"Their indifference to the use of women and children as human shields might even raise the suspicion that progressive moral exhibitionism is an ugly sham."

Mark Steyn writes,

But the nub of the issue is clear: what's been shut down, for many years, is the essential core responsibility of national government - the integrity of its borders.

To be sure, there were things the President did not say, or do - like announcing, say, a tax on so-called "remittances" to Mexico. Almost every itsy-bitsy thing is taxed in this country, or at least subject to the scrutiny of the tax regime, including any "remittances" by lawful US citizens to overseas banks. Which is why, thanks to the FATCA Act and other intrusions, foreign financial institutions increasingly forego American customers. And yet illegal aliens sluicing money out of the country on a scale that has made "remittances" the second-biggest contributor (after tourism) to the GDP of much of Latin America is entirely ignored by the US government.

"Re-opening" that cobwebbed corner of the revenue agency might be worth doing, don't you think? As it is, we continue to bifurcate into a society divided between the "undocumented" and the hyper-micro-documented.

Read more here.