucratic disaster to the United States while creating chaos in the Near, Middle and Far East, bin Laden more than accomplished his goal. Among other achievements, he caused the creation of TSA; and the TSA with its security theater drama is a permanent fixture; thanks to bin Laden. That bureau alone costs $7 billion a year.

It’s easy to loathe the TSA. They slow down our travel. They cost us money. They scan past the privacy of our clothing. And their screeners tend to have the same perpetually aggravated disposition of the average DMV employee. (Not to mention, their very presence seems to overshadow the multitude of other, simpler destructive options for your average terrorist.)

Any loathing you may have will only be fueled when you look through this infographic. The numbers are infuriating if you trust them all. 70% of weapons make it past TSA screeners? It costs us $6 million to find each gun? We spend more than double on the TSA than we do clean energy?

And don’t even look at the salaries they’re making.

https://www.fastcodesign.com/1669240/the-tsas-insane-budget-and-woeful-track-record

We can honor the victims of the attack. I’m not so sure about the remedies. The current administration created ISIS, but has no intention of doing much about it other than to feed special forces into an effort to nip at the Caliphate’s edges as it continues to grow. One division and the Warthogs could have eliminated the Caliphate as it was born, with no more than a few hundred casualties. Now it will take an entire Corps consisting of Infantry, Heavy Armor, all the A-10’s with heavy logistic support, and a Wing at least of air superiority forces to protect the Warthogs. That’s what I reckon it needs for next Spring, which is about the earliest we are able to strike. I say nothing about the requirements two years from now.

The only way to defeat ISIS is to deprive it of its status as a state. To be a state, it must govern a territory, where it imposes what it believes is the law ordered by Allah in the Koran. If it does not govern, it is not a state, just another terrorist organization.

As to why it requires so much to defeat ISIS: non-symmetrical warfare requires overwhelming force at the point of application; anything less than that plays into their hands. So long as they are not losing much territory, they are winning. Feeding troops into a meat grinder that goes on for years is their strategy: they can keep it up. We should not; and in fact we can’t. We haven’t enough long term determination.

The television is filled with memories of the 9/11 attack; it is well to remember, for it cost far more than the thousands immediately killed. We continue to pay, doing to ourselves in the name of security far more harm, at far greater costs, than the terrorists can afflict on us. It is clear that the current ruling class cannot end this. We have the means, as we had the means to rescue our people at Benghazi; but we have not the will to defeat our enemies, just as we had not the will to rescue our ambassador.

The chaos continues. Friday night we went twice to the Emergency Room at Kaiser. The first time, Roberta had an allergy reaction to the antibiotic pills she was taking for a chronic internal infection. It was just dusk, she drove, we were given prompt attention, and it was decided to change from her pills to infusions, the first to be administered there (in the hall; their rooms were filling up). The needle was left in her hand, and a nurse would come to the house the next day to show how we could do it for the next week. All seemed well, but on reaching the house – Roberta driving as I do not see well at night – we discovered that the tubes attached to her were leaking blood. Not a lot, but quite steadily.

We also discovered that our land line wasn’t working – again no dial tone. I immediately wrapped her hand and arm in a towel and drove back to the Emergency Room. The  first time when we arrived at the Emergency Room at about 9 PM (on Friday night), it was nearly empty, and while I noticed that the waiting room (very large) had more people in it when we left at about midnight, I paid little attention. The second trip, the way to Kaiser was crowded, far more traffic at 1 AM than there had been at midnight when we went home. Many pedestrians wandering about. Traffic at a halt. I drove around the point of maximum congestion by going down a center turn lane. I took it slow, everyone was polite and cooperative, and in a few minutes I was back to normal traffic for 0130, which is almost none. That must have been one big party!

The Emergency Room waiting room was filled to overflowing. Most of the people there looked unwell, but few seemed to have any visible emergency, and some, couples with children in tow, didn’t seem sick at all. It took a while to get my bleeding wife past the line that had formed in front of the reception desk, but again everyone was polite and cooperative, so we bypassed several of them, most of whom seemed mostly to need forms to fill out, and had no Kaiser card which would have obviated the forms. The receptionist had a Registered nurse badge; she registered our Kaiser card, but dealt with the bleeding herself by eliminating one of the tubes that had been attached, leaving Roberta’s needle in place but no longer leaking.

We were sent to wait for our name to be called. It was pretty clear to me that this would be a while, since we no longer had any critical need. I went to the receptionist and suggested we just go home, since a nurse was coming to the house Saturday anyway. The receptionist was very careful not to advise us to leave, but emphasized that we certainly could if we wanted to since there was no longer any critical need. She also suggested rehydration. She didn’t mention that it would be a while, but from the crowded waiting room it was fairly obvious.

So we went home and to bed. Saturday morning our son Alex went out to the Kaiser infusion pharmacy and picked up a huge bag of infusions and piping and various wrapped sterile disposable instruments. I figured out what was wrong with the phone – our fault this time, no internal wiring or AT&T problem. Josephine, a registered nurse came a bit early, Roberta got her infusion. She has had no allergy symptoms. The home RN came again this afternoon and all is well. Chaos Manor has returned to mild chaos.

I did get my brass cannon, which is what the National Space Society gives as its Heinlein Award. I know why, since Mr. Heinlein told me the Brass Cannon Story in his house while he was at 1776 Mesa in the Broadmoor district of Colorado Springs. But that’s for another time.

For what it’s worth, Snopes on “Hillary’s diazepam pen”

http://www.snopes.com/clintons-secret-service-agent-holds-diazepam-pen/

j

Wouldn’t know about that and don’t much care for breaking news. We do know that her coughing fit was probably caused by walking pneumonia. She’s pretty tough but that shouldn’t be neglected are her age. A few days rest and some antibiotics ought to take care of it, though. We can all wish her well.

HRC, if pneumonia why is NEUROLOGICAL Dr. Oladotun Okunola (Parkinson’s guy) always by u side? Admit u REAL illness!

This is the first time I’ve seen a name for this person, who was the person allegedly photographed having a diazepam (valium) pen available to inject Hillary.

