sbrobert
By Robert Bernstein
On February 15, 2019 President Trump declared a national emergency with regard to the US/Mexico border. This followed a battle with Congress to secure funding for his border wall which resulted in shutting down the Federal government for over a month. Trump lost that battle.
As a result of the emergency declaration, over 270 protest events took place according to this MoveOn web page.
Here are my videos and photos of the protest in Santa Barbara which drew over 200 people to De La Guerra Plaza and a march up State Street on Monday.
The event was organized by Michal Lynch and the Women’s March Santa Barbara organization in coalition with other local groups. Including Santa Barbara Women’s Political Committee, League of Women Voters, Democratic Women and Unitarian Universalists.
Here Michal Lynch was on stage with Santa Barbara Mayor Cathy Murillo
Mayor Murillo posed before the event with Solstice people Claudia Bratton and Hathor Hammett
Many held signs calling Trump a liar for manufacturing an emergency that has no basis in fact
Others expressed concern that Trump’s emergency declaration itself is a crisis for democracy and represents a national emergency
Trump undermined his own claim of an emergency by saying “I could do the wall over a longer period of time, I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather do it much faster.”
Chris Lange is most known for her tireless work to create the Ellwood Mesa park in Goleta to protect Monarch Butterfly habitat. But she spoke on a very different issue when she raised the issue of fascism. By some accounts, Trump is checking off the items on the road to fascism. This gentleman is holding one version of this list
In this case, when Trump did not get what he wanted through the democratic process of our system, he simply declared a national emergency. Here Chris Lange stands with a “PACE” flag from Italy with Mayor Murillo. The flag originated in 2002 as a peace protest against the impending war in Iraq
Others held signs expressing the positive projects that this country needs rather than what they consider to be a waste of money on the border wall
Diane Soini runs the Santa Barbara Hikes web site and she turned out to ask Congress to protect our Constitution
And many people held signs calling for the impeachment of President Trump. When the march headed up State Street, that was the lead banner
Although Monday was a Federal holiday for Presidents’ Day, it was a work day for most people. As a result, State Street was bustling with people watching the march with interest
Here is my video of the marchers heading up State Street
And here was one of the chants: “Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire”
There have been 58 uses of the National Emergencies Act from 1978-2018 according to this table.
Most of these involved blocking trade with or exports to countries declared to be a national security risk to the US. Some of these were very political, as Reagan’s declarations regarding Nicaragua in the 1980s. But none of them involved taking money from one program to give to a project that Congress had refused to allocate money for. In fact, none involved allocation of money at all.
President Trump will be facing many lawsuits to stop his action for a variety of reasons. Some are Constitutional, some are legal based on the intent of the law. Some are based on the simple facts of the declaration. Trump had two years in office to build his wall and never pushed the case when he had Congress on his side. Many in authority in his own government disagree that there is a need for a wall. And many in the president’s own Republican Party are concerned that this could set a precedent for future Democratic presidents.
As this sign notes, our own government has declared we are facing a real crisis when it comes to Climate Change
A future Democratic president could easily use Trump’s example as a precedent to declare a climate crisis. Here is the PolitiFact fact checking on Trump’s emergency declaration.
I will note that we have just returned from travels in Mexico. We flew out from Calexico and returned in San Diego. This gave us a pretty long view of the border. For the stretch that we covered, there already is a wall. The wall is not a new thing. Previous presidents and Congresses allocated money for a wall and/or fence along the border where it was considered to be effective.
And there is one action that immigration experts generally agree is far more effective than a wall: Prosecuting employers who hire undocumented workers. It is notable that Trump has opposed this measure. Perhaps it is related to the fact that his own Trump businesses have been demonstrated to hire undocumented workers.
It is a very lonely and frustrating existence for far too many people. Maybe another “statement” bumper sticker will brighten their day. If it is any consolation, Bernie is running for Prez again…raked in $6 million this week…send him some dough peeps. Socialism is the cure….price of vagina hats might go up a bit.
Lower Left Side last picture shot of my friend Marge..Belinda used to say where ever there is a protest Marge is there somewhere…Thanks I like seeing Marge there…
I would have more people than this at my kegger parties. Looks like the usual suspects . lol
Here are ten reasons Donald Trump should be impeached. Note that impeachment is not a legal process. It is a political process. Even though he has broken actual laws, he has to be removed by Congress, not by any legal process. https://www.needtoimpeach.com/impeachable-offenses/
@A-155
If you are concerned about “Climate Change” then why is nothing being done in CHINA (Industrial waste in oceans and rivers)? , BRAZIL (where 100’s of acres of rainforest are cut down weekly), MEXICO (trash burned and untreated sewage into the ocean among just a few) INDIA…
Ya see, we have strict EPA STANDARDS (EPA was started by President Nixion) … those OTHER countries – nothing. ZERO. SO you want the U.S. to have stricter policies and CHINA and the rest get off scott free… The American public will take the hit at the cost of jobs and our economy… LOL!
