Ale Time

I said Daikan Park yesterday. It is Daikin Park. Sorry, folks.

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I found this interesting in the Trib:

The Texas General Land Office is offering President-elect Donald Trump a 1,400-acre Starr County ranch as a site to build detention centers for his promised mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, according to a letter the office sent him Tuesday.

Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said in the Tuesday letter that her office is “fully prepared” to enter an agreement with any federal agencies involved in deporting individuals from the country “to allow a facility to be built for the processing, detention, and coordination of the largest deportation of violent criminals in the nation’s history.”

Here is the entire Trib read: Texas offers border ranch to Trump for mass deportation plan | The Texas Tribune.

If you are wondering how a mass deportation would work, BBC has a pretty good take on what would be involved. It ain’t happening anytime soon, if it happens at all. See this from BBC:

US President-elect Donald Trump has doubled down on his campaign promise of the mass deportation of illegal immigrants, saying he plans to declare a national emergency and use the US military to carry out his plan.

The cost of doing so will not be a deterrent, Trump said, noting his priority upon taking office in January would be to make the border “strong and powerful”.

“It’s not a question of a price tag. It’s not – really, we have no choice,” Trump told NBC News earlier this month.

But how would Trump’s campaign pledge of mass deportations of migrants actually work and what are the hurdles he may face?

The latest figures from the Department of Homeland Security and Pew Research indicate that there are around 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the US, a number that has remained relatively stable since 2005.

Most are long-term residents – nearly four-fifths have been in the country for more than a decade.

Immigrants who are in the country without legal status have the right to due process, including a court hearing before their removal. A drastic increase in deportations would likely entail a large expansion in the immigration court system, which has been beset by backlogs.

Most immigrants already in the country enter into the deportation system not through encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents but through local law enforcement.

However, many of the country’s largest cities and counties have passed laws restricting local police co-operation with Ice.

Trump has pledged to take action against these “sanctuary cities”, but America’s patchwork of local, state and federal laws further complicates the picture.

Here is the entire read: How would Trump’s promise of mass deportations of migrants work?.

Obviously, it is a lot more difficult than getting the mass deportation signs printed for the GOP National Convention this past summer. I guess they could use the military and just round up any dark-skinned looking Latina or Latino who speaks with an accent and take them to Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham’s ranch in Starr County but that will just spark outrage once folks start realizing that the individuals detained are U.S. citizens or have a form of legal resident status.

We will have to keep a close eye on this. Remember when they said they were going to build a wall, and Mexico would pay for it?

What is their plan. Printing signs isn’t a plan.

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I don’t believe the following from the Daily Beast:

Members of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team are reportedly preparing a list of alternative candidates for Secretary of Defense in case Trump decides to drop Pete Hegseth, Vanity Fairreported Tuesday, citing two anonymous insiders. Trump’s inner circle are reportedly frustrated with Hegseth after allegations of sexual assault came to light just days after his nomination was announced. Despite the report, Trump has given no indication he intends to withdraw Hegseth’s nomination. “People are upset about the distraction,” one of the sources told the magazine. “The general feeling is Pete hasn’t been honest.” Police in Monterey, California confirmed that Hegseth was investigated for an alleged sexual assault in 2017. Hegseth has repeatedly denied the allegations against him, and the Fox News host was not charged after the 2017 incident. It’s not the first-time officials on the transition team have expressed doubt over the nominee. Another source told The Washington Post on Friday that Hegseth “hadn’t been properly vetted” and they were worried more things could come to light in the future.

If the Florida sleazeball proposed for AG isn’t being reconsidered, then this Hegseth fella isn’t either.

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It’s here. ‘Tis the season, err, seasonal. Commentary is talking about the featured photo which is my favorite beer of all time. It is Saint Arnold Christmas Ale time. It became available the last week of October. It is delicious and it is in my refrigerator. I try to stock up so it will last for a while beyond the Christmas season.

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Tags put this out yesterday:

HOUSTON – Coming off a season in which the Astros had the fifth-highest payroll in baseball and exceeded the Competitive Balance Tax for the first time, owner Jim Crane said Monday he would be “comfortable enough” to spend similarly on his team in 2025.

That could bode well for the club’s pursuit of free agent third baseman Alex Bregman, who remains the Astros’ top offseason priority. Crane, speaking after the club announced Minute Maid Park would be rebranded as Daikin Park in 2025, said Astros general manager Dana Brown has been visiting frequently with Scott Boras, the agent for Bregman, but there was nothing else to report.

“We want to try to field the best team we can without going crazy,” Crane said. “Some of the payrolls are pretty high for the biggest teams, but I think we were the fifth-highest payroll. That’s the first time we’ve done that. We have the wherewithal to do that if we need to do it.”

I just hope the owner isn’t setting us up. You know, the “we tried the best we could, but couldn’t come to terms deal.” Sign him up, please.