Live like a Refugee

[RE]

We are overdue for a dedicated Refugee politics thread.

Kickoff article here with the law suits and counter suits between the city of Chicago and the Bus companies making a tidy profit in human traffickig taking taxpayer money to ship refugees from TX to the Windy City.

Now, it seems to me that as long as the migrants have crosssed the border legally, they have the same rights to freedom of travel around the lower 48 as any citizen or tourist.  If instead of chartering buses, the TX Gubernator simply bought them each a itcket on Amtrak's Texas Eagle at $115 apiece he couldn't sue Amtrak since it's a regularly scheduled train.  This falls under interstate commerce law.  The only difference is price, busing them is cheaper.  However, Amtrak would probably give TX a bulk rate so the ticket would come cheaper.

Alternatively, the Gubernator could take a freight train with boxcars and instead of transporting TX cattle to the Chicago slaughterhouses, load them with migrants instead.  This method worked well for Uncle Adolf to empty the Warsaw Ghetto of Jewish migrants who escaped the pogroms in Mother Russia.  This could really bring down the transportation cost to the taxpayers.



What's the difference between Human Traffickers who ship refugees from Nuevo Laredo to San Antonio and Bus owners who ship them from San Antonio to Chicago? 

Be interesting to see who the courts rule for, the City of Chicago or the Bus Companies?   Who's gonna win?  Inquiring minds want to know.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/texas-bus-company-sues-chicago-migrant-drop-offs

Texas bus company suing Chicago over migrant drop-offs

RE

[Knarf]

I thought of this image this morning. I prompted "a dinner that serves immigrants, with a cannibal sign"

[RE]

Yee Haw!  Mercy sakes alive, we got us a CONVOY!



https://nypost.com/2024/01/27/news/convoy-claiming-to-be-gods-army-heading-to-texas-to-protest-border-crisis/

Convoy claiming to be 'God's army' heading to Texas to protest border crisis: 'Biblical, monumental moment'

RE

[K-Dog]

When did we lose the border?  Why do these fools have to go find it?  I am sure it is still between Mexico and the US.  It has not moved  since, oh yeah, the Mexican American war.  It was more north before that war.

Since it is peaceful gathering, I'd advise taking extra food to share with the Hondurans who have just rode up on the roof of  'The Beast'.  A train named for the number of migrants it kills when they fall off the roof.  As they grab the side they often get pulled under the wheels.  Clothing from the human roadkill gets caught in the trucks. 

The Beast

God they say,  Well then, I hope for lightning bolts and smiting from the heavens.

And a thunderous voice on high says, know thy enemy.  God indeed!

* Your security or theirs.  I did not ask for the block so it means they want to give you cookies to know who you are.  Their security, not yours.  The screen is a common generic lie.  And the writers of such lies do not know how completely they have alienated people.  The website embedding was done in such a way that code on the embedded page can't mess with the Diner.  There is no security issue.

From the page:  ( I used a web proxy )

We are besieged on all sides by dark forces of evil - we have sustained continual bombardments of tyranny & have maintained our honor, prestige and esprit de corps - The enemy has demanded the surrender of Lady Liberty and her children.

Tyrannical actors have tortured and oppressed without cause, without mercy and without reprieve.

It is written, "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God"  We, the sons of God, shall never surrender or retreat. 

It is time for the remnant to rise.
It is time for the remnant to stand.
It is time for We The People to stand in the gap.


Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch - If this call is neglected, we are determined to sustain ourselves as long as possible & act like soldiers who never forget what is due to our own honor & that of our country.

~ LTC (Ret) Pete Chambers
The Remnant A Team, Commanding

I'll speak for my buddy on this.  These are not sons of god.  These are sons of bitches.

[K-Dog]

I'm going to work unloading a semi today.  The driver may or may not be new.  I can be 100% sure he won't be worried about a wetback 'stealing' 'his' job.  Regardless of his politics.  He will have an interstate commercial license.  That document would be a hard one to fake.

Truckers have jobs that are as secure as the diesel supply.  Trucker money is better than flipping burgers.  A trucker can even raise a family if they are on the road long enough not to ever be home to see them.  Not a bad gig for a high school dropout.

It is not a good enough gig so that you are able to take time off shipping product and finance 1000 gallons of diesel to drive a truck you likely have not paid off to a line in the southern sand.  Putting my thinking cap on I do not see how this 'convoy', with the morality of a third grade bully, and a convoy that most people would be ashamed of being associated with, can amount to much.

