Some Thoughts on the Wall

Forgive the almost daily intrusions into your privacy, but the Muse is definitely upon me as of late. (I am most grateful to her for bestowing her favors upon me.) Regardless, there is so much going on that I feel compelled to offer some commentary. Hopefully it will stimulate some conversation and/or provoke your thoughts.

Today, I’d like to offer some thoughts on DACA, the Schumer Shutdown and the Wall.

It’s clear to me that the left is losing the argument regarding the so-called Dreamers. They mistakenly listened to their ever-shrinking base of un-Americans and decided to go to the mattresses for illegal aliens, thereby forcing a government shut-down.

The Trumpster called it “the Schumer Shutdown”. Brilliant.

Anyway, their rout was so complete that the majority of the Democrats in the Senate voted with the Republicans. Even Schumer, imagine that. Now of course the proglibs are livid with him. Why? Because he threw them under the bus for no reason. Worse, now they have no leverage going into the next round of government funding talks.

In reality, Schumer did not have a good hand going into negotiations with the GOP. The entire argument for the left was “we love illegal aliens more than Americans”. Not a good position people. It betrays a stunning bad faith if you ask me (more on this below). Regardless, it’s not a winning proposition.

Trump’s position on the other hand is “we love Dreamers! But we got to fix the whole broken system!” See that? It’s brilliant!

My thoughts on the narrative of The Wall are below.

P.S. In honor of Rabbie Burns’ Day, I mentioned in the video above that I’d be going to Kilkenny’s, (it’s an Irish pub here in T-Town. Hopefully, they’ll have haggis there.)

P.S.S. The bagpipes in the intro are playing “Scotland the Brave”.

Comments

  1. Constaninos says

    Dear George,
    Your videos are excellent I think they are the best thing about Monomakhos. It’s interesting that you are talking about the wall, and then you end with “adios.” May I make a couple of suggestions to you? Okay, the commentary is outstanding and you have a face made for television. When you record a video, can you try not to move around quite so much? Also, no drinking and talking with your mouth full. It’s distracting. Bring back the pipe and get a man’s dog. This is the trouble with cocker spaniel and poodle mixes. They bark too much. The dogs I would suggest for you would be a Labrador Retriever, a Rough Collie, a German Shepherd, a Basset Hound, or an English Bulldog. You’re a manly man and should have a manly dog. I mean I am sure you don’t drive a Mazda Miata or a Toyota Rav 4. Also, may I suggest wearing a leather coat?

    • George Michalopulos says

      Thank you, Costa! I will definitely take into account your’s (and others’) critiques. It’s still rather in beta stage at this point. You’re right, Madison is not a “manly dog”, but she came to us as a rescue.

      P.S. I don’t even realize I say “Adios!” It’s just natural for me. Sometimes I say “Ciao!” It all depends on how whimsical I feel.

  2. Just curious George, not monkey pun, but why in the short period of 5-10 minutes that are the duration of your vlogs, is there a need to always have something go in and out of your mouth? Nervous distraction, or just schtick?

    • George Michalopulos says

      Good question. I’m easily distracted and by concentrating on something oral it concentrates my mind to the topic at hand. Tobacco and caffeine are both nootropics as well; they help me think and clarify my thoughts. If it’s too distracting, I’ll try to minimize it.

      Regardless, I appreciate the critique.

  3. Bishop Tikhon (Fitzgerald) says

    Imagine blaming all that on a Muse!

  4. Greatly Saddened says

    Below please find a video from Monday on the Fox News Channel website.

    US Special Forces Unable to Scale Border Wall Prototypes
    Jan 22, 2018
    National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd Speaks Out on the Successful Tests

    http://video.foxnews.com/v/5716592698001/?#sp=show-clips

    • Michael Bauman says

      GS, I would be more impressed if it were not just talking heads. All walls are scalable with the right equipment and techniques.

      Get a vehicle on the American side. Rope or cable with a basket tied to the vehicle and you could get over.

      The professional users will find a way. We can make it more difficult and costly, but all walls can be defeated. Where there is a will, there is a way.

      • Greatly Saddened says

        MB … I do agree, sooner or later those that want to come here to the U.S., will find some way to scale even the best of walls. All we can do is try to put up the best walls possible, along with increasing the amount of border patrol agents.

        Unfortunately, nothing is fail safe, just a deterant. That’s all.

        • Greatly Saddened says

          oops … typo … detterent!

        • George Michalopulos says

          I’ll say it once and I’ll say it again: walls work. Before the Israelis built their wall suicide bombings were a daily occurrence. After the walls were built —nada.

          As for the US context, the average illegal alien pays a coyote $10,000 to smuggle him into America. That cost will explode exponentially after the wall is built. Will it be impregnable? No. But it will be so prohibitively expensive that it won’t survive the cost/benefit analysis.

          • Michael Bauman says

            George, walls do work, but the hyperbole that they “will keep everybody out because US Special Forces can’t scale them” is ridiculous. Particularly with absolutely no evidence that any such attempt was ever actually made. They do not even say which special forces branch nor what the rules of engagement on the wall were (limits to equipment, time, help from the other side, etc.)

            Sure, a good wall will make crossing the border more difficult to impossible for the least motivated and those with the fewest assets. It will be more difficult for those with bombs and things to get across (as in Israel). That is a good thing. I tend to support the building of the wall but with quite low expectations. Still, Robert Frost was correct: “Good fences make good neighbors.”

            Still, remember the Maginot Line and all of the historic defense walls. All succeeded for a time, all failed in the end through obsolescence, attrition, traitors or apathy. At best it will be a stop-gap. If nothing is changed culturally, politically, economically and spiritually, “the wall will come tumblin’ down.”

