As can be seen on the map, Uman, Ukraine, is 200 to 300 miles from Russia. The US State of Alaska is less than 60 miles from mainland Russia. 300 miles is 482 km.
Ukraine intercepted 21 of 23 Russian cruise missiles. Nonetheless, in Uman, alone, at least 23 people died. Others died in Dnipro. Air defense is saving lives. Without air defense deaths could be in the 100s of people. “Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko reported from the scene that the occupiers had hit a house in Uman with a Kh-101 missile. This resulted in the collapse of an entire stairwell of a building where 109 people were living or registered. Twenty-seven apartments were completely destroyed. Thirty-three cars were burnt to the ground or damaged. Emergency rescuers are doing their best to clear the rubble as soon as possible.” See: “Death toll in Uman rises to…
HUTCHINSON, KS — A local man has developed an ingenious method to avoid messy audits from the Internal Revenue Service by simply labeling all of his Venmo transactions as “payment to Ukraine.”
“It’s the perfect way to save me a bunch of headaches,” said Ryan Felix. “I buy a lot of stuff that might raise some red flags from the feds — guns, ammo, large stockpiles of ivermectin — so I really needed a way to avoid getting totally screwed over by the IRS. Then it occurred to me — Ukraine! The government is all about sending every penny it can to Ukraine, so if I tell them everything I’m paying for is going to Ukraine, I’ll never have to hear about it!”
Over the last year, the United States has made a habit of sending enormous funding packages to Ukraine, ostensibly to pay for the Eastern European nation’s ongoing war with Russia, with little to no oversight taking place on the money being sent. When reached for comment, a representative for the Internal Revenue Service confirmed that no attention will be paid to any civilian transactions if they are clearly earmarked for Ukraine. “Yeah, we’ll never even glance at it,” said IRS auditor Steve Reeves. “You can buy a duffle bag full of fentanyl from a Mexican cartel, and if you label it in Venmo as ‘payment to Ukraine,’ we’ll totally let it go.”
At publishing time, Felix was hoping to make the most of his newfound Venmo loophole. “I’m working on figuring out a way to become an illegal arms dealer,” he said. “Everyone else is making a fortune moving weapons while using Ukraine as cover, why not me?”
The Biden Administration failed to use Anti-Trust law (or CFIUS) to challenge the take-over/merger of Dole by Ireland’s Total Produce. And, so, global headquarters of Dole moved from Charlotte North Carolina to Ireland. Less than two years later, Total just announced that it’s selling the Dole fresh vegetables division to a Brazilian owned company, Chiquita. Chiquita is owned by the Safra…
A recent study by a researcher out of Brown University found that the exploding rates of transgender young people is being driven in part by social factors. In particular, coming out as transgender gives young people instant popularity, and everyone around them feels obligated to affirm them and agree with them. Or else. What’s missing? What’s missing is any sort of warning about the dangers of transgenderism.
The Daily Wire reports on a new study from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Excerpt:
A new study from the American Academy of Pediatrics found an alarming number of teens who identify as transgender or nonbinary have attempted suicide at least once, showcasing the dangers of the transgender movement. More than half of all female-to-male transgender teens, for example, have attempted to end their lives.
Researchers behind the study used data collected from more than 600 teens over a 36-month period, June 2012…
WORLD – Authorities in the scientific community who touted faulty COVID-19 models are “pretty confident” they know what the weather is going to be like in 100 years, sources confirmed Wednesday.
“Yes, we were off by a factor of about 1 billion in our predictions for what happened over the last few months, but trust us: we know exactly what the climate is going to be like in a century,” said leading scientific authority Dr. Garth Wendybrook at a press conference. “See, I have this lab coat and this Bunsen burner here.” At this point, he gestured toward a Bunsen burner sitting on the table in front of him, but he accidentally caught his sleeve on fire. “Fire hot! Fire hot!” the scientist cried before diving in a nearby vat of acid to put it out.
Post-press-conference analysis indicated his observations were correct, and the fire was hot.
