As Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant policy intensifies, an organization founded in 1986 has stepped up its efforts to help families under attack, as Dennis J. Bernstein explains.
By Dennis J Bernstein
America’s “National Pastime” used to be the heart of the matter for Enrique Morones. But in 1986, Morones turned his back on an impressive and lucrative career in Major League baseball, as the Vice President of Latino & International Marketing for the San Diego Padres, and became a “water carrier” on the desert. He soon founded the Border Angels, whose key purpose was the life and death delivery of water to those women and children and men who found themselves lost and stranded on the dessert, after fleeing their counties for a better safer life in El Norte.
Morones, the first person to gain dual United States and Mexican Citizenship, has since joined forces with the United Farm Workers, Ethel Kennedy (the widow of Robert Kennedy) and others to give voice and a human face to the struggle of undocumented people, now under extraordinary attack by a bluntly and actively anti-immigrant Trump administration.
In 2006, producers for the Flashpoints show traveled with Morones in a caravan that included thousands of activists, protesters and organizers across the entire country in the first “Marcha Migrante”, an action that inspired many spirited protests and demonstrations across the country, and in what came to be known as the “immigrant spring.”
I caught up with Morones in San Diego just after a protest at an ICE detention center, just a few blocks from the US/Mexico border, between San Diego and Tijuana. The prison itself is relatively new, built in the last five or ten years. It is a private prison run by the Corrections Corporation of America, the largest prison company in the world. They warehouse over a thousand detainees in their San Diego facility.
Dennis Bernstein: Greetings Enrique Morones. Enrique, I have just heard about a young father who committed suicide after his three-year old son was taken away. Do you want to give us your sense of what is going on and how you have been responding to this kind of brutality?
Morones: Couldn’t contain himself if he met Trump.
Enrique Morones: Sadly, the situation with Trump continues to get worse. While he spreads his message of hate– not only calling us rapists and criminals now, but animals–we see how law enforcement has been stepping up their attacks on migrants. I don’t know if you have seen the video which is making the rounds. Yesterday after the protests, the protesters were going to get something to eat and the border patrol surrounded them. They responded that they were not going to let themselves be harassed and eventually the border patrol left. It is important that we speak out, that we not be silent. We had the woman from Guatemala who was killed on the Texas border a couple of weeks ago, shot in the head. Of course, the border patrol is saying they had been aggressive–something which witnesses denied. Especially these attacks on children show the worst of the American spirit, since a society can be judged according to how it treats its children. To have these children separated from families, lost in the system, threatened to be separated if they are seeking asylum, is a total violation of human rights law. This past Saturday here in San Diego we held a mass entitled “Footprints of Tenderness” with US and Mexican Catholic and Episcopalian bishops. A caravan was launched from Friendship Park which will travel all the way to the tip of South America. It will take about a year. We want the faith community to be aware, the general public to be aware, the lawmakers to be aware. We know that Donald Trump is a lost cause, but there are people speaking out, like John McCain and some of the Democrats, and it is important that they all speak out. Because the whole world is watching and it is a shameful situation, what Trump and Sessions are doing. Racist members of law enforcement are feeling more empowered.
DB: Right now, the way I understand it, the US has a policy of systematically denying people’s right to apply for asylum by splitting families, by brutalizing them, by causing so much suffering that they turn back around. This is really one step further than Obama.
EM: This is twenty steps further than Obama. It is just totally inhumane. Not only are they separating those seeking asylum, they are threatening the ones who are thinking of coming to the border. These are families who are escaping very dangerous, violent situations in their home countries, mainly from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, but other countries as well, including Mexico. They are working their way up to the border to turn themselves in for asylum, which is a universal human right. These people under Trump seem to think that if they threaten to separate the children they are not going to come. Do they really expect these people to stay at home and watch their children being executed in front of them? Of course not. They are going to be working their way up to the northern border, hoping that they are not going to be that family separated from their children. None of the 11,000 people who have died because of Operation Gatekeeper expected to die. People are leaving because they have to leave, not because they want to. The current policy is similar to what happened to slave families that were brought here, to what the Nazis did. I never thought that this country would be doing this in this day and age. We need to rise up in protest, demanding that the people held in detention be treated humanely.
DB: How has the work of the Border Angels evolved? Part of the work that you do is put water in the desert where you know people are coming through. People have actually been arrested for being water carriers. Is it still necessary to bring water to the desert? Is the border patrol still undermining that work?
