The Diesel Deal, Is No Deal.

 President Trump's diesel deal with Russia is fraud on the American people. It is a desperate, futile attempt to address Trump's self-inflicted high diesel prices.  The U.S. produces about 5 million barrels of diesel per day, and consume less than 4 million barrels per day. That makes us the world's top diesel exporter. Our diesel exports help ease the energy crunch in Latin America and Europe. In contrast, Russia is no longer an exporter. In fact, Russia was importing diesel from South Korea this summer. Trump's deal requires no concessions from Putin. This weekend, Putin persisted in his savage attacks on civilians even as Trump announced the diesel deal. 

Putin's strategy for achieving his victory over Ukraine is to freeze civilians during Ukraine's harsh winter; hence the continued bombings of the electric grid, fuel production facilities, and even a gas station. Putin continues to attack residential buildings and public buses. Putin is a war criminal. Yet Trump cut him this "deal" for less diesel for an initial shipment of 300,000 tons which is less diesel than we use in a single day. 

U.S. sanctions have squeezed Russia's oil industry and would continue to do so if Trump were not signaling to the world that he is not serious about sanctions with this absurd 'deal.' 

Diesel prices are high at the pump not because of a lack of U.S. supply. Even if Russia were able to export significant  quantities of diesel, the amounts trump has called for in his deal with Putin are next to nothing. The total of all shipments called for in the Trump/Putin deal are 4.8 million tons of diesel, from now through early April 2027. This equals 35.5 million barrels, less than the U.S. uses in just ten days. Trump says the  Russian shipments are intended to ease the strain on the "Global Marketplace," not just the American market. Even in the unlikely event Russia could produce the amount Trump has asked for, it would not reduce prices, not before the mid-term elections, and probably not ever. 

Nevertheless, the deal will provide Putin billions of dollars in revenue. As Trump well knows, Putin uses the military and intelligence assets acquired from the revenue of the 'deal' to commit war crimes in Ukraine and fund Iranian attacks on the U.S. 

So, one can't help but wonder, why is Trump doing this? First, it appears to be an attempt to reduce prices that his unilaterally imposed policies have caused. Obviously, due to the quantities involved that isn't going to happen. If the conflict in Iran continues, which it likely will, prices will continue to increase. Trump is blatantly acting to erode the sanctions against Russia. 

In 2022, Congress enacted the Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act, by overwhelming margins. That legislation bans U.S. imports of Russian diesel unless the president certifies that Russia has reached an agreement to withdraw its forces from Ukraine, that Ukraine has accepted such an agreement, and that Russia no longer poses a threat to either NATO countries or Ukraine. Given present circumstances, such a certification is impossible. As has become usual, Congress sits ignorantly idle. Other acts of Congress require prior notification before major changes in Russia policy. Trump has not consulted Congress on any of his actions regarding Russian sanctions. 

Is Trump taking the American people for fools? Apparently so. Is he ignoring statutes enacted by Congress? Yes. So when will the time come to pay the piper?...

Is College worth it anymore?

 The demand for skilled trades workers in the U.S. right now is at an all time high. U.S. companies are ramping up training programs to expand their workforces. Poaching skilled workers from other companies has become common practice. 

Mike Rowe, CEO of mikeroweWORKSFoundation, which was founded to help the next generation in acquiring the needed training in the skilled trades, says he is amazed to see the renewed focus and demand for these workers. He says he is constantly getting calls from CEO's and industry leaders who are worried about not being able to recruit needed manpower. As a result many large U.S. companies are establishing their own training programs to attract workers to the skilled trades. 

Demand for these workers is strong and expected to get even stronger. In the past, demand for skilled trades workers was centered in the construction industry. Such is no longer the case. Now tech companies building data centers and power plants, defense contractors, home improvement firms, automakers, and more, are all competing for skilled craftsmen. According to Rowe, "Every year when five tradesmen leave the workforce, two replace them. It has been that way for twelve years. Now the math has caught up to us." 