The scientists say they have settled on a climate model that confirms the earth’s average temperature will be either 1 million degrees Celsius or below freezing, give or take 1 million degrees.
President Biden has announced his plans to run for re-election in 2024. If he wins, he will be 82 when he takes office and 86 when his term ends — which would establish him, for a second time, as the oldest person to assume the U.S. presidency. (Donald Trump is not far behind; he will be 78 during the 2024 election and would enter octogenarian territory during another presidential term.)
President Biden is “a healthy, vigorous 80-year-old male,” according to a February report from the White House physician, Dr. Kevin C. O’Connor. Although he was recently treated for basal cell carcinoma, a common and slow-growing skin cancer, Mr. Biden has no major medical problems, doesn’t smoke or drink and exercises at least five days a week.
“The spectrum of health at older ages varies so widely,” said Dr. Holly Holmes, a professor and the chair in gerontology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. “As we get older, we are more and more unlike our peers, and it becomes harder to generalize what a ‘typical’ 80-year-old would be like.”
Dr. R. Sean Morrison, a professor and the chair in geriatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, added that the changes that occur during aging happen to different people at different times. Some 85-year-olds have healthier bodies than some 65-year-olds, and much of the variation comes down to genes and a person’s lifestyle before the age of 60.
Yet, as people enter their 80s, and even their mid-to-late 70s, some standard age-related shifts tend to occur, like muscle loss and a drop in bone strength, that make people more prone to disease and injury.
Here’s a head-to-toe snapshot of the body and mind of an octogenarian and the potential problems doctors look out for.
Brain
Most healthy people in their 80s don’t have trouble performing complex cognitive tasks such as problem-solving and planning, Dr. Morrison said, but they may find it harder to multitask and learn new things. Some may struggle to remember words. Reaction time can also slow, but usually only slightly — on the order of fractions of a millisecond, Dr. Morrison said.
Scientists don’t know exactly why these changes happen, but the brain does get slightly smaller with age because of brain cell loss, so that could be playing a role, said Dr. Scott Kaiser, director of geriatric cognitive health at Pacific Neuroscience Institute in Santa Monica, Calif. Interestingly, certain cognitive skills — such as vocabulary and abstract reasoning — may stay constant or even improve with age, also for unknown reasons, he said.
Dementia does become more common with age, but it still only affects a minority of adults in their 80s. According to the National Health and Aging Trends Study, 10.9 percent of adults ages 80 to 84, and 18.7 percent of adults ages 85 to 89, dealt with dementia in 2019. “These conditions are not a normal or inevitable part of aging,” Dr. Kaiser said.
Eyes and ears
Vision tends to worsen over time. Octogenarians often need reading glasses and become more sensitive to glare, Dr. Morrison said. Nearly 70 percent of adults over 80 have cataracts, a clouding of the lens of the eye, but the condition can be treated effectively with surgery, he said.
Age-related hearing loss is another common problem. First, people lose the ability to hear high-frequency sounds such as bird chirps and alarm clocks; this can start early, even in a person’s 30s or 40s. Low-frequency changes, affecting the ability to hear men’s voices and bass sounds in music, come later. Hearing loss can be treated with hearing aids — now available over the counter — or other devices, and it’s crucial to do so: “We have increasing data now that suggests that people who go longer with untreated hearing loss and don’t get hearing correction are more likely to develop dementia or diseases like Alzheimer’s disease,” Dr. Morrison said.
Heart and lungs
As a person ages, heart rate slows slightly, and the heart can’t beat as fast during physical activity, which can make aerobic exercise more challenging. That said, an aging healthy heart typically “functions quite well,” said Dr. Lona Mody, a geriatrician at Michigan Medicine.
Doctors monitor for heart disease in their octogenarian patients. “Blood vessels become stiffer with age, and this leads to higher blood pressure,” Dr. Mody said, which can increase the risk of hypertension and heart disease. According to the American Heart Association, 83 percent of men and 87 percent of women age 80 and older have heart disease, sometimes requiring the use of medications or surgery. Mr. Biden has asymptomatic atrial fibrillation — an irregular heartbeat — and takes apixaban (Eliquis), an anticoagulant drug that is often prescribed to help prevent blood clots and strokes. He also takes rosuvastatin (Crestor) to lower his cholesterol.