            The bigger the wall, the more easily it is attacked and the more difficult it is to defend particularly in a country in which budgets depend to some extent on elections.

            Which leads to my next point: the commitment to upkeep. How long before the wall starts to crumble and will they be maintained, can they be maintained? Modular sections that can be replaced wholesale seems the only effective means of maintenance. How long before those on the Mexican side start picking away at them?

            Israel has a significant national commitment to the wall. We do not so it is quite unlikely that it will be maintained even if it actually gets built.

            We do not do a good job maintaining our current infrastructure (roads and bridges) especially in rural areas. Shoot, in Wichita on the east side of town, where most of the rich and powerful live, the roads are far better maintained than on the west or in and through the ghetto areas (we have several: one white, one black, one Asian, one Hispanic). We even have a tax-haven town with its own administration in the middle of the east side (the rich ghetto) that tends to get more services than those on the west side. Fortunately, that is beginning to break down and become more fluid and less important than it used to be. Unfortunately that means that what can be classified as the “inner city” continues to expand as those with means build further out. We have all kinds of walls that are not physical in nature and have endured for generations that are quite strong.

          • Ah yes, Secular Socialist Co-ed Conscription, Welfare/Warfare “State” ($5 billion a year of our Tax dollars)Orthodox Church land-raping Mossad/Rothschild’s Knesset Israel. I am consistently Stunned by the blinders some wear. Trump is “now” for illegal immigration. 1.8 million today and counting .

            • Stephan Molyneux appeals to Human Ego (half-truth-bait) being played toward the pre-constructed middle of the Global Bankers. I prayed mightily last night at the 2nd half (of lies) of Trunp’s address, for the souls and repentance of these disturbed and distracted chaos fomenters who work evil for the anti-christ.
              https://youtu.be/-ZkMc5bvuyQ

          • Nate Trost says

            Comparing a US/Mexico border wall with Israeli barriers is an exceptionally poor comparison. Multiple invalidating factors make comparing the two rather meaningless. A couple of the major ones in short:

            1) Size and geographic apples/oranges

            The West Bank, for example, is smaller than Delaware. From a developed area proximity and geographic complexity standpoint, it is incredibly easier to develop and maintain.

            2) One piece of a larger system controlling both sides of any barriers

            The big one. At this point, comparing the two isn’t even apples/oranges, it’s more like apples/grizzly bears. Israel controls the land on both sides of the ‘walls’ George Michalopulos is touting. If the US invaded Mexico, established a permanent occupied zone in which Mexicans didn’t have many rights or complete freedom of movement even within that zone, then you might start to get closer to being able to accurately compare the two.

            George Michalopulos, is, as usual, also inaccurate to claim the suicide bombings associated with the Second Intifada stopped due to the Israelis throwing up some walls. If stuff like the Jerusalem decision and the US posture changes and further Israeli far-right gains end up sparking a Third Intifada, pretty sure suicide bombings will make a return. Not to the same degree or type of 2001/2002, but the reasons for that go far, far beyond the existence of barrier walls.

            And when George Michalopulos is already being inaccurate, he shouldn’t succumb to hyperbole which makes him look even more foolish: even at the peak the suicide bombings weren’t a ‘daily occurence’.

            George Michalopulos wrote
            won’t survive the cost/benefit analysis

            Aha! An honest cost/benefit analysis is precisely what the Trump Wall won’t survive. George Michalopulos wants to assert “walls work” Except what ‘work’ means is going to be a slippery definition that can’t won’t be worth the amount of money that will disappear into a Border White Elephant.

            Coyote/border human smuggling pricing is a complex hydra to wrangle with a lot of variable parameters and moving parts. But! Market forces still enter into play in a way that can be very bad news for the efficacy of The Wall. It is one thing to ward off cheap small operator smuggling operations. But if there is a market to be filled that is willing to pay thousands?

            The irony is net migration never really rebounded after it reversed during the Great Recession. But a policy of deporting those with long-term residence and extensive family ties in droves might, you know, do something about that demand for illegal border crossing! And, for example, those people are more likely to be able to afford more for border crossing assistance than asylum seekers from Central America.

            And this isn’t even getting into the gift to the cartels of seeking to boost Border Patrol headcount while simultaneously lowering hiring standards! The efficacy of a border is also affected by the people manning said border. But that’s really a tangent, if an on-topic one when discussing if walls ‘work’.

            If your goal with vlogging was to be even sloppier with your facts and assertions and more careless with your arguments than the already low standard of your written essays: congrats, you succeeded.

            • George Michalopulos says

              Nate, thank you for your thoughtful reply. Yes, the Israelis control both sides of their wall. Who’s to say we won’t? Regardless, I see you conceded the fact that a wall can work. As for the prototypes of The Wall which have been built, American commandos have not been able to scale it. And these guys are in peak physical condition. To compare a squat, overweight, 5’4″ campesino from Nicaragua to a 5’10”, hard-muscled, highly-trained Ranger who can give an Olympic decathlete a run for his money is –to borrow your phrase–comparing apples to oranges. More like apples to watermelons.

              As for the continuance of suicide attacks since the erection of the Israeli wall, yes, they do happen: Israel proper has a large Arab minority. Most of the attacks have been of the machete-hacking variety or the driving of cars into large groups of people. They’ve been very infrequent. The suicide bombings which took place in the post-Oslo 1990s were very sophisticated operations. Safe houses were necessary as were highly-trained munitions makers. To create a suicide vest it required about $25,000 for a single vest. To outfit a suicide vehicle, it costed close to $100,000. (Most of these monies btw came from Saddam Husseing.) They don’t happen now not because the Palestinians don’t have safe-houses or the expertise but because they can’t breach the wall.

