Lecture BS

 My German wife wanted to play a YouTube video for me last night....I guess a effort to lecture me and draw me back from the 'dark-side'.

Topic?  Non-Americans....some NY City lefty comedian, and Social Security contributions for 2024.

So this comedian came out and did a public session on the street....trying to tangle with Trump-people.

The gimmick?  The comedian wanted to point out that all these migrants are working and paying into the system....for 2024....a sum of 20-odd billion dollars.  

He worded this twice....in a odd-way....suggesting a sum ONLY for 2024. He didn't seem to want to discuss 2020 or 2018, or 2015.  Just odd.

After the 2nd occasion, I stopped the wife's lecture and noted....Biden's crew for 2023 and 2024....handed out work-papers and Social Security numbers...even though Green Cards had NOT been approved for the folks yet.

So for some of 2023....there are absolutely contributions going on by non-Green Card carrying foreigners,  and even more so for 2024.

A problem to resolve now?   Well....I'm not sure how the fix would work.   The stay-papers were legal, and the Social Security contributions were legal as well.  

Typically, you wouldn't issue out the Social Security numbers unless certain conditions were met....but in this case....an invented new method came out of thin air.

What Does 'Due-Process' Really Mean?

 Well.....it could be one of three things:

1.  It could mean one-hundred-and-sixty man-hours of judge, court, police and defense time.

2.  It could mean sixty man-hours spread over a six-month period, with the judge, court, police and defense time.

3.  It could mean six minutes of court time, with the judge telling you that he reviewed your case paperwork in 15 minutes, and found you were wrong (maybe even saying 'damn-wrong').

'Talking-dogs'....like you see on CNN....I doubt if they've ever been inside of a normal city-or-county court.

Fitness, Exhaustion, Injury

 For the first ten years in the Air Force....my fitness level....on a scale of one-to-ten....probably was a '4'.  I jogged a 1-to-1.5 miles twice a week, lifted weights for 20 minutes once a week, and did 30 sit-ups a week.  

About a year after arriving in Tucson...I moved my fitness-level  to a  '7'.  I was jogging 3 miles five times  a week, lifting weights twice a week (20-minutes) and doing 30 sit-ups/30 push-ups five times a week.

About six months into this....I started to have 'problems'.  Eventually, I went to the base clinic, and they immediately referred me to the base 'sports' doctor.  They'd actually gone out and hired someone with the credentials.  

She wanted me to bring in my jogging shoes.  We got into this chat.

Looking at the monthly mileage....my $65 tennis shoes couldn't last more than two months.  She said I'd have to go toward higher quality shoes ($120 a whack).  Even then....she was suggesting a new pair every six to nine months.

She dragged me to other weight machines....to lessen anything on back muscle use.

Then we got onto this odd topic.  The Air Force....up to the mid-1980s....had a yearly average for knee problems, hip replacement, etc.  All this hyped-up athletic BS?  By the late 1980s....they were now seeing an average of twenty people a year (from the base) who needed orthoepic surgery.   

Her job?  Basically to reroute people to lesser intensity and cut the surgical situations.

These people averaging 90 miles or more....jogging....monthly?  They were in her 'at-risk' category.

I noticed this AM....new SECDEF put the order out....the Marine PT test standards are now being issued across to the Army, Air Force and Navy.  1.5-mile run?  Out....Marines run a 3-mile test.

I would imagine at least 20,000 Air Force folks (officers and enlisted) are looking at this and shaking their head.  They are going to work on this 'feat' but casually add pages to their medical records....sports-related injuries.  Within a year or two....disability recommendations will be drafted and most of these people will pursue an exit, with disability pensions.

It'll take two years but eventually the Pentagon will admit the physical test change....might have not been that smart.

How Things Might Go

 Maryland Democrat Senator Senator Chris Van Hollen.....says that he plans to visit El Salvador to get some deal where MS-13 member Kilmar Abrego Garcia is returned to the US.

How this will go?