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/08/oh-hillary-handler-carries-diazepam-pen-seizures/

http://www.meridianmeds.com/products/diazepam

Again, I have no notion, but the Constitution does not specify health impediments to being President. That’s a task for the voters, or the Electors.

Al Qaeda, Race, and US Schooling

Well, I find this interesting. The latest Al Qaeda communiqué sounds

more like something that would come out of one of these nutter colleges we’ve been reading about that have discriminatory housing, classes on how “evil” “white people” are, and so on.

<.>

The video also includes an appeal to African American non-Muslims, inviting them to convert to Islam to seek salvation with footage from a sermon from late African-American leader Malcolm X.

Addressing recent racial tensions involving black Americans, Zawahiri urges them to levy blame for their struggle on the U.S., telling them “the law is in the hands of the white majority, [who] control it as they wish,” according to a video translation issued by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

“We inform every weakened [person] in the world: America is the source of calamity and the head of evil in this world, and it is the thief of nations’ ailment, and it is the one who humiliate the Africans [i.e.

African Americans] until this day, and no matter how much they try to reform and obtain their rights according to the law and the [U.S.] constitution, they will not attain it, for the law is in the hands of the white majority, [who] control it as they wish. And they [i.e.

African Americans] will not be saved but by Islam,” Zawahiri says.

</>

http://www.foreigndesknews.com/world/middle-east/eve-911-anniversary-al-qaeda-threatens-attacks/

Just to grind the nonsense of the Al Qaeda terrorist, and the leftist

universities who parrot this kind of crap, into the dust: Thomas

Sowell — an academician of the black persuasion — remarked, with data to back up his claims, the American, “liberal” welfare state did more harm to American citizens of the black persuasion over a thirty year period than slavery did. He compared African American households without a father after slavery ended to the statistics after 30 years of leftist welfare and “Great Society” policies. You’ve mentioned this before and you’re in good academic company.

He also focuses on schooling and even that was better before the left touched it — as you’ve said. You’re an impressive man. You often open my eyes to things I didn’t know and I often find you in good intellectual company — not that intellectual company much matters to me, but it does make me more persuasive when I test your positions with conversation partners to judge reactions and hear rebuttals.

I realize you do not normally watch videos, but if you prefer you can see Sowell’s statements. He also makes interesting points on cultural assimilation and society and he even draws comparisons with Europe, Sri Lanka, etc. He’s very persuasive and very effective:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm-FqtAOSB8

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

I generally recommend Dr. Sowell. Moynihan pointed out long long ago that the black family survived slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, general neglect, and other stresses; it took The Great Society and welfare to destroy it. At the time he wrote his famous report the black illegitimacy rate was around 20%, and most black children had two parents living at home.

4 years after Benghazi, are we protecting US diplomats any better? – MSN News

They aren’t learning the lessons very well, are they?

4 years after Benghazi, are we protecting US diplomats any better?

By Martin Edwin Andersen

Tribune Washington Bureau – Tribune Washington Bureau – Sun Sep 11 20:47:41 UTC 2016

Four years after the Benghazi terrorist attacks killed four Americans on the 11th anniversary of 9/11, debate still rages over whether the United States has done enough to protect its diplomats overseas.

http://a.msn.com/r/2/AAiLT0O?a=1&m=en-us

They’re trying to get their last-minute killing in before the cease-fire starts the way holiday shoppers try to get their last minute shopping done before the stores close Christmas eve.

Spate of Deadly Attacks in Syria Ahead of Cease-Fire

By ANNE BARNARD

The New York Times – The New York Times – Sun Sep 11 19:30:00 UTC 2016

At least 91 people have been killed in strikes on rebel-held areas in the two days since Russia and the United States declared that a cease-fire would begin on Monday.

http://a.msn.com/r/2/AAiLZwL?a=1&m=en-us

David

: 9-11: The Charlie Foxtrot behind the story

http://www.aol.com/article/2016/09/11/secrets-of-9-11-new-details-of-chaos-nukes-emerge/21469698/?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl1|sec1_lnk3&pLid=-353835306_htmlws-sb-bb

Original story on NBC news (some different details)

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/9-11-anniversary/9-11-anniversary-how-lower-manhattan-has-healed-sept-11-n645816

: “New Class War”

Jerry,

Just read this:

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/new-class-war/

While I appreciate an academic analysis as much as the next guy, I think he really misses the point of Trump and his supporters. We want our country back.

—

Phil Tharp

I have that article on my “to be recommended” list, and intend to cite it when I do an update of Djilas and his theory of the new governing class. It is one reason why things always change for the worse despite the astounding accomplishments in technology.

Privilege Check, an Underfable

Privilege Check

Once upon a time, in Animal Farm, Snowball said to Napoleon, “All animals are equal.”

Napoleon said, “Check your privilege! I am more equal than you!”

Moral: The worst shall be first.

Paradoctor

Campbell’s Law

I thought your readers might find this to be of interest.

https://mikethemadbiologist.com/2016/09/10/campbells-law-strikes-education-again/=

Steve

Indeed

Fred on evolution.

<http://www.unz.com/freed/darwin-unhinged-the-bugs-in-evolution/>

He’s a bit unfair to Greg Cochrane, but the rest is spot-on.

I would say quite unfair to Greg, who has rational arguments for his views; they may be wrong, but he has more data than most grand theories have.

I remember learning “omnis cellula e cellula” in my first week of high school biology.  It seems to hold in today’s world. In so,me of my youthful intellectual excursions I was tempted to reject it, but I have never found a real exception to the rule.

sc:bubbles]

An instance within the memory of some of this house will show us how our militia may be destroyed. Forty years ago, when the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain, the British Parliament was advised by an artful man, who was governor of Pennsylvania, to disarm the people; that it was the best and most effectual way to enslave them; but that they should not do it openly, but weaken them, and let them sink gradually, by totally disusing and neglecting the militia.

— George Mason

I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for a few public officials.

— George Mason

Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.

Chaos Manor View, Thursday, September 8, 2016

Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for the West as it commits suicide.

James Burnham

If a foreign government had imposed this system of education on the United States, we would rightfully consider it an act of war.

