Governor Crybaby

Now it’s Illinois’ Progressive-Democrat Governor JB Pritzker who’s joining the Greek Chorus (and giving a bad name to Greek Choruses) with his bodice-ripping (not that I mix metaphors, or anything) sobbing about all the illegal aliens coming into Democratic states, Democratic cities.

We have migrants that arrive from Texas virtually every day, hundreds, and we don’t have places to put them.

This is the first of his cynical tear-jerks. Texas hasn’t transported a single migrant to Illinois, or to anywhere else, come to that. Texas has transported illegal aliens—every one of whom makes the trip voluntarily—to Illinois and to other places.

Hundreds: wow. So many. Never mind that Texas and Arizona towns and cities are getting inundated by thousands of illegal aliens every day, and that the “immigration” deal on offer in the Senate would seek to dam that flood at…5,000 per day.

We don’t have places to put them. Then stop enthusiastically—zealously, even—inviting them in with your open arms Illegal Aliens Sanctuary status.

There are plenty of other cities where, you know, if he’s going to send people, they could be sent, but no. He’s choosing only Democratic states, Democratic cities….

This is the second of his cynical tear-jerks. No, Texas’ Republican Governor Gregg Abbott is not transporting any illegal aliens at all to Democratic states, Democratic cities. He’s transporting them to sanctuary States and to sanctuary cities. That those receiving jurisdictions happen to be Progressive-Democrat-run says volumes about the Progressive-Democratic Party, and nothing at all about the torrent of illegal aliens flooding across our border compared to the tiny trickle these sanctuary States and cities are getting.

Maybe Pritzker should sit down. His caterwauling is damaging to the Chorus.

A Cost of Biden’s Red Sea Dithering

As Progressive-Democrat President Timid Joe Biden continues to respond to Houthi terrorist attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea with namby-pamby—the recent strikes against some terrorist launch sites in Houthi-occupied western Yemen are proving to be a one-off, with Houthi attacks continuing, with Biden shying away from further response (his Tuesday potshots don’t count)—Egypt is suffering considerable shipping drops from the reduced shipping through its Suez Canal.

International Monetary Fund figures show 35% less cargo was transported through the Suez Canal in the first week of 2024 compared with the same period last year.

The shipping rate drop is made clear in these graphs. The first is an Agence France-Presse graph:This one is from the IMF’s Port Watch:

The key part of this 4-yr graph is the blue-highlighted last-six-months date range at the right. The rest of the four years just shows how steady shipping was before the Houthi attacks and Biden’s timidity in the face of them.

As usual, right click and select the Open Image in New Tab option for a larger versions of the graphs.

From that shipping drop, Egypt’s Suez Canal-related revenue is down 40% in just the first 10 days of this year compared to 2023, as a result of the Houthis’ attacks.

The Houthis’ terrorist attacks on commercial shipping aren’t what’s isolating the Suez Canal from the world’s shipping lanes, though. It’s Biden’s tolerance for those attacks, and his meek acceptance of them as the new status quo, that are doing that.