Canadian truckers protests resulted in the US army making plans to drive truck if our army of high-school dropouts decide to all at once stop driving truck.  Capitalism first!

RE drove truck, showing truckers are not all high-school dropouts.  There are intelligent refined drivers  Some may even play piano and be good chess players.  But can such exceptions describe the truck driving herd? 

Trucking is a job that some people do because that is their best option.  Regarding other things there is high probability that they have shit for brains.  I'm fine with the Army having to man trucks if need be.

The fact major news outlets are giving no info on the convoy means.  Nothing.  It may or may not exist, but homeland security will decide you do not get to know.  Father knows best.

Yet POX NEWS is a major outlet you may say.  Yes it is, but POX NEWS generates fake conservative news.  It is their reason for being..  A convoy that does not amount to much POX will try and turn into a three ring circus.  There is a lot of stock footage of trucks driving around.  It seems video about the convoy is in the stock video zone.  Not that cretins watching POX NEWS would notice.  If you never make a video and only drink beer, you do not even know about stock footage.

[RE]

Well, according to the newz story I linked, they had only raised about $90K to finance this expedition.  That does not indicate a huge  following or turnout.  It would be very expensive for an independent trucker to do the wwhole trip, both in the cost of fuel + the time lost you could be pulling freight.  No trucking company would let a driver take the trip in a company vehicle.

However, they aren't only recruiting truckers, they want biker clubs like the Hells Angels and retired cops to take the trip as part of the convoy.  These folks have the time and the bikers go out together for club joyrides anyhow, so that's their base.

Far as the truckers go, they are driving the I-10, and once on the road they'll pick up truckers driving the route anyhow for at least part of the trip.  Anybody who has a cross country freight load booked during that week usually has a day or 2 of flexibility on the delivery date, so if they are real supporters of anti-immigration they might be able to do most of the route.

The big question is how many drivers on the I-10 they can pull into the convoy along the route.  They'll all be chatting on the CB radios as they go, and will recruit along the way.  If they are smart, they'll run an advance team about 12 hours before the main convoy starts and hit all the truckstops along the I-10 passing out flyers to idle truckers in the parking lots.

I doubt it will draw in that many, but I could see upwards of 500 vehicles starting out and maybe a couple of thousand at the end.  There's also the significant chance a counter protest group will tag along, including agent provocateurs to make trouble along the way.  If violence breaks out, that would get them newz coverage, so that might even be planned secretly.

They should be getting on the road soon, so just have to search the newz to see if anything turns up.

RE

[RE]

I will officially declare the anti-immigration convoy as a total flop on Day 1.

If they were halfway decently organized, they would have had their own live stream fot the start, along with some shots from a drone of a big crowd in a parking lot and vehicles streaming out onto the road.  With even just 50 vehicles and a crowd of a few hundred you could shoot some decent video.

Nope.  The one Fox Newz  story I found has one shot with a tour bus in it.  I'll bet they didn't have more than about 20 vehicles at the start.

Another Faux Newz story claimed "700K Trucks" would participate in this convoy.  Any idea how long that convoy would be?  About 8000 miles!  lol.  That's 4X as long as the route.

The French Farmers are doing a lot better blockading all the highways leading into Paris.  They know how to organize a protest over there.

Here's the God's Army dimwits:

Here's the frog farmers:

RE

[RE]

Today's Faux Newz promotion of God's Army Convoy has changed its claim from 700K trucks to 700K people expected to attend.    Expected by whom?  The propaganda dept at Fox clearly has pulled this number out of their asses.  Not much more in the way of photos, what they appear to have in their "convoy" is one light tractor trailer for gear, one tour bus for staff, a couple of food trucks and maybe 4 or 5 pickup trucks with campers or RVs.  They set up a little market with vending tents with t-shirts and souvenirs in parking lots on the route.

Despite the obvious minimal turnout, Fox is treating it like a major event, giving it big coverage as a lead story every day.  It comes up first as top newz story on Google Newz right now.

If they even get 7000 people at their final rally in Eagle Rock I'll be amazed.



https://nypost.com/2024/01/30/news/take-our-border-back-convoy-were-just-ordinary-citizens/

Take Our Border Back convoy expected to have 700K people to protest border crisis: 'We're just ordinary citizens'

[K-Dog]

We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.

Thinking you are an empire goes to your head.

"We've got Canadian truckers, moms and dads. We've got motorcycles. If people could bring horses they'd bring horses. I know the numbers we are looking at are 700,000. I think it'll possibly be bigger than that."