Lung capacity often slightly drops with age because of changes in the strength and elasticity of the lung tissue and diaphragm, which can make breathing a bit harder, Dr. Mody said. One disease doctors look out for is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, an inflammatory lung disease seen in just under 11 percent of people 65 and over.
Digestive system
People in their 80s tend to eat less than they used to, in part because “food doesn’t taste quite the same,” Dr. Morrison said. Over time, people lose taste buds and their sense of smell, he said, both of which affect how much they enjoy eating. This helps to explain why older adults have an increased risk of nutritional deficiencies.
But seniors also need fewer calories than younger people because of losses in lean muscle mass and slowing metabolism. According to the government’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans, women age 60 and older should consume a minimum of 1,600 calories a day, and men age 60 and older a minimum of 2,000 calories a day (as opposed to a minimum of 1,800 for women and 2,400 for men ages 19 to 30).
Older people are at greater risk for heartburn and gastrointestinal reflux. Mr. Biden’s occasional coughing and throat-clearing are tied to gastroesophageal reflux, and he takes famotidine (Pepcid) as needed to treat his symptoms.
Octogenarians digest food more slowly, too. Research suggests that 34 percent of women and 26 percent of men age 84 or older experience constipation.
Bones and joints
Bones become more brittle with age. The body starts to reabsorb the minerals that strengthen them, such as calcium and phosphate, in part because the intestines can’t absorb what is needed from food as effectively as they used to. For women, this degeneration is accelerated by the drop in estrogen after menopause, which reduces bone density.
Decreased bone density puts older people at an increased risk for bone fractures and osteoporosis. In 2020, when Mr. Biden was the president-elect, he had a hairline fracture in his foot, requiring him to wear a walking boot as he healed. The bone injuries that doctors worry about most are hip fractures, which hospitalize more than 300,000 Americans over the age of 65 every year. “Hip fractures are one of the most common reasons for hospitalization among people 85 and over,” said Dr. Susan Wehry, a geriatrician at the University of New England. Recovery is often difficult because of complications such as infections, sometimes picked up at the hospital, and internal bleeding, or because conditions such as heart disease slow healing.
Joints can also become more painful because the bones and cartilage that make up the joints start to wear down. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly half of all Americans over 65 have been diagnosed with osteoarthritis, which causes joint pain and stiffness. President Biden has been diagnosed with osteoarthritis of the spine, which has stiffened his gait.
Skin
The risk of skin cancer increases as people get older. The average age at which Americans are diagnosed with melanoma, a potentially deadly skin cancer, is 65. Men are at higher risk for melanoma than women. Dr. Holmes recommends that people in their 80s see a doctor or dermatologist once a year for a skin check.
Non-melanoma forms of skin cancer, such as basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, affect more than three million Americans a year. These cancers grow slower than melanomas and are highly treatable when detected and removed early. In February, President Biden, who has said he spent a lot of time in the sun during his youth, had a basal cell carcinoma removed from his chest. He also had several other non-melanoma skin cancers removed before his presidency.
Strength and balance
Most healthy people in their mid-80s can and should engage in physical activity, and many remain strong and agile, Dr. Holmes said. She encourages patients to participate in aerobic exercise and weight training a couple of days a week and to stretch at least once a week, but sometimes recommends modifications for patients with pain, orthopedic problems or cardiac issues.
Adults “start to lose muscle mass and start to gain fat” as they get older, Dr. Morrison said. Between 42 and 62 percent of people in their mid-80s have sarcopenia, a disease characterized by loss of muscle mass and strength. Common symptoms include difficulty walking, ascending stairs and holding shopping bags.
In addition, the spaces between the spinal vertebrae dry and compress, causing people to lean forward, which can affect their balance, Dr. Morrison said. People in their 80s tend to walk slowly and have a short gait, which also worsens balance, he added.
