Insanity

The Gateway Pundit posted an article today with the headline, “ID to Eat But Not to Vote: Washington Restaurants Ordered to Keep Log of All Customers, Including Contact Information.”

Wow. Does that mean if you eat out a lot you will get a letter from the government telling you that you are eating out too much? If this dumb idea goes into effect, I suspect the easiest way to do it would be to scan driver’s licenses. So if you need a scan-able identification to eat out, then most people will have them, so let’s use them to vote!

The article reports:

Washington state Governor Jay Inslee is determined to wipe out restaurants in his state.

The governor will require restaurants to keep a log, including contact information, on every customer who dines at their establishment.

Inslee also wants all restaurants to open at half capacity.

Say good-bye to dine-in restaurants!

Inslee wanted to be president.

ABC reports:

Restaurants in Washington state will be required to keep a log of each dine-in customer to facilitate contact tracing during phase two of the state’s coronavirus reopening plans.

As part of the requirements, the log must be maintained for 30 days and must include each customer’s telephone number and email address, and what time they came in to eat, according to officials.

“If you have somebody who has become sick and they were sitting right next to a person at a restaurant, to be able to identify that person could be very valuable for their health to try to save their life, and so we put that in place,” Gov. Jay Inslee said Tuesday.

Eight counties within the state — Stevens, Wahkiakum, Skamania, Ferry, Pend Oreille, Columbia, Garfield, and Lincoln — have been cleared to enter phase two of the reopening process.

In order to remain open, restaurants must also meet a dozen other requirements including operating at 50% capacity or below, and seating no more than five guests at each table, according to Inslee’s office.

So if you have four children, are you supposed to leave one at home?

Seeing The Danger

The Daily Caller is reporting today that Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS),  has ordered a review of state laws that allow illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses and restrict data sharing with federal immigration authorities.

The article reports:

The memo follows implementation of New York’s “Green Light” law, and passage of a similar bill in New Jersey in December. Both laws not only allow illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses, but also restrict DMV data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security.

The allowing of illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses combined with the 1993 Motor Voter Law is an invitation to voter fraud. That is one of many reasons why the trend of allowing illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses needs to be reevaluated. The idea of states not cooperating with the federal government on issues of national security also needs to be examined.

The article concludes:

The memo also directs agencies to seek solutions for any security consequences that arise from the state laws.

“Never before in our history have we seen politicians make such rash and dangerous decisions to end all communication and cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security law enforcement,” Swift continued. “The Secretary is prepared to take every measure necessary to ensure the safety and security of the homeland and we look forward to the recommendations of our agents and officers in the field.”

These laws need to be struck down as soon as possible. Technically the states have the right to pass any laws they choose that do not violate the Constitution, but it is possible that the issue of national security may allow for these laws to be changed.

How To Allow Non-Citizens To Vote Without Being Noticed

On Thursday The New York Post posted an article about a mistake in a bill about voter registration.

The article reports:

A typo in the state’s automatic voter registration bill would have forced non-citizens to register despite their ineligibility — but lawmakers vowed it would be fixed.

The bill directs designated state agencies such as the Department of Motor Vehicles, State Board of Elections and Department of Social Services to automatically enroll residents who fill out any paperwork with their agencies.

An “opt-out” box would let people choose not to enroll. But sloppily written instructions specifically directed ineligible non-citizens to not check the box.

The instructions were actually supposed to tell them to check the box so they wouldn’t inadvertently be registered.

“There is a drafting error which [the Democratic] majority has recognized will be fixed in a chapter amendment,” Assembly Democrats wrote in a memo obtained by The Post.

A “chapter amendment” means lawmakers will pass the bill as-is and then edit the language after the fact.

The Assembly is supposed to vote on the bill Thursday. The Senate already passed the measure — typo included — Wednesday by a 43-to-19-vote margin.

But Assembly Republicans seethed because the intended vote comes three days after Gov. Cuomo signed the controversial “Green Light” bill granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.

It will be interesting to see if they actually fix their mistake.

The article explains that the sole requirement for registering to vote in New York State is a driver’s license. If non-citizens have driver’s licenses, they will be able to register to vote–even if they are here illegally. One way to combat this is to check the voter registration rolls against the list of people who have declined jury duty because they are not citizens. However, I find it very unlikely that New York State will do this.

The conventional wisdom is that illegal aliens will vote Democrat. In New York State that really won’t impact presidential elections. Generally New York City votes Democrat, and its population is large enough to overpower the rest of the State and give the Democrats the Electoral College votes for President. However, allowing illegal aliens to vote could make a significant difference on local elections. Any remaining Republican pockets in New York State would quickly disappear.

Unintended Consequences Can Be Brutal

One of the recent news stories has been the granting of driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants in California. Breitbart.com posted a story yesterday reporting how that is going.

A few snippets from the story:

Many illegal immigrants at a Northern California DMV reportedly were failing the written exam when applying for driver’s licenses on Friday.

…At a DMV in south Sacramento, Veronica Oropeza, a 28-year-old illegal immigrant who has reportedly been driving without a license for six years, reportedly failed her written exam twice.

“Nobody’s passing,” she told the Sacramento Bee in Spanish.

…When Nevada allowed illegal immigrants to apply for licenses last year, 71% of illegal immigrants in the state reportedly failed the written exam in the first three days. Wanting to avoid what happened in Nevada, immigrant groups like the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) had provided free test prep classes to illegal immigrants in the final months of 2014.

Oropeza had “already spent more than three hours at the DMV,” and “she couldn’t stay to take the exam a third time, she said, because she had to get to work.”

Maybe the American education system is better than we thought.