Hollen will fly down via American Airlines (they run a flight from Dulles).  He'll assume his staff has someone from the embassy to 'serve' him.  What he'll find is one single driver with a staff car, and nothing arranged for him.

Meeting the President of El Salvador?  There will  be some 15-minute face-to-face....probably at some cafe/coffee shop.

The conversation?  Mostly about how El Salvador got fed up with MS-13 and just plain jailed every single member they could lay their hands upon.

By 7 PM....Hollen will realize this was a total waste of time....calls his office, and rigs up a ticket to fly out of El Salvador by 10 PM.

As Hollen goes the next day to complain about the lack of attention/care by the US Embassy....Trump simply notes....he's not going to run a baby-sitting service, and if you run off outside of the US....you need to make your own arrangements.

A week later....Hollen is briefed by his staff and Maryland law enforcement....almost 1,000 MS-13 members originally existed in the state, and since El Salvador got 'tough'...it's  suspected another 1,000 have moved into the state.  State LE folks are asking for $100-million to expand their operations against the gang.  

This El Salvador Story

  For two weeks, I've been observing the daily 'chatter' of El Salvdorian Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who the Supreme Court says 'somehow'....Trump needs to facilitate a way for him to return to the US.

So, after reading up on this....Garcia one of those guys who crossed the border in 2011....at age 16....which he says...was to avoid gang-warfare.

Did he present himself for a Green Card?  NO.

Around 2019...he was detained when standing in a Home Depot parking lot....looking for day-work by state-police (Maryland).  One of the others  in the group...said Garcia was a gang-member at the time....zero-proof.

So here's the thing....without the Green Card (now 8 years in the US)....he was put  on "withholding of removal" status.  This status...allowed him to live and work legally in the U.S. due to threats in El Salvador, but had zero benefit for a path to a green card or permanent residency.

In this status....he was on a wait-and-see deportation list, and his name eventually came up (under Trump).

From 2020 to 2024....should he have done some legal work with Biden's team?  Well....a smart guy would have.

Gang-member status?  To this day....never proven.  

Is he still in El Salvador?  Humble belief?   I believe he's pretty near the Texas border and hoping to cross again.

How many zero-Green Card folks exist in the US like him?  Just a wild guess....five to eight million. 

My View Of This Real-ID Chatter

 From Bush saying 'go'.....it took almost five years for 50 states to build Real-ID/Star-Card from scratch.  

The incredible thing?  Well....most states still geared the  regular old driver's license to continue.....so there was path 'A' for the cheap normal license.....and path 'B' the more expensive Real-ID/Star-Card.  

Why?  Well.....states kept saying the documents to prove who you are.....where you live....was incredibly 'hard'.

To be honest.....over the four times that I've renewed my Alabama license....I went to the cheap normal license.....without the documentation crap.

Now?  I have a passport, military ID, and a German resident card.....which fills the requirement.  I guess in the next year......I will procure the Star-Card.  Why?  Something in my gut says....by November 2026....voting will be nearly impossible without the card.  

The grumbling business?  Well....it's mostly over a trip to the license office....which typically means two to three hours of sitting there. It also means you have at least three soap operas start up....where such-and-such character is half-drugged-up, and trying to explain why he's homeless and needs a ID.  

Chatter

 This past week, I noticed a comment off social media....where the suggestion was....what would cripple the UK is Trump offering US citizenship to working-class and frustrated British.   

With the Labour gov't accomplishments (or lack of).....there's not much doubt that several million are reaching a breaking point where 'something' has to occur.

Current population? Around 68-million, and you can figure  around 10-percent are non-Brit.  

The disgruntled folks?   I'd  say it's in the 5-to-8 percent range....say 4-to-6 million.  And out of that....half of them probably would be of a mindset to move 'somewhere' beyond the UK.

If two or three million did leave?  Well....it'd set into motion a economical problem.  

How this would likely work?  I suspect the US would open a doorway where 20,000 a month could obtain a entry visa, and some method of citizenship within three years.

Weakening the opposition enough....to keep Labour in power for another election?  Obviously so.....that's the negative of this suggestion.