Something You Might Or Might Not Want To Hear

note: I have no idea why this blog isn't posting any of the photo images these past months :( 

A few years ago it would never have occurred to me that what you are about to read might possibly be anything that anyone would need to be reminded of, let alone be something that some people may not have even heard of. It’s not new news; it’s not a new take on anything; it’s not unique in any way – at least until these past few years … the growing up years of our young adults. 

Below you’ll find excerpts from three separate blog posts. Together they say something you might or might not want to hear.

this is an image of the Constitution of the United States of America, which isn't showing up

1)  We are governed not by any one sitting president, not by any single current congress, not even by our courts. 

We are governed by the Constitution of the United States of America which grants sovereign rights to the PEOPLE of the United States. It is We the People of the United States of America who wield the final authority. We are not just saying 'NO' to corruption in our government; we are also saying 'NO' to those who have for too long been disregarding the fundamental premise of our form of government. 

  

these are images of a flying Bald Eagle and a standing American Bison

2)  Both the National Bird of the United States and our (apparently soon-to-be) National Animal/Mammal - the Bald Eagle and the American Bison - were both around for that last big ELE (Extinction Level Event, almost 13,000 years ago) - and somehow survived.

In much more recent years, both were on the verge of extinction (again) and both were 'brought back' from that verge by the collective will of the American People.

That we as a people, once we recognized what we had done, were doing, did what we had to do to correct ourselves ... something about that is reassuring, gives me hope.

God Bless America

Indivisible

3)  … I refer you to the stars that grace the Flag of the United States of America. Yes I know they represent each and all of the States of our Nation. They can also represent the forging of this Nation, one made up of many. You notice that each of those stars is the same size; each is equal to all of the others. The fact that Texas and Alaska are far bigger than Rhode Island and Delaware is entirely moot. They share equal status, and our Flag needs ALL of her stars in order to be complete. Not a single one of those stars carries a label but together they, and the stripes of red and white that flank them, represent one nation. One. Recognizing and respecting individuality in NO way diminishes what that means but enhances it.

this is an image of a flying dove carrying an olive branch

All of the above having been said, here’s what I want to remind you of:

First, regardless of who is in the White House, regardless of who fills the Seats of Congress in Washington DC, even regardless of who sits the benches of our courtrooms, the United States of America’s Constitution and Bill of Rights are what govern us.

Administrations come and administrations go, one after another after another. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights cannot be changed, only added to by the collective Will of the People via amendments (which are not easily achieved).

Second, we as a people have made mistakes. That we have, and do, and will come to recognize our mistakes, speaks well of us. That we have, and do, and will take steps to correct our mistakes speaks even louder.

Bringing back the Bald Eagle and the American Bison from the brink … how many of our younger folk even realize what that means? How many care? I would venture to say  :  few – very few – too few. Yet it is symbolic, and perhaps therein lies the issue at the moment. It is symbolic of something we as a people did RIGHT. These days, everyone’s focusing on other symbols, interpreting them in ways that are twisted.

Third, connected to second (and to first when it comes right down to it) the individual groups that make up our larger population have been, are, and will be collectively We the People of the United States of America.

That’s a statement of fact folks, not a recommendation.

There was a time, brought to mind by recent events, when mistakes were made by more than one ‘faction’. The effect was not pretty. The result was a still-united nation, albeit a wounded one.

The three points merge.

Today we can, if we look, see what has come of ‘that time’ which is of course our own Civil War, something that I hear some people threatening again. We will not go there, people. We will not.

For those who think perhaps it is a viable option, think again.

You have only to look to our southern states of Texas and Louisiana, right now, in August of 2017, to see the incontrovertible conclusion of that war. In the midst of horror and pain We the People, once divided and again threatened with division, are oblivious to the factors that once divided us. Watch, and listen. You can’t help but see what I’m talking about. There is no South any more; there is no North. There is no Urban; there is no Rural. There is no Rich; there is no Poor. There is only ONE People of the United States.

What you will see, if you care to look, is the United States of America, full-blown and just doing what it does – pulling together in a time of crisis. Addressing with steadfast resolution (a cliché I know but here it fits so yes I’m going to use it) those who would use the hurt of others for their own ends – the looters are being arrested; the politicizers are being shouted down or ignored; the price gougers are being documented and will be dealt with; the haters are being called out and shown up for what they are.