              Cost/benefit analysis. You’re right: it’s complicated. The cost will rise significantly irregardless. It’s hard to imagine a Mesoamerican peasant scarfing up another $10K or more to make the trek if there is an added, huge, obstacle. Especially if there’s no guarantee of a job. Here’s where it gets even more complicated: thanks to Trump’s massive tax cuts, the corporate tax rate went down from 35% to 21%. That’s going to take away the automatic advantage that the Central American peasant brings to the table. That calculation will go into the mix.

              • George Michalopulos says
                Yes, the Israelis control both sides of their wall. Who’s to say we won’t?

                That sounds like a requirement of having the wall “work” involves…annexing part of Mexico. Setting yourself up for success there I see!

                George Michalopulos says
                Regardless, I see you conceded the fact that a wall can work.

                That a wall could have some effect on border migration and smuggling operations was never really in question. But the criteria for qualifying whether a wall ‘works’ much less is a ‘success’ is rather subjective and we aren’t going to agree. Ironically, the more of a money pit a wall becomes, the lower George Michalopulos will set the bar for the wall ‘working’. When it comes to Glorious Leader, everything is going to be a sunk cost fallacy to George Michalopulos.

                George Michalopulos says
                As for the prototypes of The Wall which have been built, American commandos have not been able to scale it.

                Are you really that gullible? It’s not terribly impressive making something that can’t be scaled by a human being when you deny that human access to any tools or equipment that might be remotely relevant to the task. That you do not recognize this for the stunt that it is either reveals a hopeless lack of critical thinking on your part, or that you are so far down your ethnonationalist well that you know what you are saying is stupid, but you just don’t care.

                George Michalopulos says
                They don’t happen now not because the Palestinians don’t have safe-houses or the expertise but because they can’t breach the wall.

                You seem to have this delusion that there is a monolithic Israeli wall that has stood in completion for an extended period of time. That is not remotely correct. And again, asserting that Hamas, Fatah and PIJ stopped their suicide bombing actions because a wall made them impossible, versus because the Second Intifada ended is simply not correct either.

                George Michalopulos says
                Here’s where it gets even more complicated: thanks to Trump’s massive tax cuts, the corporate tax rate went down from 35% to 21%. That’s going to take away the automatic advantage that the Central American peasant brings to the table. That calculation will go into the mix.

                This is an utterly ridiculous assertion that has no basis in reality.

                George Michalopulos says
                To compare a squat, overweight, 5’4″ campesino from Nicaragua to a 5’10”, hard-muscled, highly-trained Ranger who can give an Olympic decathlete a run for his money

                In my initial response I had decided it was irrelevant and I wasn’t going to mention the fact that you apparently saw fit to highlight this entry on your blog with a blatantly racist cartoon. For fun I did a reverse Google Image search on it and the top hits for it were….illuminating. But after this racial physical attribute variant of the ‘lazy immigrants going to steal our jobs!’ paradox, I have to say: my dude, really? You are going to disparage a class of people used to long days of strenuous physical labor migrating to seek other jobs of strenuous physical labor, and your ample self is going to question their physical fitness against some blond haired blue eyed Übermensch?

                Of course, meet my shopping list and I could get you past those wall samples lickety-split, but it won’t be because you can win a triathlon.

                • George Michalopulos says

                  Nate, you’re really not getting it. It’s not “racist” to note the relative size or the average Mesoamerican to that of the average Caucasian. So drop the race card. It maxed out under Obama.

                  There are various ways of controlling both sides of a wall. And yes, you are correct: the Israeli wall is not a monolithic wall that stretches from point A to point B. It has many different aspects depending on the terrain. But you don’t see that you’re walking into the trap I laid for you when I spoke specifically about the Israeli wall. Now the trap is sprung. You don’t need to have a solid wall going from San Diego to Brownsville. My point is this: if the Israelis can build a series of barriers, walls, fences, GPS-monitored way-stations, etc., and keep out suicide bombers, then that very same paradigm can be placed here along our border.

                  There are parts of the border that are impenetrable and have been and always will be.

                  But let’s put our cards on the table: either you’re a liberal who doesn’t believe in national sovereignty and wants to flood America with an incessant flow of illegal aliens or you’re a Chamber of Commerce type of neoconservative who wants to flood the zone with cheap labor.

                  Which is it?

                  • Nate Trost says

                    You shouldn’t make that ‘average’ argument to me, make it to a ‘Mesoamerican’ Army Ranger. I can’t decide which is more amusing, that argument or that you whine about ‘the race card’ after posting Sambo lips in the year of the Lord 2018.

                    But you don’t see that you’re walking into the trap I laid for you when I spoke specifically about the Israeli wall.

                    That isn’t a trap. That’s moving a goalpost (textbook Michalopulos!) when called on your malarky.

                    “Oho! When I said a wall, I really meant far more than a physical wall but an integrated defense-in-depth border system including controlled occupation zones, extensive road checkpoints and surveillance blimps! All things you find in the dictionary under the definition of Wall.”

                    Please.

                    George Michalopulos says
                    There are parts of the border that are impenetrable and have been and always will be.

                    Along almost 2,000 miles of border? No, shut the front door! Of course, the converse is also true when you have that much border.

                    George Michalopulos says
                    But let’s put our cards on the table

                    Sure. If we are doing that, then the answer is I’m neither of the caricatures you represent as binary options, just a guy who thinks you are a white supremacist in the habit of posting untruths on the Internet.

                    So nice that political correctness is dead and we can express our honest opinions again!

                    • George Michalopulos says

                      I’ve met Mesoamericans my size (5’11”) and Asians even taller. The Mesomamericans that come from Guatemala and are indigenous to southern Mexico are on the average smaller than Caucasians. Don’t believe me? Read the qualifications for the Miss Mexico pageant: every contestant must be 5’7″. Interestingly, the last several dozen Miss Mexicos looked like they could be Miss Spain, Miss France, Miss Italy, Miss Belgium, etc. I wonder why that would be?