Glenn T. Seaborg, National Commission on Education, 1983

Deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Migration without assimilation is invasion.

I have enough interesting new mail to continue the discussion of immigration, and I will do that. Meanwhile, things are approaching the normal state of chaos here. The plumbing works, the phones work, our life saving assistant is over her health problems, I can shower properly, and in general things are reasonable again. We had to postpone the weekly Wednesday conference, but we can make up on that later this afternoon.

For your amusement:

Now for a diversion:

Carol Highsmith. Public Domain

I saw an AP release today that intrigued me, and on looking farther, determined that it raises a matter of some interest to writers. The LA Times page C5 header said “Photographer gave up image rights, firms say”, which is not very intriguing, but for some reason I read it. It didn’t make a lot of sense, and the story was much more complex than the header indicates.

Carol Highsmith (ne McKinney) is one of the best known photographers in America, and her donation of her works to the Library of Congress and thus into the public domain.

Carol Highsmith is a distinguished photographer who has traveled all over America, aiming to chronicle for posterity the life of the nation in the early 21^st century. She’s donating her work to the public via the Library of Congress, which has called her act “one of the greatest acts of generosity in the history of the Library.” The Carol M. Highsmith Archive, which is expected ultimately to encompass more than 100,000 images, is accessible royalty-free via the library’s website.

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-getty-copyright-20160729-snap-story.html

So of course she gave up her image rights. She quite generously did so with full knowledge and intent. Why is this news?

Well, it turns out that Getty Images, among others, is selling copies of her photos. That’s certainly legal: I published copies of the California Sixth Grade Reader, and I think Amazon charges about four bucks, of which I get 70%. You can, as Getty Images notes in its defense, get copies of Dickens or Shakespeare, certainly public domain, from many places, some free and some for nominal sums. I think I just paid two bucks for the Kindle edition of Bleak House, although I was given a copy by Mr. Hertz, my lawyer, some years ago. Bleak House is a massive work, and I find it easier to read on the Kindle these days. Of course it’s legal to charge for copies of public domain works, else sellers of old book would all be out of business, but in fact a few remain. I doubt that one could make living publishing public domain books and images, but there is nothing illegal about it, as I am sure Ms. Highsmith knows. So why is she suing Getty Images? And for a billion dollars at that?

This is where the story gets more interesting. Enter now License Compliance Services, apparently acting on behalf of Getty Images. Ms. Highsmith used one of her own photographs on her own web site, whereupon License Compliance Services sent her a bill for $120 which was to purchase a license to her own photograph.

I do not know Ms. Highsmith although I think I may have met her at some social or fund raising event at one time or another, but I have no problem at all imagining the fury generated by that demand that she license her own photograph from a company she probably had never heard of. In any event she filed a suit:

Photographer Files $1 Billion Suit Against Getty for Licensing Her Public Domain Images

http://hyperallergic.com/314079/photographer-files-1-billion-suit-against-getty-for-licensing-her-public-domain-images/

In December, documentary photographer Carol Highsmith received a letter from Getty Images accusing her of copyright infringement for featuring one of her own photographs on her own website. It demanded payment of $120. This was how Highsmith came to learn that stock photo agencies Getty and Alamy had been sending similar threat letters and charging fees to users of her images, which she had donated to the Library of Congress for use by the general public at no charge.

Now, Highsmith has filed a $1 billion copyright infringement suit against both Alamy and Getty for “gross misuse” of 18,755 of her photographs. “The defendants [Getty Images] have apparently misappropriated Ms. Highsmith’s generous gift to the American people,” the complaint reads. “[They] are not only unlawfully charging licensing fees … but are falsely and fraudulently holding themselves out as the exclusive copyright owner.” According to the lawsuit, Getty and Alamy, on their websites, have been selling licenses for thousands of Highsmith’s photographs, many without her name attached to them and stamped with “false watermarks.”

Actually, she received the demanding letter from License Compliance Services acting on behalf of Getty Images (who, I suspect, now wishes it had never heard of License Compliance Services). According to today’s paper, Getty Images claims it has every right to charge for public domain images it distributes; I have not found their defense of requiring the author of the work to license its reuse.

I must say I wish Ms. Highsmith well. I also confess to being one of her admirers. If any of you have used one of her public domain photographs – there are thousands – and received a bill from LCS, you have my sympathies. She didn’t cause it to be sent.

See also https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160729/13362135105/getty-makes-nonsensical-statement-photographer-carol-highsmiths-lawsuit-falsely-claiming-copyright.shtml

A neat montage of some of Ms. Highsmith’s photos can be found at http://www.carolhighsmithamerica.com/ 

The “Undocumented” Problem

Jerry,

There appear to be some stumbling blocks in the way to reaching a consensus on how to handle the problem of people in the US without proper documentation.

The words Illegal, Alien and Criminal seem to trigger violent reactions from a large number of our Citizens and Elected Officials.

We should try to reach agreement on using the word Undocumented and using three categories Undocumented with US Citizen Children, Undocumented and Undocumented Felon.

I believe that adopting these three classifications will go a long way to reaching agreement on what to do to solve the Undocumented Problem.

These priorities for action may help to ease the path to consensus.

First, adopt a policy of immediate deportation of Undocumented Felons at either the completion of the incarceration or capture if not incarcerated.

Second, adopt a system of Work Visas for the currently Undocumented with US Citizen Children. Acceptance of such a Visa would allow Documented residence of a non-working spouse. A working spouse would be eligible for their own Work Visa. These Work Visas would require a longer than normal residency to be eligible for Citizenship (perhaps forever.)

Third, properly enforce the existing laws against the hiring of the Undocumented. Legislate increased penalties for violating these laws including significant periods of incarceration if necessary.

Fourth, address the porous border with Mexico. This is not just an Undocumented problem, but a real and extremely dangerous problem of Terrorism!

This can be addressed with a combination of technology and appropriate staffing. The Technology part MUST go outside of normal Federal Government Procurement Practices to ensure success.

Fifth, deal with the Undocumented without suffix population by giving them the option to return home and get in line for Work Visas and a possible path to Citizenship. Those that choose to stay will be deported when found and will not be eligible for either Visa or Citizenship.