So, contrary to what ‘current events’ in the form of riots and protests and the destruction of symbols of our past successes and the haters might want us to believe, our nation as a whole is actually reaffirming what we have needed to be reminded of: we are ONE nation, indivisible. Made up of many and many different folks, this is true, but nevertheless ONE.

In our ‘crisis mode’ nobody cares about anything that doesn’t matter. Nobody cares about who someone is sleeping with; nobody cares about skin tones; nobody cares about how big someone’s house is or how fancy their vehicle is; nobody cares about who anybody else voted for; nobody cares when or how or under what circumstances anybody else’s ancestors came to these shores. Nobody cares about what anybody else ‘identifies as’ – because at the moment the only ‘identity’ anybody has is ‘American’.

Part of me weeps that it has had to take a Powerful Act of Nature to bring home to us what should have been recognized and celebrated all along. Instead, we’ve had divisiveness shoved down our throats for so long that we were starting to believe in it, even while choking on the very thought of it.

So y’all haters can just sit down and shut up now. We do accept that even you are a part of us. You are the part of each and all of us that we know we have inside, the dark ugly part that we fight to subdue and overcome. You are in the dark corners of our internal ‘gardens’, where we put the rotting detritus that we don’t want to see. You are there, and we are not denying it – but just as we nurture and care for the beauty and productivity of our own selves and our nation and set the detritus aside in a dark corner, so too will we set you aside. You need no nurturing; natural processes will decay you until you become again something we can use to further nurture the beauty and productivity. In the meantime, we do not want you front and center – not of our own selves and not of our nation.

Going back to our points …

The laws that govern us as American citizens forbid harm to any, for any reason.

We the People of the United States of America have been making a mistake; we can and will take steps to correct ourselves.

We cannot, and do not, and will not deny the value and importance of any part of our collective population. We might have to put you haters in a corner for a while, but in so doing we are but protecting the beauty and productivity while you’re decaying enough to become again nurturers of said beauty and productivity.

Just as, at the moment, Houston and other places are addressing the weeds (haters) in their sodden garden while caring for the beauty so too will the United States as a whole.

So you can either go to the corner on your own or we can put you there. Your choice.

Frankly, it would be a great deal more pleasant if you choose to become a part of the beauty right away, for you and for the rest of us. I can’t imagine it would be at all pleasant to find myself rotting and decaying for as long as it takes to become fertilizer. You can skip that step. Pay the piper (can’t skip this step, sorry), be forgiven, and ‘come on home’ – if you want.

It took many of our folk a real long time to make that happen, but … look to Texas and Louisiana right now. Look to We the People of the United States of America as we respond to the needs of our own. Look to the various States kicking in and getting the job done. Look to our Federal Government doing its part.

Tell me you don’t want to be a part of that; tell me you’d rather be rotting in a dark corner instead. Go ahead; try to convince me; give it your best shot; tell me why you’d prefer divisiveness over unity. Your chances of convincing me are slim to none, and slim isn’t really in the running, but here’s your chance to try.

My words to you are: come home – just come home to the America who already accepts you and loves you enough to put you in a corner when need be. You don’t have to stay in that dark rotting corner. Your place is here in the beauty and productivity of this oh so precious nation that we all call Home.

Justice

+Mercy

=Peace

Can The States Do What Congress Can Not Or Will Not Do?

States Weigh In

The above link relates to processes and procedures I've been unfamiliar with (not  being a politician, y'know) so I had to read it through a couple of times to make sure I was understanding what it was saying.

The gist seems to be that, when it comes to health care (and probably other issues but not right now for me), maybe it isn't all totally dependent on Congress after all.

Lots of people know more about this stuff than I do, but I'm learning as I go here so bear with me.

This article talks about 'waivers' relating to aspects of current law (?) which the Governors of the States can submit applications for and the President either permits or denies. Apparently this is how the last administration got the expanded Medicaid plan going ... unless I'm getting it all wrong (which wouldn't surprise me) ...



Here's a bit:

"Recent analyses of pending 1115 Medicaid expansion waivers ... suggest that the immediate focus will be shared conservative policy priorities in the face of congressional inaction rather than on inducing policy changes by Democratic governors. The Trump administration, for example, has signaled a willingness to approve work requirements via 1115 waivers.The Obama administration denied waiver proposals that would have imposed similar rules as a condition of expanding Medicaid."