                    • Constaninos says

                      Nate,
                      You accused George of being a white supremacist. That is a disgusting vile smear that has no place on an Orthodox Christian website. It’s deeply sinful and cowardly. What has George ever done to you? You owe him a public apology- and I hope you are man enough to do it. George graciously allows you to fulminate your tedious, tendentious opinions- and this is how you repay him? Who are you and what have you done with your life that gives you license to express disdain in such incendiary terms? Although I may disagree with George on some issues, he’s my brother in Christ, a winner, and a very successful leader. What have you done with your life that is comparable to George’s accomplishments? At great expense to himself George has allowed you to freely spread your bile.
                      If you want to disagree with someone without being a jerk about it, look no further than our dear brother Michael. He vehemently disagreed with me, but he did it in the kindest most loving manner that I was in awe of his deep commitment to Christ. He blessed me by his Christlike rebuttal- and I’ll always be grateful for his excellent example of brotherly love.

                    • George Michalopulos says

                      Costa, thank you for coming to my defense. I’m no white “supremacist” and there is no place for pride in one’s race (or anything else) if you are a Christian. As a historian however, and as a matter of fact, I am a white man and I am cognizant of the contributions of my race to the world, just as Jews should be cognizant of the contributions of their ethnicity to the world, likewise Africans, Asians, Mesoamericans, Arabs and everybody else.

                      Father Moses Berry taught me several years ago that we –the races and kindreds of man–are “the flowers in God’s garden”. None of us are weeds that need to be pulled out and we all deserve the right to live as we choose.

                    • Estonian Szlovak says

                      To answer George, I have worked with Latinos in a border state. A lot of recent arrivals from Guatemala tended to be short. On the other hand, I used to go to a bank where just about every employee was a Latina. Not only were many of these ladies as tall as me at 6′ 1″, but they were almost all quite obese. So I wonder if the difference doesn’t have more to do with the North American way of eating. Plus, Mexico has it’s own obesity epidemic.
                      Since I brought up Guatemala and Mexico, perhaps we should discuss just what Mexico does when a Guatemalan illegal crosses their border.

                    • Do me a favor and go ask Father Moses Berry where your little Trump wall cartoon belongs: on the page of an ‘Orthodox Christian’ website, or say, that of a white supremacist.

                    • George Michalopulos says

                      How is it “white supremacist” to want to have intact borders? I got a better idea: why don’t you go ask an Israeli why they’re “Jewish supremacists” because they refer to Israel as “the Jewish State”?

                    • Constaninos says

                      Nate,
                      You come in George’s house, help yourself to his food in the refrigerator, put your feet up on his table, take his clicker, sleep in his bed, crap in his toilet without flushing, use his razor, dirty his sink, and stink up his joint. Get off of George’s back! As another poster to this forum said in quoting Buddy Guy, ” “You’re in my nose- and I have my eyes on you.”

                    • M. Stankovich says

                      I am apparently the only person who actually has proximity to the International Border with Mexico; who made the mistake of crossing the border with my car and waited in line for three hours to return to the US; and once, crossing by foot, had La Migra scream at me, “Put your hands in the air! Do it now!” because I had a hoodie tied around my waist, and he was a training officer teaching about hidden weapons. In my estimation, this entire issue can be summarized in nine words: Where there is a will, there is a way. The Border Patrol routinely finds bodies of individuals – frequently including mothers, infants, and children – who have died crossing desert areas in the summer, snow-covered mountainous terrain in the winter, and rugged terrain and river crossings. The Border Patrol makes the humanitarian effort to leave water in the desert and emergency blankets in the winter, knowing that the bodies that they find are abandoned by groups that will continue on. My point is that nothing is impenetrable when you are desperate and you have a will. We are embarking on the path of the foolish rich man, tearing down our current barns to build bigger barns, so we may say to our selves, “Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” (Lk. 12:19)

                      Finally, there is this continuous notion that illegal immigrants are “taking” from us, while I have suggested they more than earn. I believe, on the other hand, that we will have to answer for the fact that, while I listened to the State of the Union address and the grandiosity of a room full of rich Southern white men wildly applauding prosperity, I couldn’t help but think about an Op/Ed in the NY Times a week previous by Angus Deaton, a professor of economics and international affairs emeritus at Princeton University, the presidential professor of economics at the University of Southern California, and the 2015 Nobel laureate in economics. He reports that utilizing the US standard for poverty of $12,000 per year, 40 million Americans live below the poverty line; using the world standard for “deep poverty” – living on $4 per per day – 2% of Americans, 5.5 million people are deeply impoverished; and “several million” more are estimated to live on $2 per day. I was surprised when I heard on the radio that San Diego County was developing “menus” that provided the FDA required nutritional needs for an adult for individuals who qualified for a special food stamp program that provided $12 per day for meals. By statistical analysis of the rate of of deep poverty, disparity between the distribution of wealth and those below the poverty line, proportionally the US has more poor than Sierra Leone, Nepal, and Senegal; life expectancy based on availability of healthcare is lower in the Mississippi Delta & Appalachia then in Bangladesh & Vietnam; and millions of Americans suffer material poverty & lack of healthcare than many people in Africa & Asia specifically because of US aid. This would suggest we qualify as a shit hole by world standards, and illegal immigrants are not responsible.

                    • Nate Trost says

                      The Situation Analogized for Elucidation

                      PERSON: Hi, c’mon in.

                      ME: (entering house) Hi, thanks.

                      ME: (notices hardcore pornography is playing on the living room tv) Um, looks like you have some issues with sexual lust…

                      CONSTANINOS & BOB: (clutches pearls) What a slanderous opinion! You can’t know what is in the heart of another! Shriek!