Bob Holmes

Well, I disagree with none of your points, but I do object to their order: it seems to me that until we gain control of the border – stop the bleeding – the rest is irrelevant. Your fifth point is implicit in the Trump approach: we may not go looking for illegal aliens, but we have not forgotten they are breaking the law. I suspect that it is all that is possible, and much of that will have to be left to state and local authorities. Many of them will not be at all vigorous in their search for status offenders; but they should not relax their crime prevention efforts. It is in the interests of all, legals and illegals, that we reduce gang warfare and drug cartel power. Latest statistics show that can be done; but if we do not control the inflow, it is not so terribly useful. But then you know that.

Illegal immigration measures

Arizona’s experience shows that substantial enforcement does not require inhumane measures. They applied misdemeanor penalties like $100 fines for lacking a document or not using e-verify. The legal history is here:
http://www.ncsl.org/research/immigration/analysis-of-arizonas-immigration-law.aspx
In 2007, Arizona mandated use of E-Verify. It reduced formal illegal employment substantially. There’s always informal self-employment, of course, but it still makes the place quite a bit less attractive to illegals. An employment analysis, with data, is here:
http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/report/R_311MLR.pdf
The next step was SB1070, to enforce immigration laws at most government contacts. It passed with wide support among citizens. Most of its provisions were struck down by federal courts, because, ironically, federal law already had similar provisions and penalties. However, the “documents” provision remains in force because the US Congress did not establish penalties. This strongly suggests that sufficient laws are in place, just not enforced. Therefore, minor revisions to the federal budget and executive action could prioritize enforcement.
http://www.colorlines.com/articles/what-ever-happened-sb-1070
California already deports convicted felons who are illegal aliens, after they have served their terms. See http://www.shouselaw.com/deportable-crimes.html
Combine this with policies that improve border control and improve employment by lowering energy costs and reducing unnecessary regulations. Practical improvements in security and employment should be possible without an inhumane society.
Assigning welfare benefits only to legal residents is a good idea, but it has already been struck down by federal courts. The courts specifically extend constitutional civil rights to illegals, including “equal protection.” For example, North Carolina officials could not ask school children if their parents were illegals. It might take a constitutional amendment to overturn this. Any congressional act is likely to be overturned in the same way by citing the same cases.
Ray Van De Walker
How ell California complies with deportation of convicted felons is not so clear: there are numerous cases of illegals being released at the end of their sentence before informing the Immigration Service that they existed, or so I am told. There are also complications of Sanctuary Cities and various city police special orders. Of course we are discussing Federal, not State policies here.

I think an explicit Act of Congress denying benefits to Illegal aliens would have to be obeyed by the courts, even if it took a law changing the jurisdiction of the courts, which is explicitly within the powers granted to Congress; a nuclear option, indeed, but then the courts have played some pretty dangerous cards themselves.

immigration and the wall

I suspect it’s a matter of degree. Today we have no effective immigration control and essentially no wall. We can and should build a wall that will stop most of the tidal wave crossing the boarder today.

It’s like security systems, with our individual homes being the low end, local businesses a little higher, and what the president has, the practical top end. We don’t need a wall that stops everyone, we need a wall in the right places that stops most. We then need a boarder patrol that looks for the rest and handles them appropriately as dictated by our laws.

As for getting the 11+ million already here out, first stop the incoming tidal wave as in the above, next, let the police round up the know illegal felons and deport them. My buddy is a patrol cop, the police indeed know where they are. They just can’t do anything. Use something like E Verify to keep businesses from hiring illegals. Once we have done all of that, we can begin to talk about the rest.

I’ve always assumed this was Trump’s approach. It’s what any decent leader would come up with.

—

Phil Tharp

Deportation

Dr. Pournelle,

You say: “I have said it is reasonable to deport any illegal alien convicted of a felony upon completion of his sentence.”

I say, why house and feed him for a prison sentence?  He can run up quite a room and board bill for even the traditional minimum year and a day.

I propose deporting him upon conviction.  Now, we don’t want him coming back, so here is where it gets into the science fictional.  He should be indelibly marked.  Crooks tend to like tattoos, so we will give him an official one.  A bullseye would be appropriate because he would have the same status as a disaster looter… to be shot on sight.

Not politically or socially feasible, but we can dream.

“…surely we can do something immediately without endless talk?”

I don’t know what.  Making one’s position clear to politicians falls on deaf ears.  Worse, a politician will look you square in the face, and to quote Matt Helm’s boss Mac, “Lie and continue to lie in the face of compelling evidence to the contrary.”

Jim Watson

As you say, a dream. My intention was to discuss reality, such as what an elected President might actually be able to accomplish; nothing involving “shoot on sight” is likely and I would not think desirable. Returning deported felons are likely to be a problem: they are now. I propose that it be made explicit law that they are not citizens and have no right to entitlements including court ordered prison conditions. They could be sent to Guantanamo, but I see no reason to inflict their company on good Marines who don’t deserve that duty and aren’t paid for it. I think of a number of firms which would undertake to imprison repeat non-citizens under harsh but not inhumane conditions at fractions of the current imprisonment costs. Those facilities would be built for that purpose and that purpose only, and run by paid guards, with over-all supervision from the armed services. I do not further specify details, but the purpose is to make a not inhumane place that all sane persons would want to avoid, preferably by not reentering the United States.

Given that, I see no reason why early departures of sentenced felons should not be possible; depending on the felony, of course. For that matter, I have no real objection to contracts with foreign powers to imprison their own citizens after conviction in the US, although I expect most foreign countries would not sign one.

Immigration and taxes

Just to chime in on the conversation regarding what is to be done about illegals from a tax preparer’s perspective. Going after the companies who hire illegals is actually very easy for what many will likely find to be an astounding reason:

The IRS knows exactly who many of the people who work here illegally are, where they live (or at least where they receive mail) and who they work for. This is certainly not true for all illegals, but it is true for a great many of them.

More on that in a bit, but first I’d like to clear up something that many of your correspondents have said; that companies hire illegals to avoid paying them minimum wage. While this may be true in some places, I’ve never seen it. Every tax return I’ve prepared for someone here illegally (or on an H1B for that matter) is making huge sums of money relative to the native population, typically over 100K a year.