EM: As you know, we started putting water in the desert along the San Diego/Tijuana border, in the Imperial Valley and in Arizona in 1994, when Operation Gatekeeper began. We had groups going out there three of four times a month, with thirty or forty volunteers. By November 2016 we had five hundred volunteers showing up, so we had to set the limit at 100-150 people. And yes, it is still necessary. In the past five years we have seen a dramatic reduction in people crossing, with the economy recovering somewhat in Mexico. Now the largest group is coming from Central America. They typically cross along the Texas border, which is 75% of the Mexico/US border. But some cross here, too, into California or Arizona. We are busier than ever because of the hate from Trump. Even though fewer people are coming, it is more dangerous than ever. Hate rhetoric leads to hate acts. We see more hate crimes being committed. We are right across the street from an elementary school where moms are sometimes scared to walk their kids to school. The racist minority in this country are feeling more empowered.
DB: People like my colleague Miguel Molina are beginning to talk about “concentration camps,” about suffering that harkens back to World War II.
EM: These facilities are sometimes called “ICE coolers.” They are not made for the detention of children or families. These predominantly women and children are not criminals. Of course, it is inhumane to treat anyone in this manner, even if they are criminals. They are arresting so many people, profiling people who haven’t done anything wrong, who are documented. Now they are going to be putting them in real prisons and separating them from their children. So it is an inhumane situation. It is very difficult to get into the detention facilities to view the conditions. Even a couple congresspeople were not able to get in. Here are the people who make the laws and it is very suspicious when they are prohibited from seeing how the laws are being carried out.
DB: What kinds of special actions are you planning? Are there workshops for people to learn how to protect themselves? Are support groups being organized? How are people rising up to meet this kind of repression?
EM: Throughout the state of California and in other areas, we have organized rapid response teams to alert people to ICE raids in their communities. This is what the mayor of Oakland did and we applaud her for that. We also hand out “know your rights” cards to people so people know that they have the right to remain silent, to have an attorney, to ask to speak to the consulate of their country. Oftentimes those rights aren’t being honored. When you see that something happens, say something. The badge doesn’t give you a special privilege to be racist and abuse people. Law enforcement is taking advantage of this ugly prevailing mood and it is not acceptable. We are telling people not to wait until ICE knocks on your door. Set up a system beforehand so that if you are going to be deported, your children can be turned over to a family member. Once you are in custody, it is too late to do that. You have to set that up beforehand. That is one reason why children are being lost in the system.
DB: Finally, if you suddenly found yourself nose-to-nose with Trump, what would you tell him?
EM: I don’t think I would be able to contain myself. I have spoken to presidents in the past, but I would never recognize Trump as my president. If I were invited to the White House, as I have been in the past, I would not go. I am all for dialogue when you are dealing with a sane person. I will go to Washington, as I have in the past, to protest, and I will meet with elected officials, but not with the likes of Trump or Mike Pence. Those people should be put in their place, behind bars and not in positions of great power.
Click here to listen to this interview.
Dennis J. Bernstein is a host of “Flashpoints” on the Pacifica radio network and the author of Special Ed: Voices from a Hidden Classroom. You can access the audio archives at www.flashpoints.net. You can get in touch with the author at [email protected].
As usual, follow the money. Looks like a lot of people are making big money off illegal immigration and refugees. Both sides of the aisle are complicit.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/06/20/illegal-immigration-and-lax-border-controls-are-the-epicenter-of-the-uniparty/#more-150778
Does the UN have any relevance/authority when it comes to US policies?
As I appreciate it, we have laws restricting entry into the US. It is a president’s duty to to enforce the law. Leaders who do not follow laws are tyrants.
Our laws include limits on how many people may immigrate. It is the right and duty of the legislative branch, not the executive to change the law. Should they remove all limits? How many immigrants per year is too many?
Difficult questions.
Rather than engage in emotional attacks on this president’s enforcement of law, might we focus instead on those areas where this president and the presidents before him have engaged in unlawful wars and warlike acts of aggression, usually in the name of regime change and/or support of “allies” which have killed, injured, or displaced millions?
As I understand it, separate issues became tangled up in the public discussion. One concerns the differences between immigrants, illegal immigrants, and refugees. Different laws apply to each category. All nations have laws regarding immigration. Refugees are people whose lives are in danger if they remain in their home countries. We have a moral duty to open the doors, providing sanctuary to refugees. The issue under discussion here is that of refugees from Central and South America, fleeing violence in their home countries. The outrage is over the US taking their children from them, and subjecting those children to gross mistreatment in violation of international human rights laws.
The other issue is that of tearing families apart. Americans really haven’t been concerned about that. Since the 1990s, and as a matter of policy, social service agencies have had the power to take children into “indefinite custody” if parents become jobless and fall into poverty. Technically, this is done on the grounds of “neglect/failure to adequately provide.” This, too, is in violation of human rights law, but Americans have clearly found it to be acceptable.