                      ME: Ok, I…guess we’re not going to talk about the porn on the tv.

                    • Mr. Stankovich,
                      I really enjoy your religious posts but….. Unless you are trolling for a debate to suggest we qualify as a poop hole nation by world standards, well.. Mississippi does not represent all of America, and most likely there are not many illegal aliens there. Illegals follow the money. Still, given the choice, I would always pick Mississippi over Vietnam and Bangladesh. My hell dude, Greece is full of men from Bangladesh, pumping gas, that should indicate what a poop hole that country is, at least Vietnamese food is tasty, but who know what type of mystery meat is in the bowl, and let’s be honest if you had food poisoning or heart failure, once you found out you just ate Lassie or Curious George, would you not prefer to be in a Mississippi Hospital than those two wonderful countries, or God forbid Africa?

                      May I ask you couple more questions or two? Do you not lock the front door of your home, or lock the doors, and shut the windows of your car? Most people do, even though they know if someone wants in, they will get in. The obstacle is enough to prevent most thieves, not all, but most, from making the effort to break in. More obstacles such as; gates, protective landscaping, security guards, alarms, and weapons, will bring the percentages even lower. not fool proof, nothing is.

                      Or, try this, park your car in downtown San Diego, leave the windows open with a twenty dollar bill on the seat. Dollars to donuts, your twenty will be gone much sooner, and more often, than in a vehicle with shut windows, and locked doors. Again not fool proof, but..

                      My point? We must slow the flow of illegals. I hope you at least agree with that. You must agree there is a saturation point, right? Or do you not believe in borders?

                      A wall will slow the flow, not completely, but at least in half. Less will also not die in the desert if they know a tall wall is awaiting them at the border. So it is a win, win for all, on both sides of the border. Heck maybe even the Mexican government might do their job and provide opportunities for their citizens, and secure their southern borders to protect their citizens, instead of just dumping them all on us. I hear their is a lot of money, oil, and other natural resources in Mexico, maybe they spread the wealth with their people, and we can do the same with ours. Heck Trump even said he would take in the 1.8 million already stuck here, add that to those who figure out the cracks in the new wall, and I believe our saturation is meet. NO, Senior?

                    • George Michalopulos says

                      Very commonsensically put, Bob. We must love all God’s people but all religions agree with this Talmudic precept: “The poor man in your city takes precedence over the poor man in another country”.

                    • M. Stankovich says

                      Bob,

                      I have spent the basically spent the last 20 or so years working in state prisons among the worst human beings humanity has to offer, providing treatment and intervention when possible to serial sex offenders, the severely mentally ill, and the recidivist gangsters, blah, blah, blah, then catching many of them on the rebound in out-patient care on the outside. I just completed a contract as clinical director of a 120-bed facility for parolees and probationers delivered directly from prison, jail, or the state hospitals with substance use disorders and comorbid mental illness. I have done this on both coasts and I can tell that the impact of illegal immigrants – who routinely serve their terms for crimes committed in the US, are released, walk 90-feet from the gate directly into the custody of the Immigration & Naturalization Service, and delivered to an INS facility to eventually receive a hearing before an Immigration judge, and with a felony, are deported – are negligible at best. I certainly lock my doors, not because of the likes of M13, but because of the home grown & bred gangstas who outnumber illegals 100-to-1. Unfortunately, I know and have relationships with those who are stealing your stuff.

                      My point about about the the irony of America the “shit hole” is obviously derived from the president and his ignorance and his white privileged blindness to what economist Deaton refers to as the undeniable reality that America, with 40 million people living under the poverty line and 2% deeply impoverished (which is more than in the European Union combined), we cannot speak of the US as a nation without significant poverty, and the president has no room to disparage other countries without hypocrisy.

                    • George Michalopulos says

                      Dr S, if I may be so bold, you are fortunate in the paucity of run-ins you have had with illegal aliens who are recidivists but your particular experience cannot be generalized outwards. The level of violent crime committed by many of these illegal aliens against native-born Americans is astounding. The reasons we don’t hear about them more often is because:

                      1. they occur mainly within the precincts of the urban underclass (so-called “Brown-on-Black”) and

                      2. there is a conspicuous embargo by the Corporate Media to under-report these crimes and failing that, to misrepresent the salient facts.

                      I.E., the lede of the typical metropolitan newspaper when it reports such a crime (always on the back pages or buried in section B, C, etc.) runs something like this: “City Man Held in Domestic Abuse Complaint” or “City Man Charged in Felony Assault”. You have to read on to the second or third paragraph to find the ethnic identity of the “City Man” in question. He is invariably an illegal alien from a Third-world country.

                    • M. Stankovich says

                      Mr. Michalopulos,

                      I saw inmates, men & women, in institutions in all but the two desert prisons, and at every level of security the state of CA provides, including Death Row. Mine is an accurate representation of criminals from a state with 209 miles of shared international border with Mexico. Each city & county in CA admits convicted & sentenced individuals to the Dept. of Corrections, who then sends them to one of the reception & evaluation centers, who then sends them to the appropriate prison to serve their sentence. In the interest of security, they are frequently moved. Again, I was everywhere except two high desert facilities. I made appointments based on the list of “eligible” residents; illegal immigrants were ineligible because they were to be immediately transferred to the INS upon discharge from the institution. I know how many were on “INS Holds” and it was negligible in relation to the population of the facility. You are the one attempting to convince me that my experience is skewed with no data whatsoever, and I am unwilling to accept it. Prove your statement is correct with data if you would like to debate. Admittedly, the current administration is pursuing individuals with misdemeanor offenses & “infractions” (though forbidden in CA as of January 1), and this accounts for a doubling of arrests and deportations in the past year.