In some older adults, the insulating layer that surrounds nerves and helps them communicate with one another, called myelin, starts to break down. This can slow reflexes and make people clumsy, Dr. Kaiser said.
“One important consequence of these age-related changes to the brain and overall nervous system — along with changes to other systems and a broad range of other factors — is an increased risk of falls,” Dr. Kaiser said, which in turn can become more dangerous because bones are weaker and break more easily.
Stress, stamina and sleep
People in their mid-80s tend to have lower energy than younger people, so they fatigue more easily, Dr. Morrison said.
Dr. Mody added that stress and changes to routine can be “harder to bounce back from” because older people’s tissues and organs take a longer time to recover after stresses or injuries. People may also take longer to recover from colds, Covid-19 and other infections, as the immune system becomes less responsive with age.
Many older adults don’t sleep well, in part because they spend less time in deep slow-wave sleep, which makes them more prone to middle-of-the-night wake-ups. “Eighty-year-olds tend to sleep about an hour less than younger adults,” Dr. Morrison said.
Still, it’s important to remember that everybody ages differently, and that age does not define a person’s health. Many people in their 80s are healthier than people 20 years younger, Dr. Mody said, and the choices they make late in life matter, too: Research suggests that adopting healthy behaviors even in the ninth decade can extend one’s life.
Many octogenarians, Dr. Holmes said, are “quite resilient.”
🚨#UPDATE Aerial footage shows multiple train cars have derailed off it’s tracks. Officials say two containers went into the Mississippi River as neither contained hazardous materials. Some of the containers derailed on shore contained paint and lithium-ion batteries crews pic.twitter.com/1QTG218qVV
On April 7, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) was publicly confirmed as the cause of mortality for three California condors found in northern Arizona
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service reports as of April 17, 2023, 20 condors have died in the Arizona-Utah flock; HPAI has been confirmed for 10 of those condors. Eight birds were captured and brought in for supportive care. Four of those condors died shortly thereafter and are included in the total of 20 deceased birds. Four condors are still receiving supportive care and have shown improvement.
To date, the virus has not been detected in the other condor populations in California or Baja California, Mexico.
CFACT, with help from our friends in the Heartland Institute and the American Coalition for Ocean Protection, took our hard-hitting “Save the Whales” message to Atlantic City.
The New York Post featured our save the whales action. Take a look at our air banner (above) and our billboard:
The New York Post reported, “Beachgoers in Atlantic City on Saturday looked on as a single-propeller plane carried a message waving from a banner — “SAVE-WHALES-STOP-WINDMILLS.ORG” — and drivers heading out of town saw a billboard with the same message and a picture of a dead whale washed ashore.”
“’Damn the whales, full speed ahead’ seems to be the official policy of the Biden administration when it comes to the construction of offshore wind,” Rucker said in a statement. “The White House seems to remain unfazed and fixated on implementing its reckless ‘net zero’ energy agenda.”
CFACT readers know that the Biden Administration is turning a deliberate blind eye to the potential impacts on marine wildlife from the massive offshore wind farms they are planning. Scientists estimate that only a few hundred right whales remain and they are particularly at risk. To top it all off, those intermittent, inefficient wind turbines aren’t even capable of generating reliable electricity!
CFACT’s campaign to call our government bureaucrats to their duty to protect endangered whales has taken off like wildfire. Thanks to you for sharing our research and spreading the word.
Macular Degeneration Affects Central Vision Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness among Americans over 50. It damages the center of the retina, or macula, affecting your central vision. This is your ability to see what’s right in front of you, such as faces or words you’re trying to read. About 2.1 million people in the United States have AMD. That number is likely to hit 3.5 million by 2030 and 5.4 million by 2050, as our population ages. We talked to ophthalmologists to find out what you need to know about AMD symptoms and treatment.
1. “The older you get, the greater your chances of getting macular degeneration.” “Your greatest risk factor for AMD is living longer,” says Dr. Catherine Blume Meyerle, an ophthalmologist at Johns Hopkins’ Wilmer Eye Institute. “Usually people are 60 or older when they are first diagnosed with the condition,” she says. The numbers go up as people get into their 70s, 80s and beyond. Other risk factors include having a family history and ethnicity. “It’s more likely to affect Caucasians and whites—those with lighter pigmentation, who are fair, with blue eyes. These risk factors predispose you to AMD, but don’t necessarily mean you will get it,” she says.