One company in the Midwest did an analysis comparing skilled trade workers, including electricians, HVAC technicians, and plumbers to bachelor's degree holders who don't have an advanced degree and found the trades offer a faster path to financial breakeven with less debt. They found that trade trainees can break even in less than a year starting to earn right after high school or half a year to two years in trade school, given median entry-level wages. A college graduate at the median starting salary who didn't work during high school would break even in about three and two thirds years. 

Rowe said in talking to past recipients of scholarships from the mikeroweWORKS Foundation who've begun careers in the skilled trades, it's shocking how many welders who began three years ago are now earning in the mid-six figures. 

As it is with college graduates as well as skilled craftsmen, it is dependent on the individual, sometimes on the company, and certainly on geography as well. In general, there is a complete disconnect between the idea that you can make six-figures with a skilled trade among many, many people. But it is now a reality. 

"I was just in Plano, Texas and got a tour of a data center there. I met three electricians, all under thirty, all making over $240,000 a year, all poached three times in the preceding 18 months from other projects," he said. He said he never heard those stories ten, twelve years ago when we were just getting started with the scholarship program. Now, I hear them every day." 

Another significant development in America is some colleges are cutting their tuition costs by 40% to 55%, while yet others are freezing tuition costs. These changes are happening now, in 2026, although some of the biggest cuts won't take effect until fall of 2027. This connects directly with what Mike Rowe has been saying for years: families are questioning whether the traditional college route is worth the cost. 

There is ample evidence that colleges are responding to families that are questioning the return on educational investment. The cost and perceived value of a college degree are under increasing scrutiny. Are the colleges lowering costs becoming more affordable, or are they finally admitting that their previous prices were inflated? Evidence suggest a little of both...

 I had this banner made for me by a professional as a free promotion. I like it. After three books I'm now looking for a literary agent to represent me. I'm tired of dealing with the flood of "book promoters" that are filling my inbox. And they're all paid promotions, and expensive. If I had an agent to handle all that my life would be so much better. 

Anyway, I hope you like the banner and that it sparks some interest in reading my book. 

Thanks 

C. Clayton Lewis

The New York City Mayor's Radical Spouse

 Rama Duwaji. Ever heard of her? She's the wife of NYC Mayor Zhoran Mamdani. And if there were ever a radical, unhinged, far left radical, it would be her. She seems hell bent on berating the United States and as anti-semitic as a human can be, yet the mainstream media seems to favor her. Surprising? Of course not. 

Duwaji recently attended an overseas wellness retreat known as the "Women Sanctuary," her third visit this year. The organizers of this event have called for "abolishing Israel" and "cleansing" it of Jews. Attending this type of event is not a 'one-off' for her. Apparently, she is constantly in the company of these types of people. The retreat is only the latest in a long list of events attended by Duwaji that place her political (and perhaps cultural) ideology on full display. 

Duwaji was ostensibly absent from America's 250th anniversary festivities this year so she could attend the "Plants of the Quran" retreat in Mallorca, hosted by the same "cleanse Israel of the Jews" group. She co-hosted a "Mary in the Quran" retreat in Corsica, which recast the Virgin Mary as a "Palestinian woman giving birth under occupation." 

Duwaji and her husband hosted an event this year where they invited as a 'guest of honor' anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil and his family at Gracie Mansion on the anniversary of his 2025 detention by ICE. Khalil, who is not a U.S. citizen, helped lead the 2024 anti-Israel protests at Columbia University. He has called the U.S. a "killing machine" and once boasted: "The top echelons of the U.S. government are coming after me; that means I'm doing something right." He seems to be held in high esteem by Mamdani and Duwaji. 

Duwaji's social media presence is something to behold, and not to be overlooked. There is a binge of 'likes' for posts celebrating and justifying the October 7, 2023 massacre of Israeli civilians. One post she 'liked' called The NY Times reporting on the October 7 violence against Israeli women a "mass rape hoax that had been fabricated."Other liked posts described the attack as resistance, accused Israel of a “vile land grab,” called the Sde Teiman prison a “concentration camp,” and labeled former President Joe Biden a “butcher” over his support of the U.S. ally.

