Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Youngkin at the Border

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by

James A. Bacon
in

Governor Glenn Youngkin looks over the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, July 26, 2023. Official Photo by Christian Martinez, Office of Governor Glenn Youngkin

Yeah, yeah, I know, Governor Glenn Youngkin is angling for a spot on the Republican presidential ticket next year, and he doesn’t do anything without considering the political implications first. But that doesn’t mean he’s wrong. Even politicians can do the right thing once in a while.

Such is the case with Youngkin’s decision to send Virginia national guardsmen to the Texas border to assist Texas in holding back the flood of illegal border crossings. It is reasonable to ask whether this state-led intervention has accomplished anything tangible and is worth the funds expended. But the principle is sound: when the federal government fails utterly and absolutely in this core responsibility, the states are justified in stepping in. Youngkin’s visit to the border sends a powerful message: don’t mess with Texas — or Virginia. — JAB

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43 responses to “Youngkin at the Border”

  1. HB Atkinson Avatar
    HB Atkinson

    Been there. Paddled that.

  2. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead

    Youngkin had better be careful. Sometimes the photo op can ruin you.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/503132b1e1fd271625ae04f3fd725a1ce334ee40c67e7b1ce16de6f14eb3611e.jpg

  3. Eric the half a troll Avatar
    Eric the half a troll

    “The number of migrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without authorization in June plummeted to the lowest level since the start of the Biden administration following the enactment of stricter asylum rules, according to unpublished government data obtained by CBS News.

    Border Patrol agents recorded just over 100,000 apprehensions last month of migrants who entered the U.S. illegally along the southern border, a sharp drop from the 169,000 apprehensions reported in May, the preliminary statistics show.”

    1. Randy Huffman Avatar
      Randy Huffman

      So after being in office since 2021 with essentially open borders since then, we applaud one month of still far too many illegal crossings because of this purported rule? What if it has to do with summer heat?

      And isn’t 100,000 in a month still a huge number?

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        Well, unfortunately we have laws that some of our leaders work very hard to stay within.

        1. Randy Huffman Avatar
          Randy Huffman

          Surely you jest

        2. DJRippert Avatar
          DJRippert

          And, apparently, those laws were overhauled at the start of June which allowed the Biden Administration to start closing the border??

          Seriously?

          Bozo Biden has started reading the polls (or somebody with the mental clarity to read has read the polls and explained them to Biden).

          Now that the polls say it’s politically expedient to enforce the existing laws, Biden has started doing so.

        3. WayneS Avatar
          WayneS

          Really? Which leaders and which laws? 😉

    2. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      A federal judge in California has struck down the “stricter asylum rules”.

      Are you celebrating that ruling?

      1. Eric the half a troll Avatar
        Eric the half a troll

        “The Biden Administration is expected to appeal the decision”

        I’ll take no position on it and let the courts work it out. That is their job.

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          Well, nowadays they would have made it their job anyway. Don’t forget the SCOTUS has taken to making decisions on hypothetical cases recently.

          1. Eric the half a troll Avatar
            Eric the half a troll

            Yes, but for now at least Arizona v. United States is the law of the land. Is Youngkin flirting with ignoring the US Constitution?

          2. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            He’s trying his damnedest to live up to being a hypothetical… hypothetically, he’s the Governor.

  4. kls Avatar
    kls

    But the Guard didn’t take any landmines nor their bayonets….

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      If Abbott had cluster munitions…

      1. ken Avatar
        ken

        Or if cackle had resolved the root causes

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          Ya mean GW? Or, the Dole War? Hell, Reagan might’ve handled the whole CIA-cocaine wars differently.

    2. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      If Abbott had cluster munitions…

  5. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Bigger fish to fry in Virginia…

    https://www.virginiamercury.com/2023/07/27/youngkin-administration-criticizes-falling-abc-profits/

    BTW, this is the last guy who should be talking about profitability and increasing alcohol sales…
    “Virginia Deputy Chief Transformation Officer Tony Lee told the Board of Directors ABC should be able to currently achieve greater profitability because “the company has grown, stores have grown and the inflation on alcohol prices has exceeded the inflation at the operating cost level.”

    Gasoline and alcohol don’t mix. Well, they do, but tastes really bad.

  6. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Booby traps, like concertina wire below the water surface, are illegal. Currently the wire is at the lower water mark. They gonna move it when the river rises?

    Who gets charged with murder if someone gets hung up in it and drowns?

    1. John Harvie Avatar
      John Harvie

      Alas. Accidents happen …

  7. Stephen Haner Avatar
    Stephen Haner

    Him going is one thing. Taking his state employee official photographer there on the taxpayer’s dollar(s) is another matter. Who was in coach and who in business class? Or did they take the jet?

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      “Fact Finding” — the fully paid vacation and boondoggle loophole.

      1. DJRippert Avatar
        DJRippert

        Done each and every year by Virginia politicians. How many junkets to Europe (presumably looking for business development opportunities) have been conducted over the years?

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          Only the accounting department and lobbyists know for sure.

          1. DJRippert Avatar
            DJRippert

            Yep. Both major parties.