Wow, Coastwatch. Just, wow.
Why don’t these people have jobs?
Oh, I get it. If you have a job, you would never leave work during the day for any reason at all.
Actually you can impeach someone just because you don’t like them. As noted above, impeachment is not a legal procedure carried out in a court of law. Otherwise lawbreakers like Reagan and both Bushes would have been removed from office. It is all about “likes” rather than laws. Too bad, because Trump has broken quite a few laws as noted in the post above.
Do you have any principles that you would stand up for? Do you have any principles at all?
“ALL KNOWING” That’s like, um, GOD, isn’t it? Are you also omniscient? If you’re a loving GOD, you must be wretched, knowing the future our species is continuing to bring on, blindly ignoring the fact that it’s disasterous for our species, too, not just the stray polar bear or Monarch butterfly.
Progressives are so progressive that since they went to college they have not changed a thing. Same hair style (but now silver or gray), same clothes, same glasses, same political stance, same distain, same anger, same same same everything. No growth = No Progression = Life of unhappiness (unless complaining or downvoting).
Let me make it clear, I do not support President Trump but I do believe we need to prevent a continued unchecked influx of immigrants into this state, Wall or no Wall. My comments here are only addressed to this alarming trend that our politicians and Democratic citizens fully support immigration, legal or otherwise, from countries south of our border. I don’t really want to hear from all of you who will chime in to some effect that American is country of immigrants; most of those trying to come here now have not, and will not, pay for the infrastructure and benefits they will receive that previous legal immigrants have established and paid for.
I am a California native. Our state has become a sad joke for many of those born here, which is why so many of us have chosen to leave or will be doing so as soon as retirement or other jobs in other states come our way. It doesn’t surprise me that many folks living outside this state refer to it as “The Socialist Fascist Republik of Kalifornia.” I urge you to watch this 10 minute video as to what has actually happened since the 1950’s to the present, and why, to this once-glorious state : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuvofrRKsi0.
Simply, we have too many people here already. To support being a sanctuary state and support essentially unlimited immigration, legal or illegal, is only an invitation to continued disaster and, yes I hate to say it, has almost become a national emergency. The only way to support this immigrant population is Socialism, Democratic or otherwise, as someone pointed out in the Caroline Heldman PBS broadcast.
For all the politicians in the state who don’t think there is a immigration crisis and now spend most of their time opposing national laws and suing the Trump administration, you are essentially guilty of treason and figuratively support cessation from the United States. I wish Newsom, Becerra, Carbajal, Morillo, et al. would not waste time battling the federal government on the immigration issues. And, really, our mayor wasting her time supporting an anti-Trump march, especially in her Pro NRA Cabella’s jacket as someone else mentioned? Reminds me of the old saying that we should leave politics out of politics.
There is no doubt the majority left in this state is pushing more and more towards Democratic Socialism but I would like to leave you with these quotes from various comments that Winston Churchill said, “Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy. Its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.”; “Christopher Columbus was the first socialist: he didn’t know where he was going, he didn’t know where he was, and he did it all at taxpayers expense.”; “A socialist state could not afford to suffer opposition – no socialist system can be established without a political police.”; “If you’re not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you’re not a conservative at forty you have no brain.”
It is unclear what is your point in your long ramble. But this much is clear: If you don’t want illegal immigration, the article offered a clear solution at the end: Prosecute employers who hire illegal immigrants. Problem solved.
What have you changed in your life view? Some things don’t need to change. 1+1=2. The need for basic justice.
I would settle for equal justice .
I don’t think I agree with your comment about “right wing trump supporters”. It seems that a lot of left wing Democrats, to use your term, “wackos” also spend a lot of their time badgering people that have other beliefs as well, as they did in this march, or whatever it was supposed to be. As far as being a “sanctuary city” and state, and moving out as you suggest, I actually am seeing more and more individuals and families leave this state, including businesses, mostly those who were born or established their businesses here, and are now fleeing. I am afraid all that this state will become is a home for the Silver Spoon, Hollywood, and Silicon Valley types alongside the poor immigrants they will ultimately have to house, feed, and pay for while the middle class moves elsewhere. It will be interesting to see what the 2020 census will indicate, provided the illegals will actually provide that info, which I doubt.