                    • Mr. Stankovich, while I have no reason not to believe your personal experiences, and stats, nor George’s. I lean a bit more with George. Let me tell you why, by my own personal experience.

                      My parents came here as legal immigrants, they came here by what we today call chain migration. Any how my parents found a home in a lower middle-class part of town. We had every color on the face of the earth, in our hood, and for the most part crime was not too bad. Now, this I can say for sure, in light of Georges point. When a crime was committed in our neighborhood, the only race that would report it to the police were the white families, all the other races took their lumps and kept quiet. Hence, nothing to report, and no one to arrest.

                      Later in my late thirties, I worked with a lady, that worked, a second job, for the the local school district, as a social worker, for low income Spanish speaking families. We would debate similar debates as we are now/here about illegal immigration. She would take the same position as you would, in that the first generation of border crossers, were looking for work and 90% were good hard working people. BUT , it was their children that were the criminals, and punks in general. The children had no supervision, while their parents worked two or three jobs, because of ridiculous low paying wages. Children were raised by siblings, neighbors, and eventually fell into the local gangs. That is how illegal immigration leads to crimes, committed within our borders, and gangs that control drugs.

                      I don’t know what the corporate media stats reports or does not, everyone seems to have a stat, to promote their own agendas. I do know for sure, they are not only against anything right of socialism, but hate our President so bad, they would first see our nation fail, before our President and most importantly our country succeed. So naturally they downplay the gang problems that plague not so much our white hoods, but the black and brown hoods, that the leftist pretend to care so much about. Yet neglect our poor American citizens, and see no problem flooding us with even more poor folks. We know why, votes, and low wages, not charity. Our country will always have poverty no matter who the President is. Our country is the most generous in the world, but would it not make sense to first put a good dent in our own poverty problems, before we allow our gates to be flooded by the world’s poor? Will there ever be a saturation limit for our bleeding hearted liberal friends? Or, must we all sink to near poverty levels, while our politicians, professors, and media continue to accuse of racism, and cold hearted bigots, while they enjoy their maids, gardeners, and nannies, in their well gated, and secured homes, meaning more than one.

                      Will we ever solve our poverty problem? I don’t know, but Deuteronomy 15:11 comes to mind,”For the poor shall never cease out the land:therefore I command you, saying, you shall open your hand wide upon your brother, to your poor, and to your needy, in your land.”

                      The key word there my brother is, “in your land”. Let’s treat and care for our own citizens first, and at least lock our doors, and roll up our windows, to the flood upon our borders. It’s time for the wall, by the way you never answered my question. Do you believe we should, or should not have secured borders?

                      PS how do you like to be addressed, it seems you are called Michael, Dr. S, Dr. Stankovitch, etc. Same with Mr. Bauman, if reading this post.

                    • There’s Stankovich subjective “reality” and then there’s the truth. Of course, the federal data refutes his false narrative and comprehensively confirms that Stankovich’s opinions are wrong.

                      Yet another progressive academic pretends to be a sage based on his personal experiences only, while ignoring solid data across the entire prison population! Irony much?

                      http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/crime/329589-the-truth-about-crime-illegal-immigrants-and-sanctuary-cities
                      The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Sentencing Commission reported that as of 2014, illegal immigrants were convicted and sentenced for over 13 percent of all crimes committed in the U.S.

                      According to the FBI, 67,642 murders were committed in the U.S. from 2005 through 2008, and 115,717 from 2003 through 2009. The General Accounting Office documents that criminal immigrants committed 25,064 of these murders.

                      To extrapolate out these statistics, this means that a population of just over 3.5 percent residing in the U.S. unlawfully committed 22 percent to 37 percent of all murders in the nation. This is astounding.

                      Illegal immigrants clearly commit a level of violent and drug related crimes disproportionate to their population.

                    • M. Stankovich says

                      Anybody, off the top of their head, that looks at data suggesting that 3.5% of the population – whatever that suggested demographic might be – is responsible for 22% (or, for heaven’s sake, up to 37%) of all murders in two periods totaling nine years in the life of the United States of America, and is not immediately skeptical, is plain out stupit (the actual period of measurement of those 25,000 murders, in reality, was from 1950 to 2009!). Centurion, bro, I defy you to independently verify this and most every claim the idiot who wrote this “truth” has served up. This isn’t research you provided. This is Googled up bullshit you found on some conservative blog that provides not a single citation or reference as to where these outrageous claims might be verified. And the ultimate insult to any legitimate researcher? These data are “unknown” because the “liberal media” has been engaging in misrepresentation. Misrepresentation of nearly half of the murders committed in the United States for nine full years! You would have to be stupit!

                      I will simply say this to you, pal, at least my “subjective” experience was drawn upon direct, personal observation of the “point-in-time” make up of the actual population of CA state adult correctional institutions. Obviously, the make up of federal facilities would be significantly different because immigration offenses are federal offenses; murder is not. But my experience most certainly is not based on “pull some internet article out of my butt” google scholarship, following which I feel empowered to insult. I fully expect you will locate the actual studies that support those unfounded, ridiculous claims, or you will apologize for your insulting “truth.”

                    • George Michalopulos says

                      Respectfully, I must disagree with you Dr S. Certain subgroups are more prone to certain activities (good or bad) than others. The phenomenon of over-representation based on share of the population is well-attested.

                  • Constaninos says

                    George,
                    The International Court of Justice has ruled the Israeli apartheid wall is illegal under international law. The apartheid wall must fall. Interestingly, many supporters of Israel have stated Israel is “the only democracy in the Middle East.” Many experts say this claim is tendentious because over 4.5 million Palestinians live under an illegal brutal occupation where the rights of the indigenous Palestinians are abridged. They say Israel is more like apartheid South Africa because even the Palestinian citizens of Israel are treated like the African Americans under Jim Crow. They are second class citizens. Examples of democracies in the Middle East are Tunisia, Morocco, Lebanon, Turkey and Kuwait. Israel as a democracy is fiction which the international community considers a bad joke. Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine- not Israel. Such is the power of Zionism in America.

