Tag Archives: immigration

International news, national news

Muslim ban plays straight into the terrorists’ hands

Now he’s done it.

The president of the United States has just ordered a ban on all immigrants this country from certain Muslim-majority countries. His fear is that immigrants from those countries might be terrorists intent on blowing us all up.

Donald J. Trump has just demonstrated — as if anyone really needed an explanation — how little he understands about the very nature of the nation he was elected to lead.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-immigration-order-democrats-234312

Not only has the order enraged Democrats across the nation, it has split Republicans as well. It has once again cast a serious chaotic spin on the activities associated with the president who’s been in office a week and one day.

Just think, Dear Reader, we’ve got four whole years of this.

U.S. Sen Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, said he understands Trump’s desire to protect us against terrorists but a “blanket ban” on immigrants from Muslim countries demonizes those who practice a certain religion unfairly. The president, Flake said, needs a “clear-eyed view” that doesn’t ascribe “radical Islamic terrorist views to all Muslims.”

That, however, is what Trump has just done.

Moreover, as Sen. Susan Collins (pictured), a Maine Republican, has noted, such a blanket ban will create problems immediately for the president.

Donald Trump has just ratcheted up the fight that appears to imply that, by golly, we are at war with Islam — a principle rejected categorically by his two immediate predecessors, Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Barack H. Obama.

national news, political news

You mean we have four whole years of this?

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Donald John Trump is making me crazy.

Yes, I am about to go nuts watching the evening news as it regards the 45th president of the United States.

He’s been in office for seven whole days and it seems like he’s been there … um, forever!

He signs an executive order starting to repeal the Affordable Care Act; he accuses millions of illegal immigrants of voting for Hillary Clinton, then announces a “major investigation” into the matter; he starts a trade war with Mexico over that country’s refusal to pay for the “beautiful wall” he wants to build; he continues to cozy up to Vladimir Putin; then several key State Department staffers quit, leaving him with some senior advisers in that key Cabinet agency.

He’s at war with the media. Chaos reins.

Good grief, folks! I cannot stand this.

Honest to goodness, I can’t quite put my finger on which development startles me the most.

No Drama Obama sought to run the country in a more even-handed manner. Did it work? Well, yes. It did. The nation is better off than it was when Barack Obama took office. He turned it all over to “Smart Person” Trump.

My eternal optimism is being tested like hardly ever before. Why? Because the president of the United States — who took office without a single solitary moment of public service experience — is seeking to chart a new course through some unknown territory.

I don’t want to wish my life away, but … is it 2020 yet?

International news

Amazing fight developing between ‘friendly’ neighbors

So it has come down to this.

Donald J. Trump trumpets the need for “better relations” with Russia while dismissing reports from U.S. intelligence officials say that Russian hackers tried to interfere in our presidential election.

Meanwhile, the president is spoiling for an all-out trade war with the nation that shares our southern border — Mexico — over that country’s refusal to pay for a wall that Trump wants to build along that entire border.

Is the new president mad, stupid — or both?

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pushed-into-corner-mexican-president-punches-back/ar-AAmi9Az?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

He’s also — apparently — lying about who canceled the meeting next week between himself and Mexico’s president, Enrique Pena Nieto. Trump said it was a mutual decision; Pena Nieto insists he broke it off.

You know what? I’m inclined to believe President Pena Nieto, given our own president’s lengthy history of prevarication.

Trump insists that Mexico will pay for the wall, which congressional leaders estimate could cost as much as $15 billion to build. How? Trump said he might impose a stiff trade tariff on all good imported from Mexico. How might Mexico respond? Oh, with a tariff of its own on all goods that country imports from the United States.

Yep. It could produce a serious trade war between two ostensibly friendly nations.

What in the name of all that is holy is Donald Trump trying to do?

Furthermore, he talks about Mexico as having the upper hand here. He said Mexico has to treat the United States “fairly.” Uh, news flash, Mr. President: We’re the big dog on this block.

Someone has to explain to me how the president can look so blindly at the threat posed by Russian hackers while getting his hackles up over Mexico’s refusal to knuckle under to demands that well might impugn that country’s sovereignty.