And:

"While history suggests that presidents do not always simply rubber stamp waiver applications from governors of their own party and desk reject those from their opponents, the Trump administration has signaled an interest in policy changes, like work requirements, that Democratic governors are unlikely to be enthusiastic about. Particularly given the Republican party’s recent legislative failures on healthcare, Republican politicians at the state and national level – governors and members of the Trump administration – face particularly strong incentives to deliver, at least in part, on their party’s promises to enact healthcare reforms. These conditions in turn may create fertile ground for policymaking via waivers in Republican-controlled states."


So, what exactly does this mean?

The above references have to do with Medicaid expansion, which apparently in effect added 38% to the requirement guideline, making a lot more people eligible - a waiver process available to States that wanted to use it. To my way of thinking it raised the 'poverty level' of those states by 38% but what do I know? Not a heck of a lot, obviously. (while I'm thinking here, I may as well go ahead and think that reasonable insurance premiums might have provided a reasonable alternative, but again what do I know?)

My next point of curiosity is what exactly can these waivers affect?

Could, perhaps, the States that want changes in the existing Health Care 'situation', frustrated by the lack of action in Congress, submit their own plans of action (so to speak) in the form of these waivers? If our President grants them, it would effectively make the wanted/needed changes independently of Congress, in those States, if I'm reading this right.

Being as I just read a thing about a couple of Governors who are apparently developing a plan to submit to Congress, I'm wondering how come they're doing that rather than simply submitting waivers for their States to make whatever changes they want. Maybe they think the waivers wouldn't be approved, or maybe they're thinking beyond the borders of their own states. I have no idea.

*laughing*

I have no idea about a lot of stuff.

On the other hand I do have a lot of curiosity.

Let's say a State wants to do away with the Individual Mandate.

Can they submit waivers to that effect?

It seems this procedure is nothing new (although to me the concept is entirely new as I'd not known it was even an option). If various States used it to get what they wanted before, is there any reason States can't use the same process to effect changes within their borders? It's essentially a tool that the States have at their disposal, not? They aren't guaranteed success as it's up to the President to grant or deny, but surely it would be worth a try.

How many of us even know about this? I'm not surprised that I had never heard of it because I'm pretty much 'out of the loop', but if it were widely known I would have heard about it, even in my relatively reclusive life.

Continuing with my point of curiosity about exactly what these waivers can affect, the next obvious question is what other areas of interest might be brought up for perusal in this context.

I have a feeling our States have more power than most of us might be fully aware of, especially if this waiver thing applies to other areas if interest, and more especially if the Will of the States is in accord with the Will of the sitting President.

If a State wants things to remain status quo, it just sits tight and lives with it. The States that want changes are apparently free to submit waivers outlining the changes they want to make, and the President either says yes or no.

All things considered, it might be nice if State Congressfolk would confer with their voters to find out exactly what they want, take that information to their State Houses and Senates, get what their people want put into a Bill, get the approval of their voters on the Bill (or make whatever changes the people want), get it onto their Governor's desk, and submit the waiver to the President. Post-haste.

Alternatively, and frankly even less likely, the people themselves could sit down together, hammer out a cohesive and concise proposal, and light fires under their State Congressfolk to get the process under way.

Yeh.

No wonder we've not heard about this option, huh?

Do the Washington folk really want the populace to realize that they could actually do that? When it comes down to it, how often are we consulted in any real way about stuff, and how often do we gather the reins ourselves to take the initiative on stuff? Rarely, and more rarely.

Close, So Close To What I Visioned ...

Governors are getting closer ...

Click on the link above to go to a Colorado Public Radio article.

It's shy on specifics, but at this point it kind of has to be relatively non-specific.

The point here is that there are a number of Governors across the country working together to find a way toward a Health Care plan that will at least stand a chance of working.

Being a nobody at all, I'm free to speculate to my heart's content about things that aren't particularly relevant to me but that are of vital importance to a lot of people I happen to love deeply.

A functional health care/insurance industry is one of those things. In the course of my rather non-traditional thought processes it crossed my mind that a sort of compromise might be effective.

Have everyone buy their own basic coverage insurance from a much wider field of options; keep the programs in place that cover our vulnerable elders, disabled, and poverty-stricken; and spare the insurance companies some of the cost of catastrophic cases by giving us all assurance of help in extreme situations.

Continue, as I said, the Medicare and Medicaid programs, with the individual States in charge of distribution and also how much they want to add of their own revenues to that kitty.

