No.Nonsense.

I really wanted to have a break from politics for just one column. But alas, the jackasses in Washington have sucked me back in. I really wish they all would just grow up. In a world of war, I really need some peace for a few days.

Sigh. . .

Let’s start with our illustrious president at the Dignified Transfer of our fallen service members. The same man who ranted about Biden looking at his watch during the ceremony showed up wearing a ball cap emblazoned with USA on the front and his presidential numbers on the side. Mr Trump, this is not a golf game or a campaign rally. It is the procession of flag-draped caskets of the service members who died in the war you started. To use it as a photo-op is the most disrespectful thing I have ever seen.

Or at least I thought so. . .

And then I read that his political action committee is using that image in a fundraising email where Trump says he will share his private security briefings to those purchasing a membership to the PAC.

It’s not only tacky, it’s pissing on the sacrifice these soldiers made. It’s taking their lives and diminishing them to a dollar figure. It’s using an image of a solemn service to fill your coffers.

Biden was just bored. Trump is opportunistic.

Unfortunately, he’s not the only offender of late.

In a “mine is bigger than yours” contest between congressional Democrats and Republicans, the Democrats have refused to fund the Department of Homeland Security until the Republicans bow to their demands regarding CBP and ICE.

Though the proposals on their surface look to be reasonable, what they in fact do is put severe restrictions on immigration enforcement. Yes, the body cams and identification are good ideas. If a SWAT team has to wear their badges while on an operation, so should ICE agents. I have no problem with those demands.

Where the demands get more precarious in overall law enforcement ability is in requiring a judicial warrant before making entry into a private residence. The issue is not in the warrant but in requiring a level over and above basic law enforcement. For LEOs, if there is an imminent threat they can enter with no warrant.

I have no issue with limiting operations near churches and schools and in fact wrote about respecting these spaces. I had addressed the protest inside the church but acknowledged that ICE shouldn’t be in there either when it was pointed out to me they had set up next to a church with a preschool.

The other point I’m going to argue is in requiring that DHS ask permission from local and state governments before beginning an operation. Nope, nope nope. Federal law supersedes state and local per the Constitution. Immigration enforcement is a matter of federal law and therefore is not subject to state and local constraints. In the same vein, investigations of federal law enforcement are for the Department of Justice and should not be subject to local authorities and courts.

The rest of the points are negotiable.

But the problem here is that FEMA, US Coast Guard, and TSA are not getting a paycheck while this posturing is going on. They are required to continue working while not able to feed their families. TSA agents make between $31,500 and $69,500. As someone living in this pay range, there is no going a month without income.

Meanwhile every single one of those congressional representatives are still drawing their paychecks.

Maybe if they couldn’t pay their rent or buy their groceries they’d stop with the machinations and start acting like decent human beings. Unfortunately, to make a rule like this to withhold paychecks during a shutdown, they would be the ones voting that rule into law. Self-regulation means that such a law will never exist.

Whether it’s a president fundraising off the backs of dead soldiers or Congress thinking about something other than their next election, the lack of empathy for the lives of others is glaring. Our leaders should be working for us and not using us as cannon fodder in their war of political supremacy. Unfortunately, they will never put us first until we put them in the unemployment line.