Not Criminal If the Government Does it

"When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal, by definition."

Richard Nixon

If Pablo Delgado the cartel coyote cuts razor wire along the US-Mexican border to allow illegal immigrants into the United States, that would be a crime.  Pablo would be subject to arrest and imprisonment.

If Greg Moss the fruit farmer cuts razor wire along the border and allows illegal immigrants into the country to pick strawberries, that would be a crime.  Greg would be subject to arrest and imprisonment.

If Officer Hernandez of the Customs and Border Patrol cuts razor wire along the border and allows illegal immigrants into the country, well that's just fine.  It's humanitarian and living up to our values.  Besides, Officer Hernandez is just following orders from President Biden.

The federal government has, for some inexplicable reason, decided to aid illegal immigration into the country.  The vast majority of Americans - around 67% - are opposed to this flood of immigration and yet the government is abetting the flow rather than stemming it.

Sometimes it is necessary for the government to govern against the will of the people, but when it does so, it needs to explain why.  It needs to lead and bring the people to understand the reasons why the unfavored course is correct.  President Biden has failed to do that.  His spokespeople have gaslit the American people by saying the border is secure and everything is fine.

Close the border or explain why floods of undocumented immigrants are a benefit.  Pick one.

Big Bird will be fine

Contrary to what some think, Sesame Street will be just fine if the Federal Government stops subsidizing PBS and NPR.  It is a hot commodity and ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox will get in a bidding war to air the further adventures of Big Bird, Elmo, Grover, Cookie Monster, and all the rest.  Yes, there will be commercials but the program will be otherwise the same.  In fact, PBS will probably stay on the air as it is and just have commercials.

 

That aside, why do we need public radio or public television?  I have hundreds of TV stations and countless radio station that don't require my tax dollars.  Why should one station get subsidized with my taxes?  Perhaps there was a call for that when there were only 3 broadcast stations but that is no longer the case.  Between satellite and cable, there is no reason for a state-sponsored channel.  To make matters worse, we have a yearly deficit over a trillion dollars a year and we can't cut the $445 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting?  Rather than extort through taxes that money from the citizenry and then give it to CPB, why not let the citizens keep that money and voluntarily fund CPB if they want it?

 

No matter who wins on Tuesday, I fully expect CPB to live on as a needless budget item.  It takes a Herculean effort to reduce the rate of growth of the budget and a Sisyphean task to actually cut the budget.  If we can't cut an entirely non-essential program like CPB, then we're doomed to become Greece.