I'll have to read the article again, but that sounds a lot like what our Governors might be getting close to. As they struggle through the process, which is bipartisan by the way, all I can do is pray for them.


Here's a bit of an excerpt:


"One specific they agree on and would discuss: Their desire to change the Affordable Care Act mandate that employers with 50 or more employees provide insurance coverage. The governors say that number is too low, which deters hiring at small companies.

They also agree that the possibility of national single-payer coverage is not on the table in their discussions."


And another:


"... Primary care is important. Catastrophic coverage is important. We don't want anybody to get bankrupted because they get sick."


And one more:


"... some sort of reinsurance [using public money to help insure the sickest people], to make sure the high-cost pool is not causing higher rates for all the people seeking insurance on the private markets ..."



The other part of my thought process revolved around both health care and insurance providers - with both stepping up to the plate to encourage people toward a more active participation in their own general health and well-being ... by providing incentives like lower costs/premiums as people meet health goals. For example, some medical facilities that I know of have already been trying to get their staffs involved in health-related goals with internal 'competitions' ... that's just one. There could be others. What if, because it's quick and easy to figure out, they used BMIs as a 'guide' for folks? What if both the insurance companies and health care providers focused more on prevention? What if they stepped out of their boxes even more and took ideas and challenges directly to the people? The people are the ones who will be choosing their insurance and primary care providers, right? They might choose an insurance provider that offers them better premiums the closer their BMIs are to the green zone (healthy weight) - and they might choose the health care facility that offers them common sense preventive information (and helps them plan and implement a program to get them to where they want to be so they'll be eligible for those lower insurance premiums, besides being healthier).

These are obviously only just mine own thoughts, not addressed by the Governors and probably not exactly at the top of the list for consideration by the health care and insurance providers ... at least not that I'm aware of (which isn't saying much because I've had no real personal reason to be paying a whole lot of attention in recent decades) and I'm hoping to high heaven that lack of awareness will change in a real fast hurry as these industries begin overtly and thoroughly publicizing their plans of action.

I want the information in my face every time I turn around. I want to KNOW who is offering what, right up front.

And I want the results of the Governors' efforts plastered all over the place, and NOT in 'legalese' either but in plain English that's clear and concise.

*heh heh*

Wantin' ain't gettin'; I know that.

Still, a woman can do a bit of wishful thinkin' now and then ...

And, you know, a person doesn't necessarily have to either like or agree with everything about an architect personally in order to appreciate what they're doing. So ... IF they come up with something functional that will work for everyone, let's not allow 'personalities' to get in the way of us taking a good look at what they come up with, eh?

When Is Enough Enough? The Answer Is Blowin' In The Wind ...

I kind of think our Characters might like this guy.

It's like: Live however you want but really ya gotta stop killing people and trying to make everyone agree with you.

How many times over the course of the life of humankind are we going to have to learn this most fundamental of lessons before it finally sinks in?

They say practice makes perfect.

We've been practicing for a lot of millennia; you'd think we'd start to figure this thing out pretty soon here.

The answer is blowin' in the wind

You're invited to click on the link above. It's an old song, but one that might help you understand where a lot of us are coming from. We don't know what it will take to get to where we want to be, or how long, but we have to keep trying.

Draining the swamp ... it's a filthy stinking job ...

As the mist begins to clear, the swamp yaws its jaws and lets loose a stench fit to choke a person. 

The kicker is that we can’t sow it with salt but have to try to reclaim it for the growing of more healthy and productive crops … we don’t want to kill it, just drain it.

Ah the swamp.

It’s got critters in it, critters with fangs and claws that are naturally going to object to their swamp being drained. 

And there are bugs, lots and lots of bugs. 

There are big critters and medium-sized critters and smaller critters. 

There are critters so little you can’t see them but they’re nonetheless deadly. 

There are snakes and creepy-crawlies. 

The swamp nurtures mosquitoes and they swarm out in hordes carrying disease and death.

Coincidence, of course ...

Gathering turns ugly

The above link is to a story about a rally that ended in tragedy ...

As I read through this account (there are many, and this one is skewed left) the thought came into my head and refused to leave. I think it was 'triggered' by references to 'outsiders' being primary instigators of violence.

The thought?

"He's back."

New Political Party

Now, I'm registered as an Independent (Unaffiliated) so I get to be disgusted by both democrats and republicans on a regular basis without feeling a bit of disloyalty or guilt about it.