That only addresses the people who want to work.
COASTWATCH, I am sorry to say how very true your comments are. As a California native myself, it is so disturbing to see how this state has “devolved.”
If anyone is interested, here are a very few recent laws and bills introduced that have either passed our current Democratic controlled legislature or waiting to be approved. (The comments in parenthesis are mine.):
1) Increased your gas taxes by approximately 20 Cents, and your vehicle license fees by an average of $100. (The initiative to overturn this failed in the November election, of course, because of misleading and misworded advertisements coming from the huge amounts of money the Democrats and constituent special interests (e.g., Granite Construction Company) poured in to defeat it, claiming our roads are falling apart, fire departments wouldn’t be able to get to your house, and other ridiculous claims)
2) Passed Cap-n-Trade Tax which will increase gas another 0.63 to 0.93 cents a gallon and the other taxes that go with it. (So do the math projection….. (0.12 + 0.63 = 0[] .75/gallon + current $3.10/gallon = $3.85/gallon) We’re already the costliest in the nation except for Hawaii.)
3) Currently proposing a statewide increase on a new tax every residence will pay for tap water, supported enthusiastically by our new Governor Newsom)
4) A $3.46B parks bond to pay for parks in “disadvantaged communities”, meaning Los Angeles. The debt service alone will be over $200 million a year. (The good news is some money goes to help fix the Salton Sea which should have always been a State responsibility since they taxed citizens to establish it in the first place)
5) New law to releasing any “lifer” (murder, rape , child molestation, etc.) who is 60 years old and has already spent 25 years in prison. (Charles Manson would have qualified if he just waited a few months before dying; and the Melendez brothers that murdered their parents could be released in about 12 years? Victims?… What victims?)
6) A new $ 50 charge on all residents living in a mobile home park to address “living condition enforcement” in those parks? (As if having to live in a mobile home park isn’t bad enough? Why does the left embrace these regressive taxes on the poor?)
7) Yet another bill to force Tesla to either unionize with the United Auto Workers Union, or forfeit State incentives to buy their electric cars. (Unions are loving it. Watch out solar companies… They will probably be coming after you next)
8) Bill to reduce from a felony to a misdemeanor the purposeful intent to transmit the AIDS virus to a unknowing partner.
9) Bill to give preferential treatment to prisoners convicted of serious crimes that are less than 25 years old because their brains are not mature enough to understand right from wrong. (If the brains of our kids cannot distinguish right from wrong until age 25, why do we allow them to vote at 18 or serve in the military? Good thing they can no longer buy rifles until they are 21, too, thanks to a new law)
10) A bill to require our true sex be omitted from drivers licenses.
11) Various and ongoing bills (some of which have now passed) to give free legal services, driver’s licenses, medical care, and housing for illegal immigrants. ( Of course!)
12) Attorney General Becerra is now up to 46 lawsuits against the federal government. (Can’t this guy just worry about his own state instead of his own political agenda?)
I suppose in the words of US Senator Mazie Hirono (D- Hawaii) our California state legislatures are taking her words to heart: “one of the reasons it was told to me at one of our retreats was that we Democrats know so much, that is true. And we have kind of have to tell everyone how smart we are.”
* Establish safe “injection zones” run by government to oversee people injecting heroin!
You have to be kidding me! Yep, it all passed! You may consider forwarding this so that ALL Californians can be proud of our elected officials.
Your lack of self awareness is tragically ironic. Might I suggest you not accuse others of spite in such a spiteful manner. Funny how people in cults start to take on the shallow personality traits of their guru.
Someone else posted this video link, which I think was made a year or so ago. I watched it and it is fascinating as it touches on so many of the concerns and comments posted here today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuvofrRKsi0
420722 you’re such a hypocrite. During the Obama years were you practising the tolerance you want the Never Trumpers and Trump Haters to show? No … you weren’t. So don’t preach what you know you can’t practise.
It is from “Intelligence Mountain”, whoever that is, and is the video to the left when you pull it up on Google and is titled “The Fall of California.” Lot of interesting and interesting stats here, if they are actually true. I love the photo of former governor Schwarzenegger at 3:46 into the video as being portrayed as a Nazi with the caption “Son of a Nazi” and his quote about illegal immigration by obvious pro-immigration enthusiasts.