How it works: Company hires Illegal as an employee. Obviously Illegal does not have a social security number, but no matter. Those are pretty easy to find these days, thanks to the internet. The social security number typically belongs to a retiree who no longer files federal tax returns. (I always have to laugh when some burly Hispanic dude hands me a W-2 with a name like Myrtle Vargason on it.) At the end of the year, Company prints out a W-2 for Illegal, who then brings it to me. I carefully document Illegal’s information on Form W-7, essentially a signed confession to being here and working here illegally, so the IRS can issue him an ITIN. I then use this to file Illegal’s tax return so he can get whatever refund and tax credits he has coming. (As a registered tax return preparer, I am legally required to assist Illegal in obtaining his ITIN and filing his taxes. Failure to assist would result in consequences a tad on the serious side.)

Great system, right? Here’s the best part. A couple years hence, 80-year-old Myrtle Vargason up in Elk Snout, Montana gets a friendly letter from the IRS informing her she has 60 days to cough up a wad of cash to cover her penalties for failing to file a tax return on the money she made working heavy construction in Miami, Florida.

So what does Company get from this? By paying Illegal on a W-2, he isn’t avoiding any costs or regulations, so why take the risk? Because he gets an employee who will show up, on time, sober, and who will do the work without endlessly bitching about it being too hot or too cold or being too hung over to work. Sorry, but there it is.
Ric Frost

There is much to think about in your letter. Thank you. I am contemplating it now. I invite comment.

Petronius may consider Zuckerberg to be a member of his tribe, but Zuckerberg and the other Silicon Valley elites certainly don’t consider Petronius and the rest of us plebes to be members of *their* tribe – else they wouldn’t be fraudulently importing scads of foreign H-1B indentured servants to replace their fellow Americans, of whom there’s a surfeit better-qualified than the H-1Bers to do this work.

It’s unabashed economic treason. And one way or another, in the not-so-distant future, there *will* be a reckoning.

R

Landlines

We still have a landline – sort of. We live in a place served by fiber to the house. Our “landline” is carried over the fiber link which provides our cable TV service, our alarm service, and our 100 megabit per second Internet service, and is included in the cost. I supposed that counts as a “landline” but it has obvious advantages over conventional wired service. We live in the Texas hill country, and there are places out here where cell service is spotty as well.

Best Regards,

   — Lindy Sisk

Russian Nuke Ahead of Schedule

One of the arguments made by the Fred — submitted by J — makes a point that I believe many Americans have trouble facing: American policy makers consistently and repeatedly overestimate American capabilities while underestimating enemy capabilities. Further, American policy makers almost never seem to realize that we don’t know much — and certainly not everything — that adversaries may be doing and the battlespace can change quickly.

I’m watching very small, but significant changes in the men and materiel that we would be arrayed against. This is another one of those changes, easily assimilated into existing data and dismissed as “unimportant” along with all the other small changes that were dismissed as “unimportant”.

<.>

On Monday, a defense industry official told Russian media that the mass production of the RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, a new multi-warhead, super-heavy missile designed to defeat anti-missile systems, would begin in 2018, two years ahead of schedule. Defense analyst Vladimir Tuchkov explains what made this possible.

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https://sputniknews.com/military/20160907/1045062797/sarmat-ahead-of-schedule-analysis.html

As Fred said, and I’ve said, our policy makers and “perfumed political princes” — an apt label for our failure of generalship — are not prepared to defeat sheep herders in Afghanistan nor a rabble that was under the shoes of one of the most powerful dictators in modern times.

Nor are they prepared to make realistic alliances that actually help US interests, witness Saudi Arabia. And these people want to fight Russia?

Remember how the Germans trained with broomsticks during a NATO exercise because they couldn’t afford to equip their soldiers with small arms? I guess that would be harder with Merkel’s CDP allocating resources to import military aged men from war torn areas — men who would not fight for their own country but will somehow, magically, become good Germans that would fight for Germany one day?

I could go on, but why bother? The die has been cast. I feel like the people who actually saw what was happening before WWI must have felt. I feel like I’m watching a train wreck that I can prevent if only the drivers will head the words coming into their brains through their commo boxes. But, as a Princeton study demonstrated, the American people have zero effect on US policy and have not for decades.

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

Those who have not seen http://www.fredoneverything.net/PussyGeneral.shtml might finds it amusing. Warning: Fred is very politically incorrect. The easily offended probably ought to avoid his site.

sc:bubbles]

Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.

Chaos Manor View, Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for the West as it commits suicide.

James Burnham

If a foreign government had imposed this system of education on the United States, we would rightfully consider it an act of war.

Glenn T. Seaborg, National Commission on Education, 1983

Deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

The immigration discussion continues.

It should be understood, I am attempting a rational discussion of the immigration question. That means, among other things, that I am not considering outrageous policies likely to provoke civil war, such as mass murder or mass sterilization, nor physically or financially impossible measures such as instant deportation of eleven million persons. Even were we all agreed that the eleven million illegals already present must all go – and certainly that is not universally agreed – we could not do it. Even if all eleven million decided they wanted to go back to their former homes, it would take considerable time for them to get there.

It is unlikely that all of them will ever leave or be deported whatever we do, just as it is unlikely that we will ever build an impenetrable Wall along the southern border. Some – many – may want that, but the cost will be high and even then some will slip through. After all, people do get out of Cuba, and North Korea; they did escape the former Soviet Union; and I doubt we will ever enforce our border controls as vigorously as the Soviet Union once did and North Korea still does.

To berate Mr. Trump as flip=flopping when he says he will not deport them all in his first year, or even his first term, is meaningless; he can’t do it, he knows he can’t do it, he knew he couldn’t do it when he said he wanted to (if he ever explicitly said that); and he knew his listeners knew he couldn’t do it. You knew he couldn’t do it. He said he wanted to do it, perhaps, but a political promise obviously impossible of fulfillment is not real, it is said for its emotional effects. We all know that, so let us act like adults in these matters.