Just lately I've seen that somebody thinks some people should oughta have their own political party, just for them.

I've also seen recently that somebody else thinks that some other folks should oughta have their own political party.

We've already got a whole bunch of political parties, so what are a few more, right?

It's still going to come down to having to choose between democrat and republican, for the most part, right? The others are basically just support groups for different 'causes'.

Right?

Maybe.

But maybe not.

Which 'demographic' in 2016 managed to throw their collective weight behind a candidate to win an election against all the odds?

Hmmm?

It surely wasn't the democrats who scoffed and ridiculed.

It wasn't the republicans who fought until they could fight no more.

It wasn't any of the other 'organized' parties, either.

It was the Deplorables.

Hillary Clinton will never be President of the United States of America. She may have, however, bequeathed to our nation a legacy that we might just embrace, whether she likes it or not.

She may have thought she was 'attacking' the republican party by spewing out a label, but that doesn't hold a lot of water because the republican party was as opposed to the candidate chosen by the Deplorables as she was. It didn't exactly agree, but at least it had the common sense to listen when the Deplorables refused to back down. The republicans did  not choose Donald Trump. The Deplorables did. It just so happened that he was, at the time, going through republican channels.

So.

Who might have to once again step up to the plate to get our nation out of the morass of trouble we've found ourselves in?

Not the democrats, not the republicans, not any of the 'organized' political parties (which in a bizarre way really do remind me of all the various 'organized religions' of our time).

For a time, recently, I thought about the concept of requesting a third political party - the Independent Party. Then it dawned on me that people are abandoning both left and right and an Independent Party would likely end up a battlefield for all of those disillusioned folk from both sides. NOT my idea of a good time, and NOT my idea of any kind of a winning combination, nope.

Then I realized that the 'party' I'm wishing for already exists. Neither the left nor the right would be remotely interested in it, so we're free and clear on that front; none of the 'fringe' groups want to be associated with it, so we're free and clear of them too.

See, the Deplorables wouldn't have to fight the republicans to get their candidate on the ballot. The republicans would have their own. The same goes for the democrats and everyone else.

Heh.

It's not like the Deplorables of the United States of America have anything to prove, right? They've already proven they can unite, they can vote, and they can win.

Because the colors red and blue are already taken I hereby claim WHITE as the color of the Deplorable Party. It's a whole lot more appropriate than you're thinking. White is produced only when all of the colors of the light spectrum are present. So don't start with the 'race card' because that bit of hate ain't gonna fly.

Red represents the Republicans.
Blue represents the Democrats.

What does White (the color you get when you combine all of the colors of the spectrum) represent?

Why White represents the Deplorables, of course.

We truly are the combination of every aspect of the spectrum you can imagine. We absorb into ourselves (so long as nobody hurts anybody else) what the others damn in each other.

We are the Stars on our Flag, all equal in status and all equally distributed among the Blue.

We are the White that Balances the Red.

We are a part of the Flag of the United States of America, along with the Justice of Blue and the Mercy of Red; ours is the color the others work toward achieving, for we are the color of Peace.

God Bless Us Every One.

Feeling a bit snarky ...

Apparently Hillary is developing an interest in learning how to pray.

Being not a deity myself and only too human, I've been praying 24/7 for all my life. That's because I view every breath as a prayer, you see, and have confidence that the Almighty has a pretty fair grasp on what's what in the world in which we live in. I expect the Almighty knows full well that I'm going to draw a breath of snark now and then.

I reckon from Hillary's perspective, learning how to pray might make sense to her. She could probably start a fairly large prayer group, from what I understand.

Be that as it may be, I freely admit that I find the whole thing a mite ... odd ... all things considered.

Interested Independent Watches, Listens, Waits For Democrats

If the democrats had even half an ounce of common sense they would sit down and shut up and mind their own business for eight years while the republicans mind their own business, which is tending to healing the wounds of the United States of America.

Once we have regained a healthy nation we will be in a much better position to be generous to others. All we can do is the best we can do with what we have to work with at any given time. If we can’t afford to be generous, we can’t afford it. At least let us get back onto our feet before you pull the rug out from under us again, for pete’s sake.

I know that sounds kind of harsh.

Standing in the middle can be entertaining at times. It can also cause a Quaker to cuss. 

Out loud.

I swear.

Sometimes.

Out loud and everything.

That’s the literal interpretation of ‘I swear’.