                    • George Michalopulos says

                      Costa, I’m not holding my breath that the Israeli wall “must fall”. For that matter, I’d take the UN more seriously if they condemned the Saudis for their wall.

                    • George Michalopulos says

                      Costa, you raise several interesting points. And I’m not unsympathetic to your critique. For the time being, if you don’t mind, let’s just come to the understanding that the Israelis –for all their faults–are not going to listen to “reason” or adhere to “principles” when it comes to the survival of their state.

                      In time, I’ll write something longish about Israel/Palestine. In the meantime, you keep me on my toes.

                    • Exactly. And Nate, the “Liberal” “Progressives” are the other racists (along with Zionist Israel). They would not employ a black nanny, gardener etc because OPTICS, but give them an undocumented (or legal) smaller tannish brown slave laborer and their good. They are hypocrites who do NOT care about our Black AMERICAN population and just wants to replace it. The Z’s want all goy( Black/White) enslaved or silenced.

                    • Let me make this simple for y’all before we get into silly middle east debates, and racism claims. After all Nate has no X-ray vision into George’s heart, so he should not claim to accuse him of racism. I do know one FACT, and truth. A wall on a border makes for a better protected border, than no wall at all. A nation has the right and obligation to protect it’s citizens. When millions are coming over our border, to work, and receive benefits intended for our citizens, or worse thousands to kill, and commit crimes. It is time for a wall.

                      One more fact. There was a time in our past when most of us left our front doors unlocked, and even wide open in the summer. Those days are long gone, and doors double locked. It is time for a wall.

                    • George Michalopulos says

                      Thank you Bob.

                    • Constaninos says

                      Nate Trost,
                      That was so funny. You have a great sense of humor. Sorry for the joke at your expense. You’re a pretty cool dude.

                    • Michael Bauman says

                      The “International Community” is not populated with wise unbiased people or governments. Why should I care what they decide?

                    • Constaninos says

                      Centurion,
                      Wow!! That was a powerful article. The only thing I would quibble with is the term “illegal immigrant.” The correct term is “illegal alien.”
                      I had to marvel when I read Mr. Stankovich’s post this morning. I wouldn’t last in his position for one day- and yet he has been doing this for over twenty years. Talk about stress and high burnout. Let’s say that Mr. Stankovich is one of the highest paid people at his position. That means he probably only makes around 80k a year. You couldn’t pay me twenty million dollars a year to do his job. It’s better to be rich and happy like me. I am a mechanical engineer by training, own five car dealerships, an auto parts store, a hotel, and some commercial real estate, and I don’t have one thousandth the stress Mr. Stankovich has.

                    • Constaninos says

                      George,
                      I think Mr. Stankovich is right. Centurion could have expressed his viewpoints in a kinder, more conciliatory manner.
                      I have always found Christ’s command to love our enemies to be extremely difficult. When I read that Mr. Stankovich has to deal with serial sex offenders, how can a person even look in their face- let alone love them? I don’t mean this to demean Mr. Stankovich in any way, I just don’t know how he does it. He’s a better man than I am. That”s for sure.

                  • Constaninos says

                    George,
                    I was doing some investigating on the immigrant violent crime issue. It seems that the consensus by reliable sources suggest that immigrants- legal and illegal= are less likely than their native counterparts to commit violent crime in the US. Mr. Stankovich seems to be correct in his assertions.

                    • George Michalopulos says

                      Intra-group crime is heavily underreported. The living in the shadows thing so to speak

                    • M. Stankovich says

                      Mr. Michalopulos,

                      I can appreciate the idea that “undocumented” illegal immigrants are, indeed, living in the shadows – for example, the Chief of Police in Chula Vista, CA, approximately eight miles to the South of San Diego can only roughly estimate between 150,000 – 300,000 undocumented illegal immigrants within the confines of his city. How do you imagine it would be possible, however, to under-report murder if it were occuring at a rate of 27%-37% respectively, by illegal immigrants, in a total of nine years? It makes the “epidemic” in Chicago pale by comparison. Again, “intra-group” crime (as you noted, domestic violence, and so on – for that matter any intra-group criminal activity that would attract the attention of the authorities) is certainly under-reported or unreported. But that is not what disturbs anyone. It is the potential threat they pose outside the group. Is the intra-group rate of criminal activity higher than the general population? Who knows. They are not available for us to research. I say to you again, I believe you make statements that are unsupportable and are gross generalizations.

  5. Greatly Saddened says

    Below please find an article from today on the Fox News Channel website.

    Marc Thiessen: Democrats got rolled this week. They can blame Barack Obama 
    By Marc Thiessen|Fox News

    http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/01/25/marc-thiessen-democrats-got-rolled-this-week-can-blame-barack-obama.html

  6. Constaninos says

    George,
    I hope you realize my post was written tongue in cheek. It was meant as gentle kidding. I really do enjoy your videos, and you do have a face for television. A very nice looking man you are. The rest of the stuff was meant in jest. Hope I did not offend you.

    • George Michalopulos says

      Not at all! You are making me blush, however. I used to be nicer-looking when I had a head full of hair which in my youth I wore rather longish. Oh well.

      Sigh.

  7. Greatly Saddened says

    GM … your videos have only added to the value of the Monomakhos blog. Thank you so much for them and look forward to seeing more of them in the future.

    I concur, you do seem to be a natural in front of the camera! God bless.

    • George Michalopulos says

      Thank you, GS! You are very kind!