2. “Stop smoking—it can save your eyesight.” You can’t do anything about your age or genetic make-up. But you can change your behavior. And one behavior that’s linked to AMD is smoking. “Smoking is the main modifiable risk factor we know about that contributes to macular degeneration,” says Dr. Mark Michels, MD, an ophthalmologist and founding partner at Retina Care Specialists in Florida. “Smoking is very detrimental for your retina,” adds Dr. Meyerle. “Your retina is highly metabolic tissue that requires a lot of oxygen. Smoking interferes with that.”
3. “Eat plenty of leafy green vegetables, blueberries, and fish.” “The other way to reduce your chances of developing macular degeneration—or slowing its progression—is to eat the right foods,” says Dr. Meyerle. “Multiple nutrition studies have found people with better nutrition have a lower risk of macular degeneration,” she says. She recommends getting lutein—a key antioxidant for retinal health—by eating blueberries and leafy greens like spinach, kale and arugula. Fish oil is also important. “People need to eat fish. Supplements haven’t been shown to help,” she says. Dr. Meyerle advises people with intermediate AMD to take “AREDS 2” supplements—a mix of antioxidants and vitamins.
4. “Macular degeneration comes in two types—dry and wet.” “Most people with macular degeneration—at least 80%—have the dry type,” says Dr. Michels. “This type happens when cells in the middle of the retina degenerate,” he says. “In advanced stages, this can result in atrophy and loss of central vision. The wet type occurs when there is bleeding and fluid from blood vessels under the retina, which causes more rapid loss of vision. About 90% of blindness from macular degeneration occurs in the wet form of the disease.”
5. “Blurry vision can be a symptom of macular degeneration.” “Early-stage macular degeneration may have no warning signs. You’ll only find you have it with a comprehensive eye exam, which people should have starting at age 40,” says Dr. Meyerle. But there are macular degeneration symptoms you should know about. “For early or intermediate AMD, you may notice blurred, cloudy, distorted or central smudging of vision,” says Dr. Michels. “Signs of advancing AMD include straight lines starting to look wavy,” says Dr. Meyerle. “Blind spots in your vision are another sign,” she says. “It’s like something is blocked out.”
6. “Test your eyes at home to make sure you aren’t developing wet AMD.” “Sometimes, dry AMD converts to the more severe wet form. This unwelcome change can happen quickly,” says Dr. Michels. “Easy at-home tests can catch this, such as the Amsler grid. These intersecting lines on a piece of paper or computer screen will appear wavy or smudged if AMD is worsening. It’s about 60% accurate,” says Dr. Michels. “A new computerized device—ForeSee—is more expensive but about 85% effective. And Medicare covers it.” “Or, look at windowpanes or blinds to check your perception of straight lines,” suggests Dr. Meyerle. If any of these tests show problems, see your ophthalmologist right away.
7. “Newer treatments for wet AMD have helped save vision for many patients.” “Thermal laser eye surgery and cold laser therapies used to be common AMD treatments,” says Dr. Michels. “Over the past decade, however, we have largely replaced these procedures with drugs injected painlessly into the whites of the eyes—usually every month or two, for the rest of a patient’s life. We occasionally still use cold laser for someone who doesn’t respond to injections, but those are few and far between,” he says. “People used to go blind from wet AMD much more frequently before we had these injections,” says Dr. Meyerle. “Unfortunately, there is no treatment for advanced dry AMD,” she says.
8. “Even in the worst-case scenario, you will still have some sight.” “People never go completely blind with macular degeneration,” says Dr. Michels. “I tell people I don’t have a single seeing-eye dog in my practice.” Treatment and early intervention help more patients today, so fewer reach advanced stages of vision loss. “But even for those who do suffer impairment,” he points out, “their peripheral vision should still be healthy, allowing them to get around a room and find their way.” Dr. Meyerle agrees, noting she tries to reassure her patients who fear blindness that even if the disease reaches its worst stage, they will retain some vision.