Previously I have said it is reasonable to deport any illegal alien convicted of a felony upon completion of his sentence. No new trial is needed. It is reasonable to require all state officials to inform the Federal authorities when any illegal alien is convicted of a felony, and to require that they detain him until he – or she – is in the custody of a suitable Federal officer. We may haggle over details, but surely the principle is agreed to?

It is reasonable to make strenuous efforts to regain control of the borders, and devote new efforts to that purpose.

This enough to allow a clear distinction between the candidates and parties. There is a candidate who would find all these propositions reasonable and would devote efferent to fulfilling them. There is another who doesn’t even find them worth discussing, and when they do come up rejects them.

Dear Dr. Pournelle,
It seems the last few lines of your September 6, 2016 View regarding the enforcement of laws against hiring illegal immigrants point to a much simpler and more cost effective strategy.
A primary impetus for most of the immigration to the US is economic. Which means employers who illegally hire these non-citizens are should be at least one focus of a solution, if not the primary focus. The President could easily and lawfully direct the IRS to use greater scrutiny to businesses in trades where illegal labor is customarily employed (construction, landscaping, etc.).
The IRS regulations already have a “duck test” rule, meaning that if something walks like a taxable duck and talks like a taxable duck they can tax it as a duck. It is often used for determining the difference between independent contractors and employees which allows the IRS to assess payroll taxes for persons claimed as contractors who are actually employees. This could be very easily and quite legally be applied to companies whose tax returns tend to strongly indicate the use of off-book illegal labor. For example, a landscaping company that generates $500K per year but claims only 2 employees is almost certainly using unreported illegal labor. The IRS can then estimate the amount of legal labor required to do the work and present a tax bill at that amount based on American wage scales and minimum wages.
Since it appears that the main advantages of using illegal labor are avoidance of payroll taxes, minimum wage and other labor laws, more serious enforcement of taxation would eliminate many of these advantages. And to the extent violation of labor standards and minimum wage laws incentivize the use of illegal labor the IRS can easily pass along notifications to local authorities where they suspect these issues. Even very liberal local governments are likely to frown upon violation of labor protection laws, and they certainly support minimum wage laws.
And to the extent the IRS needs any additional funding to enforce these employment tax laws, it does seem that the increased tax revenue from opening the previously blind eye given to employers of illegal aliens would cover the cost. In fact, it might prove to be a short term revenue source and help budgetary matters a little.
And since the enforcement mechanism is using existing IRS laws and regulations, protections for persons falsely accused are already in place. The appeal of tax bills in the tax court is a standard procedure with legal protections for the appellant are already built in.
I admit this is an off the cuff idea rather than a detailed policy and procedure proposal, however it does seem that for all the talk of immigration issues being related to jobs, nobody really wants to talk about the jobs side much less the significant tax revenue lost to this grey economy.
Thank you for your time, and please know I greatly appreciate your thought provoking web journal.
Sincerely,
Chris Reichman

Any discussion of immigration beyond my two points above is likely to be off the cuff and subject to wild debate; but surely we can do something immediately without endless talk?

Deportations

You make an excellent case for easy does it on the deportations / illegals problem.

But consider the following scenario which is actually lower cost than our existing legal costs for illegals.

First: Declare a state of emergency because of an existing invasion and plot to overthrow the existing government of the various states. ( what else would you call the various Reconquista movements in the Southwest. They openly declare their aim is to restore California, Arizona, New Mexico, and  Texas to Mexico .)

Second: Deploy the Army along the border with the Rules of Engagement specifying shoot to kill anyone crossing at an non designated Point of Entry.

Third: Kill Sanctuary Cities by having Federal Grand Juries indict the Mayor, City Councilmen, Police Chiefs, and Sheriffs of communities that harbour illegals for any subsequent crimes committed by a criminal illegal alien under various laws regarding Deprivation of Civil Rights. Hauling them off in chains to another community to stand trials for aiding and abetting in the further depravations of the criminals is the proper reward for their actions. Acts have Consequences. In most states being convicted of a felony will end any political careers.

Third: Announce a very short, Run for the Border immunity in which illegals can keep their assets and reapply for legal entry based on date they departed. Basically on 21 January make the announcement with final date of 15 March (Beware the Ides of March).

Fourth: After that date Illegal aliens found in the United States who have not committed any other criminal act would be tried and on conviction deported (with permanent bar to re-entry)  with all their (meagre) assets confiscated through Criminal Forfeiture.

Fifth: (and this is the wild part!!) Following the example of FDR during ww2 turn criminal aliens over to the Army for drum head court and execution on charges if sabotaging the American economy. German saboteurs were landed on Long Island during the war. They subsequently turned themselves in to the FBI which in turn turned them over to the Army which held courts and ordered the imprisonment of US citizens and  execution of Germans. The interesting aspect of this procedure is that it has already been reviewed and found constitutional by the US Supreme Court. In this case a criminal alien is one who has committed any other crime beyond mere illegal entry such as identity theft, use of false ID papers, welfare fraud, as well as the normal rape, murder, ad pillaging.

Because of the reduced legal costs we would actually spend less money than we are currently using for law enforcement. And the prospect of execution would serve to incentivize all criminals to flee.

Net cost of removing 11 –30 million illegals beyond what we are already spending  – ZERO

Yes, the Liberals would howl and challenge this but since their hero ordered these procedures they have less room to stand. And would you as a criminal be willing to bet your life that the Supreme Court would be willing to overturn its own decision in a few years? Safer to just Run for the Border.

Earl

This is more like science fiction than a serious proposal, is it not? If we could get national agreement on doing that, we would have done some of it already. Perhaps I overestimate the difficulties and underestimate the rising sense of panic.

In any event, I have a more modest goal: to get started on doing things we can all agree on.

But it might make a great sf story.

Illegal Immigration

The answer is to dispense with the oppressive regulations companies are strangled with.

Once that is done the economy will take off and there will be jobs for everyone.

At that point anyone breathing can get a job and who cares if there are illegals mowing lawns and gardening.

Utterly sensible. Let’s do it.

Death for hiring legal foreigners?

