Who needs the Left Coast when we have Rhode Island?

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Insane: Rhode Island Politicians Angry Because ICE Arrests MS-13 Fentanyl Dealer

David Strom, HotAir:

You can't make this stuff up. 

ICE apprehended a known MS 13 gang member with a history of trafficking fentanyl, and Rhode Island politicians exploded in rage that they did so. 

The perp, Ivan Rene Mendoza-Meza, had benefited from the catch-and-release policies that are so prevalent these days--after all, you wouldn't want ICE to be able to deport dangerous criminals, right?--so ICE was forced to track him down and apprehend him. 

They did, and all hell broke loose. Providence politicians insanely held a press conference vowing to track down any evidence that Providence police might be involved, and promised to get to the bottom of this potential scandal. 

The last thing you want is the police helping arrest a known gang member who is selling poison to the public. It's Nazism to do that!

The answer is obvious: cut off every penny of federal money presently given to the city: schools, hospitals, roads, food stamps, and they can govern exactly how they wish

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just another evening out in the city of roses

Portland City Council considers how to boot ICE out of city facility

Lawmakers claim detention center undermines sanctuary city policy as agents battle violent anti-ICE protesters

…. City Council Member Steve Novick said the council should take a broader moral stand against the federal deportation machine.

"This is an assault on our democracy as a whole… The assault on immigrants is the tip of the spear," Novick said, per the outlet. "We should not be trying to figure out how to keep our heads low and avoid the attention of this administration."

Defending its base

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Smug, 25-year-old Chairman of the NC Democrat Party; AOC must be feeling decrepit

DNC threatens to sue North Carolina elections board over plan to purge 100,000 voters

The Democratic National Committee is threatening to sue the North Carolinaboard of elections if they go forward with plans to purge almost 100,000 voters from the rolls.

The state elections board – with a new Republican majority – voted at its 24 June meeting to require registered voters to cast provisional ballots if they have not provided their driver’s license number, last four digits of their social security number or an identification number supplied by the state.

…. Democratic leaders claim the order and the board’s response to it is unconstitutional, and argue the change has partisan purposes.

…. “Critically, even if a voter on this list casts a provisional ballot and provides their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their social security number, their ballot will only be counted if the numbers provided are deemed ‘correct’,” the letter states. “By requiring voters to cast provisional ballots that may not be counted, the plan effectively removes registrants from the official list of eligible voters.”

So the Democrats’ complaint is that their voters’ merely supplying a false ID will no longer be sufficient; those pesky Republicans are now demanding that the ID be authentic and actually verified. Oh, the humanity!

One can sympathize with the Democrats; North Carolina is a battle state, and every illegal vote is crucial if they are to regain total control of the political machine, but sympathy does not necessarily mean approval; in fact, thinking on it, screw ‘em.

Not many state governments are any different, and Connecticut isn't among the few that are

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feeding time

Stephen Green

BLUE STATE BLUES: Washington state government spending surges 116% since 2015.

Washington state faces deficit spending by 2028 as lawmakers just hit taxpayers with the state’s largest combined tax increase – all driven by massive state spending increases over the past decade, an investigation of state budgets by The Center Square found.

Washington state spent about $80 billion in the 2013-15 budget but is set to spend more than $173 billion in 2025-27, a more than 116% increase over that time. U.S. inflation since 2015 has risen just 35.63%.

The surge in spending of taxpayer dollars prompted some policy analysts and lawmakers to say the increases must end sooner or later.

What would we do without experts?

I’d just add that the population has grown only about 15% since 2015, so even taking inflation into account, state spending has grown dramatically per capita — just under 40%.

By comparison, real GDP growth in Washington since 2015 is about 30%. So it doesn’t matter how much harder residents work or save, Olympia will eat all that up and more.

It's probably the failure of the agent to end the number at "895" that caused this one to sit so long

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198 Shore Road, Old Greenwich, $21.9 million, 20 full days between listing and contract.

The listing promises “magnificent outdoor spaces to take in the Gatsby-like grounds with lush lawns & gardens extending to Long Island Sound” and it’s a good thing today’s buyers don’t read books, because otherwise they might have been fatally disappointed when they came to view this and discovered 0.65 of an acre instead of the “approximately 40 acres” that Gatsby himself enjoyed.