9. “More treatments are being developed that could help even more people with AMD.” Researchers continue to work on improving treatment for macular degeneration. Dr. Meyerle notes that new delivery systems for the medication doctors currently inject into the eyes are under development, as well as longer-lasting drugs. This means people can avoid having to trek to the doctor for monthly shots. Clinical trials also are taking place for new drugs to treat advanced dry AMD, for which there is currently no treatment. “So that’s pretty exciting,” he says.
Macular Degeneration Facts | Things Eye Doctors Want You to Know
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a batch of cough syrup manufactured in India has been found to be contaminated in the Marshall Islands and Micronesia.
The WHO said that samples of Guaifenesin TG syrup, produced by QP Pharmachem Ltd in Punjab, India, were tested and found to contain “unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol,” both of which are toxic to humans and could be fatal if ingested.
The WHO statement did not indicate if anyone had been affected. This latest warning follows the WHO’s earlier report linking other Indian-made cough syrups to child deaths in Uzbekistan and The Gambia.
QP Pharmachem’s managing director, Sudhir Pathak, stated that the company had exported the batch of 18,346 bottles to Cambodia with all required regulatory approvals and that he was unaware of how the product had made its way to the Marshall Islands and Micronesia.
“We did not send these bottles to the Pacific region, and they were not certified for use there. We don’t know under what circumstances and conditions these bottles reached the Marshall Islands and Micronesia,” he said, adding that his company has sent a legal notice to the firm that exported the batch of medicines to Cambodia.
According to the WHO statement, the cough syrup, which is designed to alleviate chest congestion and cough symptoms, was subjected to testing by the Therapeutic Goods Administration of Australia.
The syrup was being promoted by Trillium Pharma, a company located in the state of Haryana. The BBC was unable to contact a representative from Trillium. The Indian government has yet to respond to the recent warning.
The statement added that “neither the stated manufacturer nor the marketer have provided guarantees to WHO on the safety and quality of these products”.
India, as the world’s top exporter of generic drugs, supplies a significant portion of medication for developing countries.
However, in recent months, there has been growing scrutiny of the quality of drugs produced by Indian firms, with concerns being raised about their manufacturing practices. Last October, the WHO issued a global alert linking four cough syrups produced by Maiden Pharmaceuticals to the deaths of 66 children in The Gambia due to kidney injuries.
Both Maiden Pharmaceuticals and the Indian government refuted the allegations. In March, India revoked the manufacturing license of a company whose cough syrups were connected to 18 child deaths in Uzbekistan.
Earlier in the same month, the FDA discovered that an Indian manufacturer of eye drops, linked to three deaths and severe infections in the US, had violated several safety standards.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a move sure to reduce road accidents among black and brown communities, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has announced the immediate closure of the Interstate System for 8-10 days so highways can undergo racial sensitivity training.
“We’ve got a crisis here in America where highways, bridges, even parking lots are allowed to racistly hurt drivers of color,” said Buttigieg during an interview with Al Sharpton, who is still alive, on MSNBC, which is still alive. “As a gay man, I feel it is my duty to get to the bottom of this issue: racist roads.”
Buttigieg explained that any highway refusing the training would be banned from use and possibly relegated to the asphalt mines.
Training modules will include:
Why Black Asphalt Perpetuates Negative Racial Stereotypes
Bridges And Tribal Citizens: An Essay Seen Through Interpretive Dance
The Empowering Power Of Blackness In Asphalt
Why Minority Deaths Will Always Be Your Fault, And How To Prevent Them
Fender Benders And Their Origins In A Secret Meeting Between Hitler And The KKK
Choo-Choo Trains Are Not Racist And Are Fun
At publishing time, Secretary Buttigieg had required all airplanes to declare a land use acknowledgment to indigenous airplane ancestors before being allowed to land.