I read this and the comments yesterday and became so dispirited that I didn’t know what to say, if anything. But that’s not right; if you don’t speak for your own beliefs, who will? This is a manufactured crisis, Trumpian top to bottom, and side to side. Purposely cruel, and that’s the point.
To the exceptionalists that have commented, just this: the US has claimed, oh, since Teddy Roosevelt, the western hemisphere as our rightful sphere of influence. It is telling that, under our undisputed dominance life in much of Central and South America remains so bad that so many wish to leave. As the claimant to pre-eminence, what does that say about the American model and American guidance? We did inherit – or rather claim – through an accident of history, the corrupt and corrupted remnants of colonial domains, but we have done little but exploit to our needs and desires, and abandoned (or in some cases, trained and organized extermination campaigns against) many of the populations that live there. The interests of our government there are no deeper than the interests of their corporate sponsors.
Given that the all world is the US’s military domain – overt and covert, another tenet of exceptionalists, and a reality that third world non-USA’ns especially understand, is it any wonder that many with a land bridge try to make it to the safety of the belly of the beast?
Imagine the Levant with a land bridge to the USA.
What’s that noise? Sounds like chickens coming home to roost.
For all the outrage about Donald Trump and children incarcerated and/or separated from their parents upon entering the US (illegally?), Canada has children of immigrant applicants in the same situation. The Minister of Security confirmed this, but could not answer how many or where they are being detained. (Global News report). I really haven’t heard any outrage about Trudeau doing this.
https://theintercept.com/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/
Goodbye.
Anyone in the situation most of these people were in would do exactly the same as them.
In fact, it’s for the most part exactly the proactive ones with a vision of something better that struggle and strive their way north – that used to be the very definition of an American.
How do I know this? I’ve spent quality time on the other end.
Just admit that you’re racist and you don’t want brown people around.
Own it, hypocrites.
Like your own family of poor huddled masses from shitholes a few generations back didn’t have a bad egg or two.
Just admit you’re a hypocritical racist POS.
The family values party. Please.
Because in the grownup world, not everything is about race, and this crisis isn’t about people simply deciding to “seek a better life.” These are actually quite complex issues. As I understand it, the people under discussion are those from South and Central America fleeing violence. Their lives would be in danger if they remained in their home countries. This would make them refugees, and in spite of past America’s failures in this regard (i.e., turning away Jews fleeing Nazi Germany, etc.), we have a moral duty to open the doors to refugees.
On hypocrisy: The US is over 20 years into its war on the poor. The overall life expectancy of the US poor fell below that of every developed nation. It has virtually been “open season” on the homeless poor for years, as they’ve been beaten, raped, killed by cops and citizens alike. The public response? The majority of US poor are white, and they are no longer even regarded as humans in the US, deserving of the most basic human rights (UN’s UDHR) of food and shelter.
I cannot understand why people like those commenting above, debate the why’s and wherefore of the details, illegal/legal, policy/not policy, dissuadance or not. It is using children as political pawns and as a nation you should hang your heads in shame!
Because they are being used to obfuscate issues …. because not all migrants are refugees and not all refugees are asylum seekers or “economic migrants” or from conflict zones… most importantly not all migrants are — guffah — trying to “steal” american jobs or even want to become American citizens …
Because harsher border enforcement is why we have so many “illegal residents” because people who would work in the USA for 6-8 months of the year and winter in back home, became stuck here (too expensive and dangerous to “commute”) and gradually brought spouses and kids and settled in as residents.
Immigration regulations made it harder and harder for these residents to apply for regularized status. America’s record wrt granting asylum status has always been pretty terrible and increasingly it became too dangerous to make yourself known or even apply. Look at the Dreamers!
There’s been a lot of distortion also of the EU refugee crisis which was triggered — hello — by announcement of a second year of funding short fall with the anticipation of even shorter rations and fuel (to stay warm) next winter — and no hope in site of peace and being able to go home or at least get the kids into regular school to make up months and years lost. (Erdogan was unhappy with the reimbursement he was getting for housing his 2+ million in camps and so — among other factors — was suspected of triggering a crisis (he got his money ….some of it … but EU membership is prolly off the table for a few years, applied 1987).
Because it’s always political … too.
If I follow your logic correctly laws and rules don’t apply if there was/is some external pressure making it difficult to obtain the goal of whatever they want. I wonder if that logic still holds true for those serial killers that America is so famous for … may be a reach but when you start modifying rules to reach some political end it really losses the luster of pulling the heart strings. So, I fully agree this is a political stunt but can you determine which side is playing the game harder?