International news

Build a wall? With our money, Mr. President? No thank you

Donald J. Trump is continuing his war of words with our nation’s southern neighbor.

The president says he still plans to build a wall between the United States and Mexico. He keeps making boasts about making Mexico pay for it because “they’re sending rapists, murderers and drug dealers” into the United States.

Of course, the president never has stipulated who he means by “they.” Let’s presume something for a moment: Trump is referring to the Mexican government.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/official-mexicos-president-considering-scrapping-us-trip/ar-AAmfCw3?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has responded on two fronts.

First, he is considering scrapping a planned visit to the United States to meet with the new president over his latest remarks about the wall.

Second, he’s continuing to insist that Mexico ain’t paying for the wall. Period. End of discussion.

According to The Associated Press: “Pena Nieto said he regrets and condemns the decision to build the wall, saying ‘I have said time and time again, Mexico will not pay for any wall.'”

So, the question must be posed to Donald Trump: What part of “no” doesn’t he understand?

Is he going to storm Mexico’s presidential palace at Los Pinos with weapons drawn and demand they pay? Is he going to launch an all-out trade war with one of this nation’s major trading partners?

Absent Mexico paying for the wall, then the final option is to saddle U.S. taxpayers with a monstrous bill to pay for a project that has little chance of succeeding at what Trump intends for it: which is to stop illegal immigration in its tracks.

He calls U.S. immigration policy the equivalent of “catch and release.”

If the Mexican president were to ask me, I’d say he ought to go to the meeting with Trump and tell him to his face: We won’t pay for it! Then he ought to tell his colleague: Mr. President, let’s work together to strengthen border security with more reasonable and achievable strategies; this build-a-wall notion is nutty and it will … not … work!

Perhaps he also can tell the U.S. president that he ought to apologize for demonizing the Mexican government — and Mexican citizens in general. That won’t happen, but President Pena Nieto ought to go on the record with the demand.

International news, national news

Trump brings his campaign promise to where it started

Donald J. Trump has brought it all home.

The next president of the United States is still insisting that Mexico is going to pay for that big wall he plans to build across our southern border. He pitched the wall during his first day campaigning for the presidency.

It’ll be a repayment, he says. U.S. taxpayers are going to foot the bill initially, but Trump insists that Mexico will pay us back for the billions of dollars we’ll spend. He wants Americans to pay for sealing off the southern border “for the sake of speed.”

Good bleeping luck with that, Mr. President-elect.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-on-border-wall-mexico-will-pay-us-back/ar-BBxXkeO?li=BBnb7Kz

As with virtually all of his proposals, Trump doesn’t specify just how he intends to make Mexico pay. He doesn’t deliver any details on how he will force a sovereign government to fork over the money to this government. Nor does he explain how he is going to persuade Mexican government officials to change their minds after saying quite loudly that in no way would Mexico pay for the wall.

No, the president-elect doesn’t operate that way. He functions with bluster and bravado. He issues threats — even to trusted allies and, in this case, a nation that shares a 2,000-mile-long border with the United States.

It is my belief, too, that Trump has misstated grossly the current U.S. government’s performance as it seeks to stem the tide of illegal immigration. President Obama might go down as the deporter in chief, having overseen record numbers of deportations of undocumented immigrants coming into this country during his eight years as president.

Our borders traditionally have been unguarded. Our immigration enforcement, though, has continued. Have we been able to secure every foot of our borders — both northern and southern? No. That has never — not in the history of our republic — been possible.

Does a wall provide the ultimate solution? No. Desperate people will find a way to sneak through any barrier we erect. Walls don’t necessarily deter the most determined individuals.

As for saddling U.S. taxpayers with the initial bill to pay the wall, Trump will have to explain where he’ll get the money. He’s going to cut taxes, remember? He’s going to spend a trillion bucks on improving our bridges and highways, too. He’s going to shore up our military.

Build a wall? With what, Mr. President-elect.

Be sure, also, to tell us precisely how you intend to force Mexico to foot the bill.

national news

Hoping for Trump to earn praise

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Those of you who read this blog regularly might be thinking: What will it take for this guy — that would be yours truly — to say something truly positive about Donald J. Trump?