      I took a great risk in doing so but I felt I owed a thoughtful response to Bob’s thoughtful query.

      Truth be told, I started doing this on my Fakebook account because I have many liberal “friends” on there and the vile and vitriol that they’ve been spewing at those they don’t disagree with has been absolutely frightening. Seriously. Deranged, hateful and worse hate-filled. Writing did no good –not that my livefeeds do any better–but at least they could hear the emphatic tone of my apologia and hopefully see that not all who disagree with them have horns.

  8. Michael Bauman says

    George at least you do not have a silent movie voice and a radio face.

    • George Michalopulos says

      LOL! I trust my accent isn’t too disconcerting. I try hard not to speak Okie but it slips out every now and then (or after a long and hard day).

  9. Michael Bauman says

    George since videos almost never seem to work on my devices I tend to ignore them plus since I can actually read faster than people can talk I often find them tedious even when I get them to work. Mostly they just seem to be another movement away from genuine literacy.

    We should celebrate our regional accents though. Used with intelligence they are quite effective rhetorical devices. They can be an antidote for a mindless newsspeak.

  10. Michael Bauman says

    Nate, having known Father Moses for over 40 years I can say while he might not approve of the cartoon (not saying one way or another), he would tell George so with grace, humility and mercy. He would never attempt to condemn or humiliate someone else.

    It is an aspect of his character that is hard won but deeply held. We all would do well to emulate him. He has faced genuine racism that has both injured him and by God’s grace strengthened him.

    He can stand with the neck irons that his great-grandfather wore, place those same irons around his own neck leaving those around in grief and tears without a single condemnation, just a great sadness that it happened at all.

    So, I would be rather careful using his name to condemn anyone else for you know not whom you might offend.

  11. Michael Bauman says

    Michael S. Sigh! Why, here, do you have to be so sourly captious? I just have to say it again: facts ain’t everything. My dad taught me to think from the general to the specific. Then and only then are facts useful.

    So, do you really disagree with the premise that a disproportionate number of violent crimes are committed by people in this country illegally?

    You also seem to suggest that it is un-Christian to declare someone is an illegal alien. Do I understand correctly?

    • M. Stankovich says

      Let me be clear about this point: all those persons who entered the US illegally are criminals, 100% of them. I am not sympathetic to those who, particularly here in CA, would attempt to “shield” this fact from, for example, law enforcement; for providing access to a driver’s license for driving and for identification; and for providing non-emergency medical care and education. It is overwhelming the local and state resources, and new legislation that took effect this January in reaction to the increase in federal application of the immigration laws is turning CA into a refugee state in defiance.

      On the other hand, what is being promoted here is exactly what is being promoted in San Diego in regard to another generic class of the despicably despised, the homeless. While it is true that there is housing crisis in San Diego – lack of available units & lack of affordable units – that has resulted in a crisis in homeless, the crime rate is at a 20-year low. But as what happened in NYC under Mayor Guilliani & Police Chief William Bratten, as the crime rate consistently fell to record lows, the fear of the stereotypes of crime (in NYC, it was Black homeless males & now in San Diego it is homeless males in general) rose proportionally. After a number of years now of working with men on parole and probation, I believe I have a good impression of who is committing crime in San Diego, and most importantly, they rarely, if ever, were “undomiciled” before going to prison/jail. What I constantly read and hear at community meetings and so on is that the “homeless” are out of control, responsible for any and all crime, however anecdotal a 20-year low might be, and heavily influenced by fear. William Bratten founded a research institute when he left the NYPD, and I would strongly imagine that all of the unsupported, uncited conjecture proposed here falls neatly into his findings about NYC. No one yet has provided any convincing argument to the contrary.

  12. Michael Bauman says

    Constaninos, would you consider adopting me?

    • Constaninos says

      Thank you for your kindness Michael Bauman.

    • Gail Sheppard says

      Gee, Michael, I was going to ask Contaninos to marry me! You beat me to the punch.

      • Constaninos says

        Dear Gail,
        You are the kind of godly, saintly, Christlike woman any man would be blessed and fortunate to have as his wife or as a friend. Consider me one of your many fans and admirers on this forum. The love of Christ radiates from your innermost being.You are a very rare treasure indeed. I think King Solomon wrote The Song of Solomon with you in mind.

        • Ah darn it. I was hoping we had a storybook romance on our hands. Constaninos, Gail, and “little Mikey.”

          • Michael Bauman says

            Brian aside from the fact that no one could reasonably call me little and I despise “Mikey”– dream on.

            • It was fun to think about, though. Sorry about the “little Mikey” thing. It was all in jest of course. You surely know how much I respect you, Michael.

      • Michael Bauman says

        Gail, unless he is already married, both could happen.

        • Gail Sheppard says

          I love the way you think outside of the box, Michael!

          • Michael Bauman says

            Gail, that is one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me. My mother and father would be proud. I come from a long line of unboxed people.

  13. Gail Sheppard says

    Oh my, Contaninos! Thank you.

    I normally don’t respond to compliments and it’s not because I don’t appreciate them. I truly do. The reason I don’t respond is because of a story I was told a long time ago. I’m going to be paraphrasing here so forgive me:

    An elder instructed a monk to go out into a graveyard and yell obscenities at the dead. The monk was perplexed but complied. The monk returned and the elder asked him how the dead responded. The monk said they did nothing. The elder then told him to go back to the graveyard and praise the dead. The monk complied and returned to the elder. The elder again asked him how the dead responded. The monk said they did nothing. The elder told him, “Just as the dead were silent to your praise and recriminations, you are to be silent (dead) when people praise or criticize you. Don’t give weight to either.”

    This helps to be silent when people really come after me (and they do) and to not let compliments go to my head!