            It’s a pity that Manchin will probably get his Mountain Valley Pipeline rammed through.

            The “No Labels” effort had potential.

    2. DJRippert Avatar
      DJRippert

      He’s on official business checking on the detachment of Virginia National Guardsmen he sent to Texas.

      If there is an official photographer, why wouldn’t that photographer be invited along?

  8. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    One thing that has fascinated me as I grow older is time; it’s passage, it’s measure, it’s seemingly inviolate effects and direction. And yet, there are conundrums.

    For example, biologists have shown that the speed of electro-chemical signals in the human nervous system travel at around 300 feet per second; not exactly that, but close. This means that there is a minimum “time to react” from the body to some arbitrary stimulus depending on the length of the “nerve circuitry” involved and the nature of the stimulus. Reaction to an electric shock applied to a finger is pretty fast in comparison to, oh say, searing heat.

    And yet, the time between the beginning of a disaster and a politician’s attempt to fund raise off of it is orders of magnitude faster than any measured body reaction time. I think this implies the possibility of time travel.

    1. DJRippert Avatar
      DJRippert

      “And yet, the time between the beginning of a disaster and a politician’s attempt to fund raise off of it is orders of magnitude faster than any measured body reaction time. I think this implies the possibility of time travel.”

      The disaster being Biden’s failed border policies?

  9. Teddy007 Avatar
    Teddy007

    Youngkin would have to be the dumbest man in politics to be the running mate of Trump. Does Youngkin think that DeSantis is going to make a huge comeback and offer the VP slot to Youngkin. Wouldn’t two governors on the same slate be a mistake.

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Youngkin is pulling a “rope-a-dope”. He’s waiting to jump in at the last minute and fly to the top of the body pile.

      1. DJRippert Avatar
        DJRippert

        That certainly could be true. Why wouldn’t he?

        The ridiculous law in Virginia that prohibits a sitting governor from running for a second term certainly encourages that.

        50 states. Only one prohibits a governor from serving two consecutive terms.

        I’ve found that when you are doing something differently from everybody else – you are almost certainly wrong.

        Apologies to Dick Fosbury (who passed away in March). Sometimes being different is being better.

        But not often!

        1. WayneS Avatar
          WayneS

          Apologies to Dick Fosbury (who passed away in March). Sometimes being different is being better.

          The ‘flopper’ is dead? I’m saddened to hear that.

  10. DJRippert Avatar
    DJRippert

    “Yeah, yeah, I know, Governor Glenn Youngkin is angling for a spot on the Republican presidential ticket next year, …”

    Ok, Larry Sabato!

    How does anybody know what Gov Youngkin is thinking?

    He knows he’ll be unemployed in 29 months.

    So, he’s raising his national profile.

    How do you jump from that to the belief that he wants to be Trump’s running mate (as Larry Sabato speculated)?

    BTW – In my opinion, Larry Sabato’s “15 minutes of fame” ended with the 2016 election and the implosion of his vaunted Crystal Ball.

    Kind of like BearingDrift.

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      “How does anybody know what Gov Youngkin is thinking?”

      I doubt even Youngkin knows what Gov Youngkin is thinking…

      There’s another word for bearing drift, yaw. It means you’re coming at things sideways.

      1. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        I had a friend once with a hunting dog named Sideways.

        His back end ran a little bit faster than his front end, so every time he took off after a squirrel or a rabbit he ended up facing perpendicular to his direction of travel.

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          I have seen such dogs. It must be a particular genetic trait (defect?). Long bodied dogs seem to be the usual suspects.

          1. DJRippert Avatar
            DJRippert

            Mixed breed dogs where the hind legs are longer than the front legs.

      2. DJRippert Avatar
        DJRippert

        Yeah, with two undergraduate degrees from Rice (including one in mechanical engineering) and an MBA from Harvard, it’s certainly reasonable to assume that Youngkin is dumb.

        And … for the benefit of the Virginia Plantation Elite members on this board … Rice is a much better university than any university in Virginia.

        Youngkin is smart as a whip. He’s raising his national profile. That doesn’t infer that he has any specific plans in the 2024 national elections.

        Who knows how that election will unfold.

        Trump and Biden may be cellmates in Leavenworth before the election is held.

        As for BearingDrift … it’s been a shame seeing that (once excellent) site in decline. But, unlike Biden, there is some hope for recovery.

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          Romney and Obama have Harvard degrees. Mitt has two. GW is a Yalie.
          Them that can, do. Them that can’t, teach. Them that can’t teach, run for office.

          1. DJRippert Avatar
            DJRippert

            It does sometimes seem that way.

        2. WayneS Avatar
          WayneS

          WayneS’s Pedantic Post of the Day:

          Imply. “It does not imply that he has any specific plans…”

          The speaker/actor implies, the listener/audience infers.

          I is all done correctifying other folks’s grammars now…

  11. DJRippert Avatar
    DJRippert

    Looking for a spot?

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/07/28/glenn-youngkin-popular-2024/70461482007/

    “Youngkin’s approval rating just hit an all-time high, according to a recent poll in which 57% of Virginia voters said they approved of their governor’s job performance.”

    That’s really got to upset the Dems on this board.

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