BORDER TRUTHS – OVERNIGHT:  As readers know, I rate Salena Zito as  one of the best reporters in the United States.  She actually talks with people below the Cabinet level.  I doubt if she's invited to cocktail parties in Georgetown.  And she doesn't think the world will end in two weeks if we continue to drive cars. 

She has observed the southern border, and her observations are choice.  From Creators: 

Take all of the imagery you have seen of the over 14,000 Haitian migrants camped under an international bridge in the small Texas border town of Del Rio and add the complications of disease, public excrement, unbearable heat and heightened frustrations. It has led to violence that has injured Border Patrol officers.

Now close your eyes and imagine it is 100 times worse.

Because that's what it is, said Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales, the freshman Republican who represents 42% of the border. The overwhelmed city of Del Rio had been in a rapidly deteriorating crisis situation when illegal immigrants first began surging into the community in January, but Gonzales now says the situation here is a "Category 5" and that the environment is unlike anything he has ever seen before.

"I arrived here today to pure chaos," he said. "I've never seen it in this environment. There literally is no border left."

Gonzales said Del Rio is in dire straits. "There's no doubt there's COVID here, there's measles, tuberculosis, all kinds of diseases," he said. "You've got kids running around in nothing but diapers. A handful of port-a-potties — my God, the stench is terrible. This is not good for the migrants. It is not good for the residents. It's not good for wherever our government is sending them in the interior of the country."

Despite the Department of Homeland Security insisting repeatedly the Haitians would be deported, as of Tuesday, it had only removed 1,000 of the estimated 15,000 under the bridge. Multiple news organizations including CNN reported that buses have been escorting them to a nonprofit organization in town where they purchase bus or plane tickets. They are then moved to a gas station where buses pick them up and take them to other parts of the country.

The Washington Post reported that the number is in the thousands of those released to parts unknown in the interior of the country.

"My takeaway after I walked through it all, I look over at the sector chief, and I go, 'Man, I just feel sad.' He goes, 'I know. Everyone just feels beaten here,'" Gonzales said.

Del Rio residents have seen their lives turned upside down. The international bridge has been closed — a lifeline bringing tens of millions of dollars to the local economy. If you're a small-business owner and your business has somehow survived COVID-19, something like this could easily wipe you out.

Everybody has been sucked into this chaos.

"The worst thing is that we are not even talking about the other places where this is happening," Gonzales said. "Today, we're talking about Del Rio, but tomorrow, it'll be Laredo or Brownsville or Eagle Pass or El Paso. This problem is not going away."

COMMENT:  Please read the rest.  This is the kind of reporting we rarely get today.   The border crisis is vastly larger than the "insurrection" of January 6th, yet it was the latter that has gotten more attention.  There are times I think we'd be better off switching to a parliamentary system, where the first officer of the government could be replaced by a single vote of no confidence.  The glory of our current system is that it reinforces stability, but that only works when the candidates are carefully chosen by their parties.   How careful were the Dems in choosing Punchy Joe and Nowhere Kamala?

Boy, do we have problems.  Sorry for saying "boy."  I'm just not woke.

September 28,  2021