Biden Can Take Bold Steps for Dreamers in 2022
Plus, the "Good Coup"
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Via TIM MILLER The Best Playlist of 2021. (Read the story here.)
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LINDA CHAVEZ argues: Biden Can Take Bold Steps for Dreamers in 2022
The best permanent solution is changing the law, but that has proved impossible so far. Dreamers are only a small fraction of the approximately 11 million people living in the U.S. without permanent legal status. Reform advocates—including me—have argued that the system must be overhauled top-to-bottom to better suit our current and future needs for immigrants as well as provide legal status to people who have lived in, worked in, paid taxes in, and contributed to our communities despite having overstayed their legal visas or entered without authorization more than a decade ago. But the perfect cannot be the enemy of the good, and at this moment comprehensive immigration reform is unlikely, especially as we enter an election year. So why not do what we can to protect a small but significant population that has grown up and been schooled in the U.S. and are Americans in everything but legal status? Dreamers are members of our armed forces; they are studying to be or already practicing doctors, nurses, scientists, engineers, and teachers; they work at essential jobs across the labor force. With labor shortages threatening our economic recovery, what sense does it make to jeopardize losing these valuable workers?
For almost two decades, Congress has been stymied in passing any meaningful immigration reform. The fight has been twofold: What should we do about people currently in the country without permanent status, and what are the country’s needs for immigrants going forward? Tying the two together has doomed solutions for both. In 1986, President Reagan signed legislation granting amnesty for a population of 3 million illegal immigrants then present, but his support for amnesty was long-standing. “I believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and lived here, even though sometime back they may have entered illegally,” he said in a debate with Walter Mondale before the 1984 election. If we can’t solve all our immigration problems, at least President Biden could tackle one.
What's sustaining the belief that the election was stolen from Trump? It's rage-makers like Dan Bongino, who feed existential conflict to millions of Americans daily — in between ads for gun holsters and survivalist food rations. The New Yorker's Evan Osnos joins Charlie Sykes on today's podcast.
Read Evan’s item at The New Yorker here.
AMANDA CARPENTER writes: Peter Navarro had a perfectly legal strategy to overturn the 2020 election. And he would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for those meddling insurrectionists.
What Navarro is arguing is that he had a good coup in mind. The rioters were trying to do a bad coup. He’s the good guy. The rioters—and, funnily enough, Mike Pence, whom Navarro accuses of “betrayal”—are the bad guys who got in the way of this good coup. Navarro describes his Green Bay Sweep as “a well-thought-out plan based on sound, constitutional law and existing legislative precedent.”
“And all it required was peace and calm on Capitol Hill for it to unfold,” Navarro said.
And yea, verily, there is nothing expressly illegal about the strategy Navarro came up with. There are perfectly legal ways to disqualify the Electoral College votes and throw the election to a vote in the House of Representatives by state delegations. And, Trump would have likely won that vote.
🚨OVERTIME 🚨
Our snow problems are… over? No, not really. While I spent a lot of yesterday shoveling snow or deicing, a new problem came to light: I-95. Normally already a big problem for commuters, the snow coming down at a rate higher than expected by Virginia’s DOT caused… chaos.
So much so that the state closed the crucial East Coast corridor for a nearly 40 mile stretch between Dumfries, near where I live, and Fredericksburg.
After a near 24 hour ordeal, the roads are finally getting going. I got a few texts, some joking, some serious, “I hope you’re not stuck on I-95!” There are lots of harrowing stories that are going to come out in the next few days about these 24 hours. Heck, there might even be a Lifetime made-for-TV movie about it. Maybe even Hallmark!
An NBC news reporter stranded with his dog. A U.S. Senator spent 27 hours in the car for what is normally a 2 hour drive. His only food? A single orange.
But these are the public figures affected. While I’m interested the details of how folks managed to go to the bathroom and managed gas and staying sane, I am more interested in the stories of people whose lives were put at jeopardy here. Imagine a diabetic who didn’t bring enough medicine. Somebody with a health issue, or somebody who might go into labor.
Those are the stories that need to be written. But as I was paying attention to this early this morning, I noticed helicopters flying over my house at a rate that is unusual unless there’s a lot of activity at MCB Quantico. And when you hear a lot of helicopters, you get to know the pitch of their rotors. And so when I went out because there was one I didn’t recognize, I looked it up on FlightRadar24. It was a Robinson R-66, based out of an airport next to Fort Meade, and Robinsons are popular with hobbyists, and not typically used by the government. And we had State Police helicopters, TV helicopters, MedEvacs, and local police helicopters. So I kept the tab open all day and was just fascinated by this flight path.
Just what was this helicopter doing? It landed only a handful of times, and it doesn’t appear it was people trying to be rescued.
In the coming days, we’re going to see some harrowing stories, we’re going to see some inspiring stories, and it’s a wonder that (so far) nobody has been reported dead. I’m not sure if you can fix I-95, and this part of Virginia is by far its most congested. But I do want to read more about those who lived to tell the tale.
But guess what’s coming to D.C. at the end of the week? More snow.
The 1/6 Committee enters next gear.
The stories write themselves…
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