A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Customs and Border Protection officers in Pharr, TX display the 384 packages of meth taken from a tractor-trailer at a border crossing point at the International Bridge between the U.S. and Mexico. Photo Credit: Customs and Border Protection On Quora, Don Morgan, a Trump supporter, asks: Is the discovery and seizure of 384 packages of methamphetamine weighing 924 pounds worth $18.5 million proof that our borders need to be strongly controlled as claimed by President Trump? My response: Considering that the tractor-trailer carrying $18.5 million worth of meth was stopped at a border checkpoint at the International Bridge by the Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations in Pharr, Texas, I would have to say  No. From CBP’s official press release: Release Date: May 21, 2019 PHARR, Texas —U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations (OFO) at the Pharr International Bridge intercepted a significant amount of methamphetamine in a c...

Dear Senator McConnell, I'm not one of your constituents; I live in Florida, which like your home state of Kentucky is a Republican-controlled state. I'm also not Republican; I used to be an independent until recently. Now I'm a Democratic Party member, although I am always open to voting for Republicans if candidates merit it. I know that you are probably going to ignore me for the reasons I listed above. But I'm a loyal and patriotic American citizen, born and raised in the USA. My parents were legal immigrants; I found my late mom's old INS paperwork and her 1996 certificate of citizenship. You, sir, are the Senate Majority Leader. So please, hear me out. We, Democrats, are willing to vote for more money for border security if it is spent wisely on more personnel and surveillance drones. We do NOT, as you often claim, want "open borders." Immigrants do need to be vetted and, if necessary, sent back to their country of origin. What we DON...

Why won't the Democrats just give Trump his legacy of the wall like Republicans did so for Obamacare? Dear Anonymous, First, let’s be frank here. The fact that you submitted this question anonymously (and are not following it publicly) says a lot about you and your intention. You know that the historical record shows that Republicans  did not “ give’ President Obama anything when he proposed the Affordable Care Act. As a matter of historical fact, Republicans in Congress not only refused to vote for the ACA, but they also refused to cooperate with their Democratic colleagues to create it. There was no attempt on the GOP’s part to compromise on the ACA, none at all, even though it was based on a Republican-Democratic healthcare plan created at the state level in Massachusetts and signed into law by then-Governor Mitt Romney. Not only that, the ACA did not get one vote, not a  single  vote, from the Republicans in Congress. So, please, Mr. Anonymous, don’t come...

President Donald Trump has been in the White House for 49 days now. In this brief - but seemingly endless - span of time, not only has Mr. Trump set a record for Presidential unpopularity - since his Inauguration, his approval ratings have not gone much higher than 43%. This shouldn't be terribly surprising, except maybe to his faithful core of supporters; according to the Financial Times , Mr. Trump began his term as the most unpopular incoming President since the 1940s. Mr. Trump is also, unfortunately for the United States of America, the most dishonest President in modern American history. He has lied constantly since his inauguration across a wide spectrum of topics, including the size of the crowds at his swearing in ceremony, his divestment from his businesses, his promise to not play golf or take vacations because "there was too much work to do," his "non-existent" connections to Russia, his pledge to complete the controversial Keystone pipeline usi...