A new report by FAIR, The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration, finds that as of 2022, American taxpayers shell out at least $150.7 billion each year to cover the cost of illegal immigration. Broken down, the data reveals that taxpayers pay $182 billion annually to provide services and benefits to illegal aliens and their dependents. These costs are offset by about $31 billion in taxes that are collected from the estimated 15.5 million illegal aliens living in the United States, bringing the net cost to $150.7 billion annually.
The 2022 costs represent a 30 percent increase to taxpayers in just five years. A former version of this study, conducted in 2017 by FAIR, placed the annual net cost of illegal immigration at $116 billion. Most of the additional costs have been added in the past two years, as the Biden administration’s de facto open borders policies have triggered a historic surge of new illegal migrants pouring across our borders.
The updated $150.7 billion price tag is a conservative estimate as there are additional costs incurred from illegal immigration, but there is currently insufficient data to provide reliable cost estimates. The report also does not take into account the impact of the Biden administration’s expansive (and legally questionable) use of parole authority to allow hundreds of thousands of ineligible migrants to enter the country each year is certain to balloon these already staggering costs to taxpayers. Those admitted under the administration’s latest abuse of parole authority are quickly eligible to access government services and assistance programs (while they wait for years to plead their case to remain here) that are off-limits to illegal aliens who sneak across the border or overstay their visas.
FAIR’s comprehensive analysis looks at available federal, state, and local programs and services that are directly accessible to illegal aliens, or indirectly, through their U.S.-born children who qualify for all means-tested programs. In addition to the surge of illegal immigration since 2021, state and local governments have offered a variety of new benefits and services to illegal aliens, which have exacerbated the situation for struggling taxpayers.
Among the key findings in FAIR’s report, The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States Taxpayers:
The gross annual cost of illegal immigration (the total amount before taxes paid by illegal aliens are factored in) is now $182 billion, annually.
Taxes paid by illegal aliens only cover around 17.2 percent of the costs they create for American citizens, bringing the net cost to $150.7 billion a year. For every dollar in taxes paid by illegal aliens, they and their dependents consume six dollars in benefits and services.
The largest component of the cost is K-12 education, which must be provided under a 1982 Supreme Court ruling, Plyler v. Doe. The annual K-12 education cost for illegal aliens (and their U.S.-born children) is $78 billion, of which $70.4 billion is borne by states and localities.
Health care for illegal aliens costs taxpayers about $42.7 billion annually.
A variety of food assistance and nutritional programs used by illegal aliens and their children cost taxpayers about $13.5 billion annually.
Combined federal, state, and local criminal justice costs associated with illegal immigration run about $47 billion annually – not including the cost of damages to victims.
In additional to the cumulative national costs of illegal immigration, the FAIR report breaks down each state’s cost burdens. These state costs provide vital information to citizens and local lawmakers as they struggle to address the burdens imposed upon them by the Biden administration’s de facto open borders policies. As the costs mount, many are considering legislation that discourages illegal aliens from settling in their jurisdictions.
The release of FAIR’s study received national and local news media attention and has been cited by members of Congress who are pushing back against the Biden administration’s bankrupt (literally and figuratively) policies. The report was also widely discussed on talk radio programs across the country.
The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration is the product of a prodigious effort by FAIR’s Research Department which spent months combing through numerous databases to find information which is often deliberately obscured to keep American taxpayers in the dark about the costs of illegal immigration. The report was compiled by FAIR researchers: Spencer Raley, Pawel Styrna, and Michael Capuano.
The full report, The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration, is available on FAIR’s website, www.fairus.org.
There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. —Soren Kierkegaard. "...truth is true even if nobody believes it, and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it. That is why truth does not yield to opinion, fashion, numbers, office, or sincerity--it is simply true and that is the end of it" - Os Guinness, Time for Truth, pg.39. “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” - Blaise Pascal. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. We live in a “post-truth” world. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their low information tabloid reality show news with a distractional superficial focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting – this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Soren Kierkegaard
Following in the spirit of Britain's Queen Boudica, Queen of the Iceni. A boudica.us site. I am an opinionator, do your own research, verification. Reposts, reblogs do not neccessarily reflect our views.
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