All of Duwaji's social media activity has been claimed to be done in the capacity of a "private citizen." The press apparently has been in acceptance of this nonsense. 

Duwaji provided an illustration for a collection of essays edited by the activist Susan Abulhawa, who called October 7 "a spectacular moment that shocked the world." Abulhawa also called Jewish Israelis "rootless, soulless ghouls" and Israel a "cultureless, rootless human aberration in the form of a manufactured nation. Duwaji's social media has a history from her younger days consistent with her present online behavior. 

There is ample evidence of Duwaji's radicalism, all of which illustrates her hatred of Israel and her admiration for terrorists and murderers. This begs the question; does her husband share her deep-seated, progressive ideology? Does he sympathize with her? Has it been or will it be reflected in his duties and policies governing New York City? 

Electing someone such as Mamdani as mayor does not reflect well on the voters of New York City. If the voters who elected Mamdani were the same bloc of voters to elect the president in 2028, we might have our first ayatollah for president. Duwaji is no ordinary radical. She is the most dangerous kind. 

The Long Way Home. A Memoir. Available on Amazon October 8

Well, it's finally done.

After years of writing, rewriting, researching, remembering, and more than a little second-guessing, The Long Way Homeis now officially published and on its way to Amazon.

This is my memoir—a story that spans a lifetime of places, people, adventures, successes, failures, and some pretty unexpected turns along the way. From growing up in Alvin, Texas, to Texas A&M, and eventually working around the world in the engineering and construction business, I've been fortunate to live a life that has taken me places I never imagined when I was a kid.

Several friends have asked me when the book would be available. Well, I finally have an answer.

Amazon says it should be available within about 3 days, in both Kindle and paperback editions.

The title seems appropriate. Looking back over the years, it really has been a long way home.

I'll post the Amazon link as soon as it's live.

For now, I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the fact that I actually finished the damn thing.

🥂 Here's to the journey.

C. Clayton Lewis

It really has been a long way home.

After years of writing, rewriting, remembering, researching, and wondering whether I would ever actually finish it, I’m finally ready to announce the publication of my memoir:

The Long Way Home

I never set out to write a memoir. The idea began with an experience in Iran—a close and dangerous brush with history that happened while I was there working as an engineer during the Iranian Revolution.

But once I began writing about Iran, I realized it was only one part of a much longer story.

From growing up in Alvin, Texas, and becoming the first in my family to attend college, to a 48-year career in engineering and construction that took me around the world—from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela to Iran, Europe, Australia, Indonesia, and places I never imagined I would see.

There were adventures. There were difficult times. There were people I loved and lost. There were successes, failures, unexpected turns, and plenty of moments when I had absolutely no idea where the road was taking me.

For years, I simply lived it.

Now I’ve written it down.

The Long Way Home is not the story of a remarkable man who lived an extraordinary life. It is the story of an ordinary man who happened to live an adventurous and meaningful one.

And after all those years of going somewhere, I finally find myself content to stay awhile.

At home.

Available in ebook and paperback on Amazon now.

Hardcover available soon!

https://www.amazon.com/Long-Way-Home-Memoir-ebook/dp/B0H4W4KS52/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3LOQGYNSG93L0&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.28csWe7Q30Fab0tO_mJaXp2DyTJIMoPVtXtCnxntw365aChCtEhqwMyDuDWnI4-CPNohqbCWed_VWpqfG3aP86HOyOxZR42D6zkngqUBrfMShgnpfnhzED556dpxqOYbcxEuRwKl3_8QUcvhj3aQbDEPfuMtXQJzTtVKquQRlPvMXUbARiIbOwfhUnhWVwPluxyKOAZYg9RgJKznD49-YR6W3jDPEgc80sRF57PFRUY.glpFnnNt07vy1mlob4KhOoVG6aAIF-RQQrV6yZcW3uI&dib_tag=se&keywords=c.+clayton+lewis&qid=1791492607&sprefix=%2Caps%2C204&sr=8-1

Mr. Mamdani, you can't handle the truth.