Bob Wilson, sadly because most of our currently elected officials and politicians don’t, including Murillo, Carbajal, and all the way up through the ranks to Newsom. They obviously have no reason or desire to support and defend national laws or the Constitutions due to their constituency support and there political and current/future employment goals. I don’t know, impeach President Trump, as many in the march article and comments here were/are suggesting, or maybe we should start at the grass roots level and begin impeachment proceedings against self-serving politicians beginning at the local level and beyond?
BigOne. You are 100% correct. The progressive left will shout you down, but it’s impossibible to disagree with your comments. California is spiraling into a third world state, all thanks to the lunacy of the progressives. Newsome, Carbajal, Jackson and the others ARE traitors in every sense of the word.
Meanwhile the republicans are giving the rest of the country to the russians…
I wasn’t even into politics during Obama. I was very anti-anything to do with government and busy partying. It wasn’t until 2016 I woke up and decided to get with the program and here we are. We have celebrities faking hate crimes and someone on edhat that I don’t even know telling me what I was doing during the Obama years. Get a life bro. And the word is practice not practise!
Oath of Office for the City of Santa Barbara:
I, Cathy Murillo, do solemnly swear [or affirm] that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the State of California, and all local ordinances, and that I will faithfully and impartially perform and discharge the duties of the office of Mayor, according to the law and the best of my ability.
How can you take this oath and at the same time support the notion of “sanctuary cities”? How can you take this oath and yet resist every effort to protect our borders and stem the tide of illegal immigration?
funny. i see a bunch of right wing wacko trump supporters doing nothing but badgering people that have different beliefs. seems also the republicants like to paste labels on everything, usually derogatory.
i see posts that have merit being down voted and posts from people supporting trump getting bumped up. if you don’t like that we are a sanctuary city, and in fact California is sanctuary state, and we are also a doner state in regards to taxes for other states. Perhaps you should move. Go to Iowa or Missouri. You’ll be surrounded with other like minded people….
@ ZEROHAWK
Ummm, this was Reagan Country when you were still living in Iowa… REAL Californians remember when this truly WAS the “Golden State”… before this wave of left from other States desended upon us.
I wonder how many of these white liberals live in neighborhoods with undocumented immigrants or send their children to segregated (Latino) public elementary schools in Santa Barbara? Other than the maid or gardener, do they really know any undocumented immigrants? Do they go to their parties or when was the last time they invited one over for dinner? I think we all know the answer to these questions. Unfettered and illegal immigration is great as long as it’s not in my backyard. Hypocrites!
Maybe but she is still the Mayor voted in by the People of Santa Barbara Your Mayor too..
The only thing Progressives have is their bottomless abyss of spite.
“Fight Truth Decay” – what a funny and apropos poster!
You see what you choose to see Zero. The idea that you think there are actually Trump Trolls perusing EdHat is case enough to discount everything else you posted / post. Trump is a horrific person and POTUS, but his position on illegal immigration is correct. We do need to send the cheaters back and make them wait in line. Every 5 year old knows that it is not OK to cheat, cut in line, steal or lie. Forget the wall (its stupid) but how about we enforce the laws we have on employment and ID theft and show our children that its NOT ok to lie, cheat and steal regardless of your surname or nationality? Cheaters should never be rewarded.
Progressives want all of the things that civilized countries have had for decades: A fair income for workers, health care and college education for all, modern high-speed public transit and an investment in the future for science and technology. That is our positive vision of the future. What is yours?
The protest was about a president of the United States lying about a national emergency. Not sure what that has to do with most of the comments here.
I live in a neighborhood with all kinds of different Folks everyone here legally were not all rich but were neighbors when I’m not feeling well they fix me something and vice versa were all friends no hypocrites here. I also have friends that are republicans they are no hypocrites either.
summed up nicely…unfortunately very sad commentary on the once Great State of CA
LUVADUCK…….your response was a bit non sequitur but you might be living in a softer world than me …….my commentary was attempting to point out the hypocrisy of our civic leaders on just about every issue of the day………..and I like polar bears and butterflies too
Economic prosperity at the cost of destroy our land? oil off shore? fracking? no thanks. Explain how a man that is a failure at business has given us economic prosperity. Jobs? There was more job growth during our last presidents term. National Security? FFS, this guy is ignoring his own national security advisors lol! Wrong again, but i guess when you listen to Hannity, you’ll believe the moon is made of cheese. Open border? There is a process. It’s not open. Global society? You mean a community that works together? yeah most of us do. I smoke the good stuff. You smoke hate. That’s clear.