Dear Doctor Pournelle,

When you agreed with correspondent “Mark” that Mark Zuckerberg should be treated, for hiring legal immigrant programmers, the same as the rich man in the passage from scripture quoted by Mark, you do realize that means executing mark Zuckerberg, as well as fining his estate six times the cost of Mr. Zuckerberg’s “crime”, such cost probably to be estimated by the same goons that kill him. I imagine they will be quite reasonable in their calculations. Perhaps they will leave Zickerberg’s widow and orphans a home and small stipend, once Marks goons have finished looting Mr. Zuckerberg’s corpse?

I will leave to your imagination where this policy would lead, and in short order at that.

I suppose this is no problem for correspondent ” Mark”, since Mr.Zuckerberg is not a member of Mark’s tribe, clan or faith.

It is for me. As with Zuckerberg, I am an American, and if you seek to harm one of MY tribe, I will take umbrage at that, and protect my tribe, the citizens of the United States of America.

I take it that you agreed with the notion of some punishment for those who profit from illegal immigrants, and not with the literal sense of “Mark’s” rant? As would I. However, I believe that Mark meant to be taken quite literally.

Petronius

You take it that I agree with everything he said and all the implications that you draw from your reading? You give me more credit than I deserve in assuming I read it that closely, and considerable disservice in assuming that I would find that interpretation reasonable. So far as I know I have never agreed to punishment for all those profiting from the assistance of illegals.

Good luck on protecting all of the members of your tribe. While I might share that goal, I am unlikely to be of much use in achieving it at my age.

I do believe in Bill Buckley’s observation that one can successfully study and learn to be an American, in contrast to becoming a Swiss, or a German, or a Swede by intellectual effort. I suspect the Swedes are learning more about that proposition than they wanted to know. To that extent St Paul’s letters seem to be on firm ground. It is becoming more popular to reject the concept of the American Melting Pot than it was in my high school days when it was thought self=evident that the Melting Pot worked. We had assimilated Irish, Italian, Hungarian, English, Scots, Welsh, and other immigrants. Britain managed fusion of Britons, Angles, Saxons and Danes; they had merged with the Normans; yet Scotland and Wales and Ireland remained in a way that “Little Italy” did not.

Of course assimilation takes incentives, considerable adaptation and determination, and other factors we don’t have room to discuss here; but visibly it worked in America until there was a determined effort to prevent it. This is not the place for that discussion. I do repeat that migration without assimilation is invasion.

Immigration

Labor VOTES. You can’t think of the 11 to 30 million Illegals as merely a present day economic issue. That’s short sided. We have a moral responsibility to think about future generations.
All those tens of millions of new immigrants – legal and illegal – are going to vote Leftist. That’s the whole reasons they’ve were brought here!
And please, don’t give us the old cop out about “assimilation” taking care of everything. There are poor Hispanics families living in New Mexico that go back 300 years!
The eight million square miles under Hispanic control isn’t exactly a paradise.
It shocks me that grown men can think of themselves as moral while stabbing their own children and grandchildren in the back by NOT kicking the illegals out.

Rob King

While your frustration is obvious, I do not see why an attempt at rational discussion is impossible. Incidentally, I reject the validity of “copout” as an unanswerable argument. There are poor families in many countries that go back 300 years. In the 21^st Century it may be common to think of the permanent underclass as Hispanic in origin, but the people sterilized by the eugenicists on the grounds that three generations of morons is enough were more likely to be named Jeeter or Jukes or Kalikak than Sanchez. Then there are Faulkner’s Snopes boys…

I don’t recall proclaiming anyplace a paradise.

Reading Nero Wolfe
“I admit to doing a lot of funking out and reading old Nero Wolfe stories.”
I have them all packed onto my Kindle, and binge on them now and then. It’s intellectual comfort food. I’ve been doing the past couple of weeks, and right now I’m up to “Homicide Trinity.”
Terry Pratchett, Sherlock Holmes, Kipling, Heinlein, and several other authors fall into this category, too.

Tom Brosz

I find old quiet action novels I have already read a good distraction when I don’t seem to be writing anything but I have to do something I can stop instantly when I do get the right ideas. I tend to agree with your list. John D. Macdonald also qualifies.

Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.

Chaos Manor View, Monday, September 5, 2016

Labor Day Part Two

Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for the West as it commits suicide.

James Burnham

If a foreign government had imposed this system of education on the United States, we would rightfully consider it an act of war.

Glenn T. Seaborg, National Commission on Education, 1983

Deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Illegal Immigrants and what to do with them.

Does anyone talking about this subject have any sense of reality? There are said to be 11 million undocumented illegal immigrants in the United States. Some of them want nothing more than invisibility; to be left alone, do their work as nannies, housekeepers, gardeners, day laborers, small business operators, pushcart sales persons, and the myriad other activities they engage in. They send some money back home, but most don’t send a lot because they don’t have a lot to send. Many are the parents of “anchor babies”, US citizens under existing law.

At the other end of the spectrum are the career criminals, some in Federal prisons, others in city and county jails.

With only these facts we can draw some conclusions. First, it would be difficult to find and apprehend all 11 million. It would also be very expensive. We’ll assume it is possible for the sake of discussion, but can we all agree that it will be very difficult and expensive to deport them all, and the benefits of deporting all 11 million are likely to be lower than the costs?

One conclusion seems obvious: we should immediately deport any illegal alien – undocumented migrant – upon the end of a jail or prison term for any felony. Exceptional cases can plead for clemency. I say this to cover the usual cases presented in fiction but rare in reality, the illegal whom we ought to welcome who got caught up in some legal technicality and deserves mercy. Those cases generally stand out, and we can rely on citizen volunteers to find them and make pleas. The usual fate of a illegal alien convicted of felony should be instant deportation, and there can’t be much Constitutional argument that Congress has not the power to make that legal and binding. Aliens have no rights under the US Constitution unless those rights are granted by law.

Another exception would be those who have already been through this process and then return are apprehended during the commission of a criminal act. A possible way of dealing with such cases is obvious. They have no rights as citizens. They can be confined in low cost conditions, not expensive prisons in which the courts have power to grant various rights they discern in emanations from penumbras in the Constitution. They deserve neither emanations nor penumbras, nor bail.