 At appears that at every available opportunity, Zhoran Mamdani feels he must criticize Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Is this a result of the centuries of conflict and learned hatred between cultures? I think not. Mamdani accuses Netanyahu of various crimes and alleges that he is the source of so much Israeli deceit and treachery, at least the sort that's not endemic among the Jewish people. 

During his address to the United Nations General Assembly, Netanyahu's response reminded me of Colonel Nathan Jessup's response in the movie "A Few Good Men." If you haven't seen the movie, the exchange between Col. Jessup and Tom Cruise's character Lt. Daniel Kaffee is cinematic gold. And, I believe apropos to Netanyahu's response. 

Speaking directly to the antisemitic mayor of New York, Netanyahu issued an accurate indictment of Mamdani's character, judgment, and associations. Netanyahu scolded Mamdani for praising criminals convicted of supporting Hamas. He attacked him for counting among his friends Hasan Piker, as he elaborated for a moment on the streamer's belief that Americans deserved the 9/11 attacks. He questioned why Mamdani welcomed into his home a Palestinian journalist who subsequently admitted that he not only filmed Hamas's atrocities but concealed the footage to avoid embarrassing the terrorist group. Netanyahu even criticized Mamdani's wife for having "liked a post praising the October 7 massacre," and another post that contended that the Israeli city of Tel Aviv "shouldn't exist."

In spite of the New York Times preemptive effort to defuse Netanyahu's criticisms of Mandani, they remain true. Mamdani did heap praise on the Holy Land Five, "who were blamed by a jury for the killing of a 17 year-old Jewish boy from New York City outside Jerusalem." Madani did pal around with Hasan Piker during his bid for mayor despite, or perhaps because of, the streamer's penchant for anti-American and anti-Israeli radicalism. He did embrace Motaz Azaiza, a gadfly Palestinian journalist who recently confessed to filming the events of October 7 and burying the footage, because he didn't want to ruin the lives of the people filmed. Mamdani's wife did like those posts, although she has since apologized for her "harmful" social media habits. Some things that have been done cannot be undone...

Netanyahu also addressed the foremost allegation against him and his country to which the mayor and his comrades are partial: the charge of genocide. Netanyahu described Israel's efforts to protect civilians life. He described the "millions" of texts, calls, and leaflets sent out to alert Palestinian populations of impending Israeli action—an independently verifiable account, though Mamdani and his ilk aren't the least bit interested in verification. Israel issued one million polio vaccinations to Palestinians. Israel distributed two million tons of food into Gaza. That's one ton for every person. Accusing Israel of genocide can only come from the mouths of idiots. 

And how is New York City, since Mamdani's election treating the Jews who have lived there for decades? They are harassed, assaulted,  and stabbed more often than ever before. Antisemitic hate crimes are up 8% so far this year and make up more than half the incidents in New York City. 

Netanyahu said, "Mr. Mamdani, you tried to stop me from coming here. You tried to silence me. Well, you cant silence me. You can't silence the truth." In fact, Mr. Mamdani, you can't handle the truth. 

 Today, Wednesday September 23, 2026, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on protecting women's sports. Not a single Democratic Senator was in attendance. Not one. So much for bipartisan debate on important issues. The only two Democrats to show up at all were Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar,D-Minn. Both of them left within the first hour of the hearing and Klobuchar never spoke. The Democrats also did not host a single witness for the hearing. 

Durbin's opening testimony was given to dismissing the issue of trans athletes in women's sports. He instead brought up issues like affordability, getting cellphones out of the hands of children, AI, and trust in government. Prior to leaving, Durbin would "refuse to treat this hearing like a responsible exercise of this committee."

