Author Archive: Stephen Green

NO. NEXT QUESTION? ICE Raids Broke Los Angeles’ Economy. Shouldn’t ICE Pay for That?

California’s job cliff is not yet reflected elsewhere around the country, suggesting that it’s a direct result of ICE’s focus on the state. The raids, though, are set to go national as the agency reaps billions of dollars from the recent Republican mega-bill. But the state is big enough for a large fall in the labor force to have a pronounced effect on national hiring.

A federal judge has stopped indiscriminate “roving patrols” in Southern California for the moment because of their racial profiling, a ruling that an appeals court affirmed last week. And the Marines and National Guard troops have largely left Los Angeles, having done absolutely nothing but parade around federal buildings and make one brief arrest. A bit of stasis has come to the city, even as fears linger.

But the damage has certainly been done. And Los Angeles will suffer the consequences imposed on them through no fault of their own. After laying off 600 workers and canceling city services to close a nearly $1 billion deficit this year, any pain from ICE-related slowdowns will have to be dealt with next year.

So, the question should be: Can Los Angeles, or California, simply ask the federal government for the money back?

You spent years building an economy based on underpaid, illegal labor.

Now the bill has come due.

Also, ICE is hiring — good wages! DHS has received more than 80,000 ICE applications.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: I Totally Voted for Full Steam Ahead on Russiagate. “Of all of the injustices that the Democrats have tried to ruin Donald Trump with, I think the Russia Collusion hoax was the worst. It’s the issue I most want to see dealt with. Let us seek justice, but let’s seek it with that much-deserved chip on his shoulder that President Trump has when it comes to this issue that is such a stain on American history.”

ELECTION INTEGRITY: Texas Mail In Ballot Security Court Win. “Given that Democrats are so adept at using bulk mail in ballot harvesting to commit voting fraud, requiring ID on each ballot returned is going to considerably slow the velocity at which ballot fraud can be committed.”

SAD: Titan Implosion Was Preventable, U.S. Coast Guard Says.

The 2023 implosion of the submersible Titan that resulted in the deaths of five people was preventable, a U.S. Coast Guard investigation found.

OceanGate, the company behind Titan, failed to follow engineering protocols for the maintenance, safety and testing of the submersible, according to the Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation. The service released its report into the implosion Tuesday, highlighting issues with OceanGate that led to the submersible’s implosion. OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush was killed in the implosion, along with Titanic explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood and Suleman Dawood.

“This marine casualty and the loss of five lives was preventable,” Jason Neubauer, Titan Marine Board of Investigation chair, said in a Coast Guard release. “The two-year investigation has identified multiple contributing factors that led to this tragedy, providing valuable lessons learned to prevent a future occurrence. There is a need for stronger oversight and clear options for operators who are exploring new concepts outside of the existing regulatory framework.”

The ocean tries to kill everybody. Don’t help it along with shoddy maintenance.

IT’S (D)IFFERENT WHEN THEY DO IT:

COME SEE THE ANTISEMITISM INHERENT IN THE LEFTISM: Schumer Picks His Successor.

It’s hard not to think of that vote when reading the news that, as expected, Brian Schatz has secured his place as Durbin’s successor as whip. That part is less important than what it sets up for the future: a relatively clear path for Schatz to eventually succeed Chuck Schumer as the party’s Senate leader. As Punchbowl reports today, the Hawaii Democrat “has secured commitments from a majority of Democratic senators in his bid to become their next whip, including a crucial new endorsement from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.”

Now, in fairness to Schatz, not all that much will materially change regarding anti-Semitism and Israel. The biggest difference with Schatz will be that he won’t pretend to agonize over his eventual concessions to the base. The party’s anti-Israel turn will speed up, mostly because we won’t have to sit through Schumer’s soul-[baring] monologues wherein he at least gestures at his lifelong promises to his Jewish constituents before doing nothing to protect or defend them.

Schumer’s betrayal is meaningful, because he came up through the most Jewish city in the world outside of Israel and insisted he be regarded as “Schumer the shomer”—Schumer the watchman, the guardian, the sentinel of his beleaguered people.

Just wait until New York voters replace Schumer with Squad member AOC.

CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN: Trump admin nixes giant wind farm approved ‘last-minute’ by Biden team. “Following a review of the project by the Trump administration, officials at the Interior Department claimed to find ‘crucial legal deficiencies’ with Biden’s approval of the project, including certain statutorily binding criteria that were ignored, according to a press release announcing the decision to terminate the wind farm project.”

IN WHICH THE AP TRIES TO DRUM UP SYMPATHY FOR TERRORISTS WHO ABSOLUTELY DESERVED TO GET BLOWN UP: Portraits of survivors of Israel’s pager attack on Hezbollah last year.

Related:

Perhaps still not as shameful as what the New York Times did last week, though.

2026 PREVIEW: Former Tennessee Football Coach Enters Georgia Senate Race As Republican. “[Derek] Dooley, 57, the son of famed University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley, obtained his law degree from the University of Georgia and briefly practiced law before turning to football, where he became head coach at Louisiana Tech, then Tennessee before serving as an assistant coach with the Dallas Cowboys, the University of Missouri, the New York Giants and the University of Alabama.”

GERRYMANDER HARDER!

This is a level of desperation rarely seen, a governor strongly implying that she’ll keep gerrymandering until the Republicans have fewer than zero seats.

Maybe I shouldn’t joke. If there’s anyone able to rig negative representation, it’s Democrats.

LOCK’EM UP: Florida Preparing Second Immigration Detention Center In Addition To Alligator Alcatraz.

The second facility in north Florida has already been identified as Camp Blanding. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has, for weeks, fielded questions on the possibility of transforming Camp Blanding into a second immigration detention center in the Sunshine State but has consistently said that they were waiting until Alligator Alcatraz reaches full capacity.

“I’m willing to do Blanding once Alligator Alcatraz is filled, and so DHS has started moving in a significant number of people. I think you’re going to — and they’re starting to deport people from there too,” DeSantis said last month. “Remember, this is not the Ritz Carlton, ok?”

For that, you have to go to the UK: Inside migrant hotel in one of London’s poshest postcode with chandeliers and whirlpools.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: This Ain’t Bill and Hillary Clinton’s First Subpoena Rodeo. “Here’s the thing, though: these two have been slipping out of legal nooses for so long that it’s become almost reflexive for them. They’ve been on a roll ever since they got Susan McDougal to opt for some extended jail time rather than drop a dime on Slick Willy in front of a grand jury.”

ACCOUNTABILITY: Trump’s Visa Crackdown Begins—Foreign Travelers May Now Face $15,000 Bond Requirement.

The U.S. State Department is preparing to implement a visa bond pilot program that may require foreign nationals from specific countries applying for B-1 (business) or B-2 (tourism) visas to post bonds ranging from $5,000 to $15,000. The 12-month pilot, outlined in a public notice set for release Tuesday, seeks to address the issue of visa overstays and bolster the screening of travelers from nations deemed high risk due to deficient vetting information.

The notice does not yet specify the countries that will be included in the program but promises to release a list at least 15 days before the program takes effect, with clear explanations for each country’s inclusion. The program is set to begin 15 days after the notice’s official publication and will run through August 2026.

Smart.