Meanwhile. Close the borders; get back in control of the flow of undocumented migrants into the United States.

If we could stop the incoming flood while deporting the felons, we’d be miles ahead. One of the Presidential candidates would at least attempt to do that much; would both?

As we begin to take control of the influx and deport the felons, we can attack another problem, the expenses associated with illegal immigrants. That too is fairly simple. We explicitly deny them all rights to entitlements: welfare benefits, health care, food stamps; etc., may be rights for citizens, but they are not rights for illegal aliens. Mercy, charity, and social stability may require giving illegal aliens some of these benefits. Some may be ignored, but it must be understood that these are gifts, not matters of right and not entitlements. Cutting back on these “entitlements” will not only save money, but also lower the expected value of illegal entry. Some of those already here may decide the game is not worth the candle and turn themselves in for deportation.

That still leaves millions of illegal aliens, most striving for invisibility. If we simply declare that a legal change in their status requires that they register, deport themselves, and seek legal reentry before they can apply for citizenship, I suspect that solves the problem. Most won’t deport themselves, in which case they are eligible for deportation upon coming to the attention of the authorities – an event they will make every effort to avoid. Many will assimilate over time, which is an outcome devoutly to be wished. Legally they remain deportable, and on conviction of crimes of violence or other felonies they certainly will be deported. Meanwhile, your gardeners, housekeepers, and nannies remain outside the active scrutiny of the law. They will never be citizens, but why should they become citizens? If that’s what they want they can deport themselves and apply for legal entry.

As to protecting American jobs, we already have the laws against hiring illegal aliens. How vigorously we enforce those laws would, I suppose, depend on local conditions and local sentiments; local politics. Not the concern of the federal government in most places.

Obviously the above is not the end of discussion. On the other hand, it’s a beginning. Controlling the borders, deporting felon illegal aliens, and curtailing entitlements for non-citizens would almost certainly produce a better society than we have now, and just that much will not be simple or easy or cheap; surely it is a good start?

Of course it’s a pipe dream. There are too many political interests in the present situation, which is why only one candidate, the outsider, raised the immigration question when the others would as soon have avoided it as too difficult. Much easier to make grand talk about comprehensive immigration reform and Dream Acts on so forth. Much easier to go with the flow, and accuse anyone actually facing the problem of being too hard, too soft, flip-flopping, and un-Presidential.

It’s late and time for bed.

ATT
We had our ATT land line go out a week or so ago. As with yours, it was a street problem, not a house problem. It took two techs (two trucks!) several hours to pull open at least three street boxes, unwrap the incredible rats nests of wires inside them, and finally track the problem to a broken line under the street.
Fortunately, they run several spare wires, so all they had to do was disconnect the broken wire and connect up a spare.
The techs did good work, and didn’t seem to be just going through the motions.
I’m getting the impression from my aging wiring that our land line system is falling into neglect under the onslaught of cell phones. How much real innovation and infrastructure update is going into these systems? How much is just companies like ATT supporting a shrinking group of land line users while focusing on other communication markets?
There’s a chart at this website:
https://www.statista.com/chart/2072/landline-phones-in-the-united-states/

Tom Brosz

Phyllis Schlafly, RIP.

<http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2016/09/05/longtime-conservative-icon-phyllis-schlafly-dies-at-92/>

———————————————————————–

Roland Dobbins

To paraphrase Jerry, I don’t agree with all of Fred’s arguments at his article linked below, but I have to agree with the conclusion.

The worst time to get into war with Russia or China is after 8 years of Obama doing his damndest to destroy the military, and the RINOs walking to the drumbeat to keep the (domestic political) peace.

The above is not intended to imply that there is any BEST time to get into such a war. But if current Russian hacking is being conducted with the intent of either weakening the US or getting us into a shooting war (I submit that there is less doubt about China’s current maritime adventuring), the best we can do at present is fall back to “a well regulated militia, being necessary to a secure state…” (and the appropriate cyber variants necessary to today’s technology) and bide our time (expensively) until we can once again mount a good offense.  Of course, Obama has spent 8 years railing against part A, and Hillary has promised to complete the job…

http://fredoneverything.org/hillary-trump-and-war-with-russia-the-goddamdest-stupid-idea-i-have-ever-heard-and-i-have-lived-in-washington/

J

Paul & Galations 3:28 /buffy willow

Dear Jerry,

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

“St. Paul may have been an optimist.” 

Or Galatians 3:28 is being grotesquely and disingenuously wrenched out of context to attempt to justify secular social and political goals and ideas it never had the slightest connection with.  Coincidentally enough this verse and a few others before and after were the Epistle reading a few Sundays ago at our church.  Since you appear to be using the Berean Literal Bible I’ll continue with it:

Galatians 3:26 teaches, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”

Galatians 3:27 continues, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

And Galatians 3:29 followed up with, “Now if you are of Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.”

Taken together this very clearly refers to a fellowship of all Christian believers.   It certainly can never be used under any circumstances to justify an unlimited influx of non-Christians into any Christian land.  And it can’t even be used at all unless a theocracy is set up.  

Alternately we could go ahead and add numerical references to each word in the Bible, or even each letter.  This will make it still easier for people to indulge that favorite pass time of using the Bible to justify their personal positions.  As the late Sam Francis observed on the occasion of the Southern Baptist Convention’s apology for slavery, the Bible endorses human slavery and does not prohibit it.  Even John the Baptist and the Apostle Paul advised slaves to be content in their situations.

But this being Sunday, I’ll quote one another applicable Bible teaching, this one on the question of the extremely wealthy welcoming strangers while imposing all the costs of their hospitality involuntarily on their poor neighbors:

2 Samuel 12:1-6

12 The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. ² The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, ³ but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

⁴ “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”

⁵ David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! ⁶ He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

This seems appropriate for the many persons who enjoy the large profits of low cost immigrant labor – frequently illegals – while involuntarily imposing all the social costs onto the broader community.  Mark Zuckerberg and his H1B programmers come to mind here.

Best Wishes,

Mark

I agree. My context was different and I should have been more careful in the way I said it.

Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.