All ten Democratic members of the committee were asked about their absence for either the majority of or the entire hearing. The only time Durbin addressed the issue of the hearing was when he raised concerns for the LGBTQ community, citing a study by the Trevor Project that found young LGBTQ+ are at a "higher risk of suicide," and potential sex verification checks for female athletes a result of protective measures for women's sports, while calling measures a "vendetta." When asked for clarification about the substance of those concerns, Durbin's office pointed to a press release from March 2025 that stated measures to protect women's sports would "subject women and girls to physical inspection by an adult if someone from an opposing team accused them of being transgender." 

Sen. Richard Blumenthal D-Conn., told a reporter that he didn't go to the hearing because he had a classified briefing on the Iran War. When asked about his overall stance on the issue of protecting women's sports, Blumenthal said, "I'm not going to talk about it in the hallway here." Democrats raised the concerns about "inspections" last year ahead of voting for the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, but they were never substantiated in any language within the bill or even any examples of such examinations being used elsewhere. The only verification that has been publicly advocated by anyone has been "cheek swab DNA testing." Once again, the Democrats have completely mischaracterized the issue. 

The party's overall stance on the issue of trans athletes in women's sports has been unpopular. Several major polls; The New York Times, Quinnipiac and Pew Research Center have all shown that more than 70% of all Americans believe women's sports should not permit biological males to compete. 

Ahead of the 2026 mid-terms, many Democrats have distanced themselves from past support of trans athletes without explicitly backpedaling or changing their stance on the issue. The absence of the Democratic committee members at the Wednesday hearing aligns with that recent pattern. The Republicans and witnesses in attendance criticized the Democrats absence. 

Sen. Darlene Graham R-NC, said, "I'm also disappointed our Democratic colleagues left the room, because I think the risk of physical harm is real and has already happened."

Sen. John Kennedy R-La. criticized the Democrats by saying "I'm a little disappointed that my Democratic colleagues left. It's their right, but I'm disappointed."

Sen. Ashley Moody R-Fla. was the most critical of the Democrats who left. "The reason why it is only Republican senators discussing the topic is because the Democrats won't talk openly about the missed opportunities and challenges and what's been happening across our nation for our young women and girls. Shockingly, not one female Democratic Senator has engaged in this hearing or asked you any questions about your experiences, your concerns, your fears or what you may predict may happen in the future if we don't, as you said, lead." 

Currently, there are 23 states in the U.S. that do not have rules prohibiting biological males  form competing in women's sports. California, Maine and Minnesota have engaged in legal battles with the Trump administration over the issue after Trump signed an executive order to protect women's sports last February. 

Nike is taking a beating, and they deserve it...

 Michael Jordan, is widely regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time. He was also the athlete most responsible for transforming Nike from a shoe company into a global sports empire. He once said, "Republicans buy sneakers, too." Jordan made the comment during the 1990 U.S. Senate race in North Carolina, after his mother urged him to support Democratic candidate Harvey Gantt. Jordan confirmed that he made the statement jokingly on a team bus. 

The line endured because it captured a basic business lesson. Companies benefit when everyone, regardless of their politics, buys their products. Nike stopped using common sense. 

After spending much of the past decade injecting left-wing politics into its brand, Nike has now been removed from the Standard & Poor 100, ending a run of nearly 18 years in the blue-chip index. S&P Dow Jones announced the move last week and Nike will no longer trade on the Index after Sept. 21. 

Nike isn't being kicked out of the Index because of questionable and dubious extremely partisan advertising. They're being kicked out because their stock value collapsed. 

Politics didn't wipe out $200 billion by itself. But Nike chose to alienate customers while it was already losing ground everywhere else. The sports apparel giant reached a market value of $281 billion near its peak in November 2021. Nike shares recently closed at $38.10 giving the company a market capitalization of roughly $56.5 billion. The stock was about 79% below its November 2021 record of $179.10. More than $220 billion in market value had disappeared. 

