June 9, 2006 - Pensito

Rick Perry’s next job will likely be head of mall security.

The Republican Texas governor has announced a plan that will solve the problem of illegal immigration: install web cameras at the border.

The live video would be made available to anyone with an Internet connection.

Under the plan, announced on the eve of the state GOP convention, cameras and other equipment would be supplied to willing landowners and placed along some of the most remote reaches of the border. The live video would be made available to law enforcement and anyone else with an Internet connection.

Viewers would be able to call day or night to report anything that looks like trespassing, drug smuggling or something else suspicious.

Plus, it will only cost $5 million.

The Border Patrol already has lots of its own surveillance cameras along the border, but the images are not made available to the public.

For good reason, many say.

”This leaves the door open to anyone who has a vindictive state of mind or a racial motive,” [Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund attorney Luis] Figueroa said. ”Anyone down there could easily be mistaken and falsely accused of something they didn’t do.”

Other possible glitches include people figuring out where the cameras are and adjusting travel accordingly, law enforcement agencies being overwhelmed with bogus information, and the possible illegality of inviting the public to view searches of innocent-until-proven-guilty people.

But Perry’s not concerned with such details.

”This isn’t our first rodeo,” he said.

Day: June 9, 2006

Quote du Jour

Culture isn’t an either/or proposition, despite what virtucrats such as William Bennett may claim. America doesn’t want Family Values or Godless Decadence – it wants both, or neither; it pays its money and makes its tacky choice…The culture war isn’t winnable, but it is losable…

— James Wolcott, author, Attack Poodles

Become a Minuteman Without Leaving Home

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“The man is afraid of the voice of the people and that the people understand and know what he’s doing. He’s trying to stifle the ability of journalists to let the people of America know what’s really going on with their government.”

— “Kamala Harris called President Donald Trump’s ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House ‘absolutely abhorrent,’” The Wrap reports.

“Not one of them is trained in technical skills. Not one research PhD, as opposed to China, where half the cabinet is science and technology PhDs. We’re led by grifters and fools.”

— Columbia professor Jeffrey Sachs, on X, on President Trump’s 35-person cabinet.

“Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far… The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.”

— Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), breaking with President Trump in a direct-to-camera video.

Numerati

1,000

10%

“The unprecedented spate of mid-decade redistricting for the U.S. House has changed the congressional districts for one-tenth of Americans and significantly altered the makeup of at least one-fifth of districts, according to a new study,” the Associated Press reports.

71%

A new Fox News Poll finds 71% of voters think the Trump administration lacks a clear strategy for ending the Iran War, including 95% of Democrats, 83% of independents, and 43% of Republicans. Sixty percent say U.S. military action against Iran was the wrong decision, while just 37% say it was right.

$9.5 billion

“The Trump administration last year spent $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave for federal workers as part of its plan to shrink the government and save taxpayers money, according to a new estimate by a congressional watchdog,” CNN reports.

470

Reuters has documented at least 470 targets of retribution under Trump’s leadership – from federal employees and prosecutors to universities and media outlets. The list illuminates the sweeping effort by the president and his administration to punish dissent and reshape the government.