(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Nikki Haley arges that drug busts are "proof" Biden is doing nothing about drugs [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-02 “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary” ― H.L. Mencken Haley argues that drug busts prove Biden has no drug policy If you have trouble following Republican logic, congratulations. The moment you start thinking the GOP makes sense is the minute you should start worrying. Today, Nikki Haley proves again that Alice-in-Wonderland reasoning underpins conservative thought. She tweeted: "Border Patrol has seized enough fentanyl to kill every single American this fiscal year, and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are nowhere to be found. Close the border. Stop the drugs. Save our families." Rational people would consider drug seizures proof of some success in America’s so-called “War on Drugs”. They would not see it as evidence that Biden and Harris are “nowhere to be found”. But Haley, who might have been a reasonable person once — although I imagine those more familiar with her time as South Carolina Governor could well argue she has always been duplicitous and cynical — is a victim of the MAGA virus. Haley’s Fox News link In her tweet, Haley links to a Fox News piece . You would assume that the article would support her polemic. It does not. It does start favorably for her, as the Republican propaganda outlet leads with their usual exuberant hyperbole: “Border Patrol agents have seized enough fentanyl to kill the entire U.S. population this fiscal year.” This framing is like saying that Big Tobacco produces enough cigarettes to kill every American — while ignoring that most Americans do not smoke. However, fentanyl and cigarettes do kill many Americans every year. And there should be a robust effort to reduce the number of deaths from both. This noble aim raises two questions. What is the best way to go about saving lives? And what is Haley’s plan? Haley did not mention cigarettes. So, I will focus solely on fentanyl. The Wall Haley is a politician and thus avoids inconvenient details. I cannot find anywhere where she says, “We must build a wall.” She prefers to hide behind euphemisms like “we must secure the border” while recommending a 25,000 increase in border guards. It is a smart strategy, as it does not commit her to a fairy tale. The GOP has no plans to fund a border wall now, any more than they did when Trump was President, and they controlled both branches of Congress. (All bets are off if Trump wins another term). Rational (relatively speaking) Republicans know a wall is a monstrously expensive boondoggle - and does not gibe with their illusory claims of fiscal responsibility. However, her CBP expansion is not free. A new border guard averages $62,000 in compensation. After you add in the additional 33% an employer typically pays for taxes, medical, etc., each border agent costs the taxpayer $82,500 — or $2 billion in total. And that does not account for equipment, vehicles, office space, and personal technology — or raises. Worse, there is no proof it would make any difference. How fentanyl crosses the border According to Haley and her fellow travelers, fentanyl is smuggled into America by “illegal aliens” acting as mules for Mexican narco-terrorist smugglers. As Fox describes, “Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens announced that agents have seized over 2,700 lbs of fentanyl as part of the more than 69,000 lbs of narcotics seized between ports of entry. The seizures include 40,000 lbs of marijuana, 13,000 lbs of methamphetamine and 11,000 lbs of cocaine.” The key phrase is “between ports of entry.” Republicans have to keep talking up the desert convoys because the truth does not support their position. Which even Fox acknowledges, as they continue, “This amount of fentanyl, which does not include the amount seized at ports of entry, is more than enough lethal doses to kill the entire population of the United States. While significantly more is caught at ports of entry – with over 22,000 lbs caught at the ports of entry at the southern border this fiscal year -- the stat highlights the danger of fentanyl moving between the ports and potentially past overwhelmed agents in the field.” (Bolding mine) These stats show (if seizures reflect traffic) that 87% of fentanyl from Mexico arrives in the US through official border crossings. It is magical thinking to think that a wall — if it even stays erect and so far, a lot of it keeps collapsing — will do anything but direct the remaining 13% to the ports of entry. Who smuggles fentanyl? Despite the propaganda, the typical fentanyl smuggler is an American. The Cato Institute — hardly a socialist shill — reports In 2021, U.S. citizens were 86.3 percent of convicted fentanyl drug traffickers—ten times greater than convictions of illegal immigrants for the same offense. Over 90 percent of fentanyl seizures occur at legal crossing points or interior vehicle checkpoints , not on illegal migration routes, so U.S. citizens (who are subject to less scrutiny) when crossing legally are the best smugglers. The location of smuggling makes sense because hard drugs at ports of entry are about 97 percent less likely to be stopped than are people crossing illegally between them. Just 0.02 percent of the people arrested by Border Patrol for crossing illegally possessed any fentanyl whatsoever. (NB: The links are theirs) Cato’s evidence that Americans are the fentanyl smuggling problem is as robust as the proof Trump is a document-stealing, fraud-propagating, wannabe election-rigging rapist. In other words, solid. Cato makes an even better point — and it is the crux of the matter — when it observes that, Fentanyl smuggling is ultimately funded by U.S. consumers who pay for illicit opioids: nearly 99 percent of whom are U.S. citizens . Therein, dear reader, lies the rub and the path to a solution. A successful strategy for reducing fentanyl smuggling and fatalities must rely on reducing demand. Conclusion Drug overdose deaths are increasing in the USA. This tragic arc is due to the explosion of fentanyl use over the last ten years. It started at the end of the Obama era. It continued unabated through the Trump years. And it will continue during Biden’s term(s). The root of the problem is twofold. Law enforcement has directed the majority of its resources against the supply (i.e. they wasted money) rather than the demand (which would make a difference). And Republican politicians have shown no interest in dealing with the problem. The GOP claims to be the pro-life party of family values and law and order. Where’s the proof? Locking up criminals does not make you tough on crime. It only proves you are tough on criminals. Any effective tough-on-crime policy would result in fewer crimes - ergo, fewer criminals. Yet, red states tend to have the most people locked up , while blue states typically have the lowest crime rates . [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/2/2196923/-Nikki-Haley-arges-that-drug-busts-are-proof-Biden-is-doing-nothing-about-drugs Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/