Being removed from the S&P 100 won't put Nike out of business. It will still sell billions of dollars of shoes and sign big-name athletes to sponsorship deals. But the titan of athletic wear is now worth about one-fifth of what it was five years ago and is no longer considered a blue-chip stock. 

Consider Nike's attitude toward China with their behavior in the U.S.. Nike made Colin Kaepernick the face of its 30th anniversary "Just Do It" campaign after he refused to stand for the national anthem, saying he wouldn't show pride for a country that "oppresses Black people and people of color." Nike apparently thought it was a message worth putting on billboards across the nation. 

In 2021 Nike faced blowback from Chinese consumers after the company expressed concern about reports of forced labor involving Uyghurs in Xinjiang. A few months later during an earnings call with then CEO John Donahoe, he made Nike's priorities clear. 

"We're a brand of China and for China," he said. Pretty big contrast with their attitude in the U.S. Nike took a pretty hard stand concerning perceived oppression in the U.S.. But when their business  in a communist country came under pressure, its CEO reminded everyone that Nike had been investing there for more than 40 years, operated thousands of stores and remained committed to the Chinese market. 

Nike was apparently willing to present anti-American messaging at home while continuing to grow in China by assuring Chinese consumers that the company was "of China and for China."

It blew up in their face. 

In 2021 when Donahoe made that declaration, Nike made $8.29 billion in revenue in China. Five years later, they were down to $5.85 billion. Nearly 30% of the business disappeared. 

In 2019, Nike pulled a Fourth-of-July themed Air Max sneaker because it said it could 'unintentionally offend.' A year later, the company launched its "For Once, Don't do it" racial-justice campaign and publicly embraced Black Lives Matter messaging. 

Then Nike partnered with Dylan Mulvaney in 2023 for a paid promotion of women's leggings and sports bras. At the time, OutKick reported that researchers and a Boston's Children's Hospital publication had described Nike as supporting a proposed study involving transgender youth athletes. A Nike executive, speaking to OutKick later said the study "was never initialized' and was not "moving forward." It was later reported that Nike had pulled out after critics had learned of it. 

Nike repeatedly made left-wing politics part of its identity and dared customers to object. Now they have left the S&P 100, its stock down 80% from its peak and its executives are trying to rebuild the product innovation and marketplace relationships that made the company dominant. 

Michael Jordan understood. What Nike failed to understand was they don't have to buy yours. 

Updating the grid...

 The electrical grid in the U.S. is very reliable by most standards. Notwithstanding severe storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, and such, the infrastructure is stable and dependable. Oddly enough, electricity consumption from 2010 to 2020 fell by 1%. Owing to modern innovations such as LED's, efficient motors, stricter appliance standards, the electrical needs of the country went flat for a number of years. This became the norm, until it wasn't. 

The electrical utility industry experienced no growth for over two decades. The financial and practical circumstances surrounding this absence of growth resulted in little to no funding for apprenticeship programs, no training of personnel with specialized skills, and recruiting only to replace those lost to retirement and attrition, if that. The industries that support electrical utilities did the same. Manufacturers of transformers and electrical equipment, steel mills, were all planning based on requirements they had seen for decades. 

Beginning in 2020, electricity consumption has reversed two decades of decline and increased by 7%. Demand for large power transformers, the equipment through which nearly all of America's electricity passes through has surged 116% since 2019. The updating and expansion of power generation, data centers, grid expansion for increased population sparked big increases in demand all within a few years. The utilities and support industries apparently didn't see this coming and were not prepared. 

Roughly 80% of the large power transformers in the United States are now imported. The grain-oriented electrical steel required inside the transformers has but a single domestic producer. Lead times for a standard power transformer have stretched to nearly two and a half years, and even longer for the larger units that connect power plants to the grid. Prices for these critical components have increased more than 77% since 2019. The average transformer in use today is 38 years old, more than 70% of the fleet is more than 25 years old. The utility is finding themselves in the unfortunate position of trying to replace an aging base and build a completely new one with a supply chain that has been neglected for a generation. 

