Immigration Reform has been a political football for 40 years, and there seems to be no solution in sight. That’s why it was a surprise when the U.S. Senate proposed non-partisan legislation this month. Its chances looked good until Trump threw a firebomb, and the Speaker of the House caved and said he wouldn’t even put a bill up for a vote. The Senate quit. The Republican strategy has been to stall until Trump takes office again.

Immigration on the southern border is no longer an issue of Mexican migrants crossing the border for seasonal agricultural work. It involves millions of people from Central and South American, particularly from the failed states. The drug cartels present a serious security threat not only to these governments, but to citizens caught in the crossfire. The majority are crossing the border legally through a system set up for the asylum process. The flow has crashed the inadequate processing system, so the people are just let out on the streets. Some still try to cross the Rio Grande River in between the established border crossings.

The Pandemic of Gun Violence in the United States has lasted longer than Covid-19.

The resignation of Wayne LaPierre, the long-term leader of the National Rifle Association, is the latest in the problems of the association. The NRA filed for bankruptcy in 2021 after the departure of its chief lobbyist Chris Cox in 2019 that led to a leadership fight. Since 2018, the organization has lost a million members and half of its revenue.

Rather than cite the history of the rise and fall of the most significant gun-rights organization, I will focus on the costs of their success. Through their lobbying efforts and donations over 40 years, they stalled any effort to regulate guns or gun ownership by the Congress. Since then, 126 people in the US are killed by guns every day. The cost is estimated to be $229 billion per year. This data includes suicides, homicides, school shootings, and mass shootings. Mass shootings get all the media attention, but the daily violence produces the most numbers.

The COP28 climate conference is being hosted by oil-rich UAE.

Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is the annual meeting of the 197 nations that are parties to the conference. Founded in 1992, it is being held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) Nov. 30 - Dec. 12 this year. This is the organization that produced the Kyoto Accords and the Paris Agreement. The US was a signatory but then withdrew.

The one photo that I saw of it looked like a World’s Fair, with exhibits, etc. Access to the grounds is extremely limited, and it was shut down temporarily on Dec. 7. There are 80 buildings, sponsored by various organizations, in which presentations are made and exhibits set up. When the press writes about people talking, that’s what they mean. Of course, there are opportunities for discussion and interaction. The United States is represented by 24 agencies and/or departments.