I’ve said I’m trying to keep an open mind about the next president of the United States. And, no, “trying to keep an open mind” isn’t code for “not a chance in hell” I’ll ever say anything good about the guy. I mean what I am saying here.

What will it take? What can this guy do to earn my unvarnished, unqualified praise?

Let me think:

* He can order a military strike that destroys the Islamic State, forcing the terrorists to give up the fight.

* Trump can enact policies that bring jobs back to the United States of America, which he contends are fleeing this country by the thousands for places like Mexico and China.

* He can implement border policies that effectively end illegal immigration into the U.S. of A.

* The president can persuade Congress to pass laws that incentivize private businesses to hire more people, thus reducing the jobless rate even more than the dramatic reduction we’ve seen already during the Obama administration.

* POTUS can get Congress to reduce taxes on all Americans while spending money on infrastructure improvements without piling up the national debt and increasing the annual federal budget deficit.

* He can order the next attorney general to go to war against hate groups that have risen to prominence since he announced his presidential candidacy.

* Trump can issue a heartfelt apology — the real thing, man, not just some phony “If I have offended anyone …” non-apology — to the many individuals and groups he denigrated while running for the presidency.

These are the issues that come to mind immediately. I’d settle for any one or two of these things to occur. I am on board if he is able to do any of it.

My confidence remains quite low, I am saddened to say, that he’ll do any of it.

However, there’s always tomorrow.

national news

Do you speak Hindi?

statue_liberty_immigrants_drawing_1887_dbloc_adj

GUTHRIE, Okla. — I need to brush up on my Hindi.

That’s surely a requirement if I ever return to a certain fueling station on the east side of Interstate 35.

We stopped for fuel. Given that my wife and I were hauling our 28-foot fifth wheel behind our big ol’ Dodge Ram truck, we needed lots of room.

The Valero station we spotted had plenty of it. We pulled the rig next to the pump.

Then it started.

The pump didn’t have a card-swipe or even a meter to read how much fuel we took or how much it would cost.

I went inside. A nice lady was at the cash register. I told her I needed to fill my truck with fuel. She looked, virtually clueless as to what I had just said. She said something in return. I didn’t understand a word she said.

She appeared to be of Indian or Pakistani origin. We exchanged a few more sentences, neither one of us knowing what the other was saying. She gave up and signaled a gentleman to come over.

He was of the same ethnic origin. We talked to each other. Our understanding of what the other said rivaled my first encounter.

He came outside and rigged the pump so that I could pump my fuel, which I did. I went inside to pay the man.

My point? It is this: English is the primary language in the U.S. of A. I am as liberated and progressive as anyone on the issue of immigration. I love immigrants. I welcome them. I do not believe it is necessary to make English the “official language” of this great nation.

My grandparents, all four of them, were immigrants. They learned how to speak the language that rolls off the tongues of most Americans. They weren’t exactly fluent, but they could converse in the language of their adopted home.

My wish is that when employers hire immigrants to work in service industries — such as at fueling stations — that they ensure that their employees can communicate effectively and efficiently with their customers.

There. That’s out of my system.

International news, State news

Texas pulls out of refugee settlement program … more or less

tt-leadart-syrianref_jpg_800x1000_q100

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has made a political statement, which of course is no surprise.

He has withdrawn the state from the federal refugee resettlement program.

Here’s the deal, though. The feds are going to keep sending refugees to Texas, where they might be resettled but only after they’ve been vetted thoroughly to ensure they aren’t part of some evil terrorist network.

All of this begs the question for Gov. Abbott: What is the point — precisely — of the “withdrawal” from the refugee resettlement initiative?

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/09/30/texas-officially-withdraws-refugee-resettlement-pr/

Abbott’s office cited security concerns. He doesn’t want terrorist infiltrating into Texas. Duh? Neither do I, nor anyone else, near as I can tell.

The feds, though, are running the Middle East refugees through a rigorous background check as it is … and no, we aren’t welcoming “hundreds of thousands” of refugees from the war-torn region, as GOP presidential nominee Donald J. Trump keeps insisting. President Obama announced a ceiling of 10,000 Syrian refugees, for example.

“Refugees will continue to be resettled in Texas only after extensive screenings are conducted by the State Department and Department of Homeland Security,” a spokesman for the Office of Refugee Resettlement said.