Actually, it’s a figure of speech that’s an expression of frustration and disgust.

On the entertaining side of things, I’ve been watching and waiting to see what the democrats are going to come up with for a platform. As a middle-stander, I generally have to choose between left and right so it behooves me to keep an eye and an ear on both. A couple of weeks ago I caught a bit of a glimmer but thought to myself, ‘Self, this has got to be a joke. Everything that guy just spouted comes straight from the Trump administration.’ 

And so I waited and watched some more. Jobs, they’re saying. We’ve got a million more jobs now than we did six months ago, and it’s not the democrats who are doing that. Money, they’re saying. The stock market is going strong and steady, on the rise in the past months and it’s not the democrats who are doing that. Justice for all, they’re saying. The hammer of Justice is about to fall hard on some who apparently thought they were exempt and it’s not the democrats who are making that happen.

Yada yada.

So you tell me: if you were in my shoes, standing in the middle, watching and listening, what would you think about what you’re seeing and hearing?

On the one side there are people actively doing stuff every which way from Tuesday while people on the other side deride them for what they’re doing. Then the other side’s folks start yapping about how they’re gonna do this that and the other thing – and it’s all the same stuff the first side’s people are already in the middle of doing (you know, the ones that are being derided).

Me, I’m going, ‘Well if you were going to do all that stuff, how come you didn’t when you had the chance? You really think I’m going to fall for a line of baloney like that? Come up with something of your own for crying’ out loud. All you’re spouting, that I’ve heard so far, is pretty much plagiarism. You think just because it’s working for the republicans you can just take what they’re doing, claim it, and people are going to believe it was all your brilliant idea? Gedouddaheah.’

I’m still waiting, watching and listening.

IF the democrats can come up with a ‘uniquely their own’ viable party platform, that would be a good thing. I think the problem for them might be proving their case, but I look forward to finding out what’s on their agenda in a real sense as opposed to the rhetorical sense.

Getting a bit fed up with rhetoric, to be honest. A little less talk and a lot more action would be nice, and I’m not talking about action in terms of demonstrations, protests, and riots. There are democratic ‘strongholds’ in the United States. When those places, without the intervention of republicans and/or their resources, prove themselves to be ‘better’ in terms of fiscal responsibility, personal safety, environmental concerns, international security, employment opportunities, educational excellence, family and community involvement, etc. I might take a closer look at whatever platform has produced all of the above. At the moment, I’m not seeing anything of the sort, so there’s the challenge – to take what is and turn it into what the democrats say they’re going to create.

They can turn their minds to that while they’re sitting down and shutting up about what the republicans are doing.

And yes, I’m serious.

I would dearly love to have California and Illinois, for example, get what they want – which seems to be having the republicans bow out of their lives – and watch while they, without ‘outside interference’, do what they say they can do. It hasn’t gone too well for them just lately, but that’s doubtless the fault of the republicans. So … I say let them have at it. They’ve got almost eight years; that ought to be plenty of time to get their agenda implemented.

Oh yeah.

Well, as soon as they can come up with a party platform of their own, they can get started. I’m thinking they’d best hurry up on that.

Because in the next eight years the USA is going to find her footing again. As her strength returns her ability to be generous will return too, and it will be the republicans who do that. Because there is apparently NO support from democrats, it’s going to be almighty clear who’s doing what and who isn’t.

Just sayin’.

If the democrats want to be viewed as credible in any way, any way at all, they’d best get off their howling hinders and figure out how to prove themselves in an observable, quantifiable fashion. Rhetoric isn’t going to cut it any more. They have to actually do something positive and constructive, and it had better be outstanding because the republicans are setting that bar pretty darned high.

Watching, listening, and waiting for the next almost eight years ought to be an enlightening experience. 

Sanctuary Cities Losing Funding?

http://thefederalistpapers.org/us/261-sanctuary-cities-lose-funding

And it's a long list indeed.

Relative to the budgets of a lot of these places, the numbers might not seem huge, but it's kind of the principle of the thing.

My guess is that it might be a wake up call to the voters in those areas.

They'll probably hit 'snooze'.

What I don't understand is what the objection is. The only people ICE wants are already criminals for cryin' out loud. You'd think folks would be happy to cooperate in getting criminals out of their communities.

Ach.

What do I know?

I know that's an almighty long list.

Fact.

Get your reading glasses out.

note: the above is not the only site that's got this list - it's just the first one that popped up for me