I think you need more than one truck to be a convoy?



Correct me if I am wrong.

[K-Dog]

Truckers for Freedom.  Really?  A trucker is EMPLOYED.  A trucker is not free.  RE will correct me if I'm wrong but even independent truckers have to be dispatched by someone who finds a load for them to haul.  Truckers as a class are all bitches of 'THE MAN' it seems to me.  Without capitalism and corporate tyranny all Truckers would be is workers who drive trucks.  Hmmmm  maybe that is all they are?

Somehow 'truckers' and 'veterans' got confabulated.  Hells Angels, Hunter Thompson and Hollywood were the catalyst of this incorrect abstraction if you want to get into the social dynamics of how it came about.  But that is a story for another day.

Regardless, trucker and veteran are confabulated in some kind of thought salad that seems to be rotten.

[RE]

I think you need more than one truck to be a convoy?

Any group of vehicles can make a convoy, but you do need more than 1.  They do have also a tour bus with the same graphics, so technically they are a convoy.  Plus a pickup truck with flags and a souvenir truck!

Truckers for Freedom.  Really?  A trucker is EMPLOYED.  A trucker is not free.

Trucking is as close to legal slavery as you get, particularly as a company driver.  You're not paid by the hour but by the mile so you gotta keep moving to make money.  Abuses of hours were very common in the old days.  Electronic logging and GPS tracking has made this more difficult, but the drivers are still totally at the mercy of the dispatchers, even independents if you want to get good loads.  They'll give you schedules which in theory are possible on paper, but in the real world can't be done.  The money now is better than it used to be, but the lifestyle generally sucks.

Somehow 'truckers' and 'veterans' got confabulated.

Ex-cops also identify with this crowd, the local enforcers of Property Ownership in a capitalist country.   What the military does overseas as the enforcement arm of capitalism, cops do on home soil.  In the words of Gen Smedley Butler:

It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.

I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.

RE

[RE]

As expected, the pathetic convoy of God's Army arrived in TX not with 100s of 1000s of anti-immigration fanatics, but "hundreds".  Looking at the aerial photo/video from this CBS newz story, if they had 100 total there I'd be surprised.

Do the newz agencies ever admit this was a total joke and they put up a week's worth of lead stories that were totally fabricated newz events?  Of course not.

https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/hundreds-of-protestors-gather-near-the-texas-border/

Hundreds of protestors gather near the Texas border to voice their concerns on immigration

RE

[K-Dog]

Do the newz agencies ever admit this was a total joke and they put up a week's worth of lead stories that were totally fabricated newz events?  Of course not.

No of course not.  To Fox it is mission accomplished and millions of Americans have no idea it was an put-on sponsored by big money and intended to only to manipulate them to be powerless and afraid so passivity remains the national posture.  Staged to make everyone feel like harassing desperate people who are not white and need a job is cool to do.  They were quick to throw their token black man up on the screen so people will ignore that truth.

I posit a rule.  NEVER believe the crowd size when all that is shown is the same group from different angles.

If I was a zillionaire I'd get some food trucks down there to feed people coming across.  Is this crowd of 'patriots' feeding anyone but themselves?  Are they helping migrants?  I do not think they are.  I don't think this crowd has even seen one, but if they have and offered no help, then that is how they will treat you should you ever meet anyone in that crowd.

Good it is small.

[RE]

The election is coming, so it's time to pretend you're doing something about stopping the invasion of immigrants!  The Panamaniac president has been enlisted to try and shut down the Darien Gap jungle bushwacking hike the migrants from South America have to traverse on their way up to the land of Good & Plenty.  This is the narrow 60 mile isthmus that connects NA & SA, which has never had a road built, specifically because they've never wanted it to be easy to move military equipment between the two continents.

How successful they will be in plugging this hole remains to be seen, but it won't stop the migration.  They'll just start using more boats.  May slow it for a while though, and it's politically expedient to do it.

https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/panamas-next-president-says-hell-try-to-shut-down-one-of-the-worlds-busiest-migration-routes-2/

Panama's next president to shut down Darien jungle migration route

RE

[K-Dog]

This says it all.

Whether Mulino is able to reduce migration through a sparsely populated region with little government presence remains to be seen, experts say.

Far cheaper for Panama to give them a meal and bus them to the north border.  What is this ass-kissing idiot president going to do? Build a road to bus them back south through the Darien Gap? Once people cross the Gap, getting them back across will cost a fortune if you don't build a road.  You would have to fly them out.

The money to implement the presidential plan would come from where?