The hardware shortage gets a lot of attention. The human shortage is worse because it can't be expedited. At the present time, there is nowhere in America a person can enroll to learn how to design or build a large power transformer. The few university power engineering programs that still exist don't teach it. Such programs were shrinking before the boom began as students began to turn their interest to software and AI. 

The knowledge to wind a coil, design a core or run a high-voltage acceptance test is a learn-by-doing skill, taught on a shop floor by master winders, test engineers or metallurgists who understand why a core behaves the way it does. This kind of expertise lives in people, rarely written down. Considering that roughly half the utility workforce is now over 45 and a large share of them expected to retire in this decade. A new transformer factory can be built in a couple of years. You cannot create an experienced winder in a couple of years, not can you enroll one either. 

This is the situation no one in the industry planned for. Industrial capability cost nothing to lose and is wickedly expensive to rebuild. It took only 18 months of supply chain stress to expose the gap. It will likely take as much as two decades to close it. Every credible forecast indicates demand climbing through 2050. The impending result: disruption of service. 

The electrical grid and its supporting industries must be treated as growth industries once again. Meaning manufacturers must create new facilities and production lines with the demand forecasts to support them. Apprenticeships, training and recruiting must reflect that of high growth industries once again. Domestic material suppliers must retool and increase production capacity to meet orders. Capital investment must be directed to electrical capacity not just to the data centers that capacity will serve. 

Most of all, it means recalibrating from the status quo that 'worked' for the past 20 years. The industry landscape has shifted and electrical providers must shift with it, in real time. I'm sure many other countries are experiencing the same dilemma.

The Spanish Migration Problem

 This past week tens of thousands of Moroccans swam into the Spanish enclave of Ceute on the African coast within days of the Spanish Supreme Court ruling that no one entering by sea could be denied entry. This follows the launch of a unilateral illegal alien amnesty program by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. Sanchez's program has generated more than a million applicants, twice that which was originally estimated. 

There were other factors feeding the crisis. Morocco likely allowed it to happen to pressure Spain on another matter, perhaps to attempt to reclaim the territories taken long ago as part of the Reconquista, Spain's centuries-long war of liberation against its Muslim occupiers. Morocco may have pushed the issue a little too far though; a smaller migrant rush was apparently shut down at Melilla, Spain's other African foothold. This kind of weaponization has been practiced as a form of one-sided war by weaker powers, e.g Turkey, Belarus, Cuba and others. 

The other reason migrant weaponization is effective against Western countries to begin with: the dysfunctional and outdated asylum policies left over from the Cold War.  Those limited policies morphed into pipelines allowing mass illegal immigration. These illegal aliens will request asylum and be supported by Spanish taxpayers until their asylum cases are decided, and even those rejected are not likely to be deported. 

The EU's recent migration pact was presented as a tightening of border controls, but in effect, it will serve to require other EU members to take their "fair share" of the illegals Spain has allowed in. Italy's Prime Minister has threatened to suspend the Schengen Agreement, which allowed passport-free border crossing in Europe. It will be interesting to see how Hungary (who supports strict external border controls) will accept its share of Moroccans illegals.

The timing of the Spanish Supreme Court's ruling on open borders stands in irony to our own Supreme Court's decision just days prior that allowed the president to physically prevent foreigners from crossing the border. Three of our justices that dissented on that judgment shared the suicidal view of their Spanish colleagues, that asylum law in effect applies to foreigners who aren't even in your country yet. 

If there is a saving grace to be founding this latest crisis, it may be that those who chose to violate Western sovereignty may be pushing the limits too quickly. Spain is sending the military to Cueta to restore order, though it remains to be seen whether their mission will be to push back or simply ensure an orderly process. But there is reason to hope given the EU's blessing of Poland's strong efforts to stop forced migration from Belarus. The EU has a big migration problem and it's going to take big measures to bring it under control. Hopefully before the 'collateral damage' becomes unbearable...