The fear campaign continues at full throttle, goosed by Trump and others who seek to terrorize Americans with the threat that we’re being invaded by throngs of crazed Islamic warriors bent on killing us all on sight.

Quite clearly, Gov. Abbott has accepted at least a version of that notion. It reminds me of when he ordered the National Guard to monitor the U.S. Army’s military exercise in Texas, apparently believing the garbage that the commander in chief might order a military takeover of Texas.

International news, national news, political news

Mexico outraged over Trump’s wall proposal

wall

Donald J. Trump’s impromptu visit to Mexico went well.

Don’t you think?

Me neither.

The Republican presidential nominee flew to Mexico City and met behind closed doors with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. They talked about illegal immigration, but apparently did not discuss that “big, beautiful wall” that Trump wants to extend along the countries’ border.

Now comes word from Mexico that the plan is “outrageous” and that Mexico isn’t going to pay a nickel for it, as Trump insists they should.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/mexico-calls-trump-wall-plan-outrageous-after-visit/ar-AAinv5Z?li=BBnb7Kz

So, where do we stand?

I believe we are precisely at the same point we were prior to Trump’s visit.

As near as I can figure, one sovereign country cannot dictate to another sovereign country how to spend its money. So, if the United States is going to demand that Mexico pay for construction of a wall, then Mexico is within its legal authority to refuse.

Here’s how Reuters reported an exchange between Trump and Pena Nieto: “On Twitter early on Thursday, Trump wrote, ‘Mexico will pay for the wall!’

“That prompted a Twitter reply from Pena Nieto later in the day: ‘I repeat what I told you personally Mr. Trump, Mexico would never pay for a wall.'”

This is Donald Trump’s view of international diplomacy.

“Yes, you will. No we won’t. Yes, you will, or else! I dare you to invoke the ‘or else.'”

Do you see how this is a ridiculous notion?

Trump’s build-a-wall theme played well to the Republican Party voter base that propelled him to the GOP nomination. He’s got those folks in his hip pocket.

The rest of the country? The voters of Latin American heritage who are becoming increasingly infuriated at Trump’s anti-Mexico rhetoric? Independent voters?

Whatever the GOP nominee hoped to accomplish with those folks has now, I believe, been flushed away.

International news, national news

‘Select immigrants based on skill … ‘

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Statue_Liberty_Immigrants_drawing_1887_dbloc_adj

Buried deeply in Donald J. Trump’s fiery immigration speech last night was a series of provisions he set forth that hasn’t yet gotten much media attention.

Perhaps it will. It certainly should, in my humble view.

Here’s what the Republican presidential nominee said that caught my attention:

“The time has come for a new immigration commission to develop a new set of reforms to our legal immigration system in order to achieve the following goals:

“To keep immigration levels, measured by population share, within historical norms

“To select immigrants based on their likelihood of success in U.S. society, and their ability to be financially self-sufficient. We need a system that serves our needs – remember, it’s America First.

“To choose immigrants based on merit, skill and proficiency.

“And to establish new immigration controls to boost wages and to ensure that open jobs are offered to American workers first.”

Do you know what he said right there? You perhaps have your own interpretation. Mine is that my own grandparents, all four of them, quite likely could have been denied entry into this country had those principles been put in play at the turn of the 20th century.

Trump wants to screen all immigrants to ensure they meet certain skill levels, that they demonstrate certain proficiency and that they meet some kind of standard of merit.

I’m going to speak only about my own family, but my grandparents — as great and as loving as they were — were uneducated individuals. They came here from southern Greece and from Turkey. With the possible exception of my maternal grandfather, a merchant seaman who was fluent or conversant in about a half-dozen languages, none of them brought any “skill” to this country.

All they brought to the United States of America was a desire to live in the land of the free.

They also became the greatest American patriots I’ve ever known.

They were the living embodiment of the inscription carved into the Statue of Liberty. You’ve heard of Emma Lazarus’s poem that proclaims in part:

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Donald Trump, with that remarkably arrogant proclamation that sets certain standards that go far beyond potential criminality or the threat of terrorists has just crapped all over that inscription.