What do you think happens to children accompanied by American parents who get arrested? Do you imagine they are housed with the detained parent??
Spot on.
You must recognize the WHY
reason these people are fleeing their countries. —
It’s NOT to ‘sponge’ off American Largesse.
Understand the demands of US Corporate Interest
in (dis)-Appropriation of Lands,
And the feckless Sellout of Indigenous People.
In the name of CAPITALIST EXPANSION,
We Produce Expendable Natives and re-establish
Ethnic Reservations and Trails of Tears
In “legal” Acts of Expungement and Obliteration
Of Human Rights in the name of Economic X-pansion
By Reason of American Exceptionalism / Manifest Destiny,
National Anthem / White Privilege BULL-SPIT !!!
AMERICAN CORPORATIONS Expropriate LAND RIGHTS
From Indigenous Peoples by FALSIFYING ELECTIONS,
And INSTALLING PUPPET OFFICIALS, WILLING
BY GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY, TO MURDER
THEIR OWN PEOPLE/ FOR US CORPORATE INTERESTS.
”’John Perkins”’ + “CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HITMAN” (book)
— for the sake of specificity, the above reply is to FG Sanford’s statement:
Here >> F. G. Sanford
June 17, 2018 at 3:58 pm
(a day late and 1/2 a buck short) ???
I don’t like some of what you posted? Can’t easily refute it.
Thanks.
What a crappy article. Unworthy of Consortium.
People who deliberately commit offenses with their children along are demonstrating unfitness as parents. Their children should be removed just the same as you would remove the kids from an arrested grifter or drug mule if they had their kids along.
People who aid illegal interlopers are showing treacherous callousness to their fellow citizens, many many many of whom are poor and can ill afford the costs of uncontrolled migration being imposed.
You are confusing these refugees and their plight as though they live in suburban America.
Great point there Joe.
Did you miss reading this? Or did you not even bother to read this article and just skip to comment on it?
“They are working their way up to the border to turn themselves in for asylum, which is a universal human right.”
Many of the people who are asking for asylum are fleeing the countries that we have bombed and destroyed for no other reason then for corporations to steal their resources. Maybe if this country would decide to stay out of the immigrants’ countries that would help stop people from needing to flee to somewhere safe. Try imagining what you would do if you were in their place.
Shannon, Abby
Thank You
You are the hypocrites that are anti-choice and want people to not have abortions but want children to be separated from their parents I will drop out of being a Catholic as He has been lying to me enough. Anyone for and respects Jesus would take offense on what he is doing. I would rather go to hell than back the hypocrisy of the (Exception is the Pope) Catholics. The parents coming here want nothing but the best for their children.
This is the straw that breaks the camels back for me If this church and the people who belong to it cannot stand up to this lying president of which I will not want to longer belong too. I have been a fair Catholic and believe in helping people. This president is not and this church’s people have backed him. I believe even though I am leaving this hypocritical church at the age of 79 I have a better chance of going to heaven than you with your hate as well as your hateful president.
I will reconsider staying if I find a Catholic priest that is not a coward and speaks out in the church against Trumps policies,
You have a very shallow understanding of what is going on with these people legally seeking asylum in the U.S. Try to enlighten yourself if possible. If you have children and any compassion, forcibly taking young children as young and younger than 3 years old from their parent’s arms is unacceptable.
Someone who brings their child along on a deliberate attempt to commit an offense against US laws is not a fit parent.
What do you think should be done with children when their parent is arrested? Throw the kids in jail with them?
You avoid questioning to what brought these children to our borders, so I will ask you, why?
Any nation which feels it’s rightful obligation to harm children is a nation worth not fighting for. How could a nation which has become so barbaric be trusted to be fair with it’s own citizens, because eventually everything appears to be a threat to it’s own nation’s children. Think of what you are consigning yourself to, and then pinch yourself. That’s the same pain the refugee/migrant feels.
If they have a need for refugee protection they should make that claim at their first safe country. When that doesn’t happen it creates a negative inference about the legitimacy of their alleged fear.
The people who are harming children are the parents who bring them to commit crimes. It falls to the authorities to take these kids into custody.
Well, Joe and Abby, I have read both your replies a couple of times and and they both seem like complete non sequiitirs to my comment.
I said my peace above, now you do the same and go hug your children.
It’s not an article. It is a transcript of a radio interview.
Nobody has mentioned the real architects of this fiasco except Joe Tedeskey, and he left out the names. Blowback, that forgotten concept. This is the legacy of Ronald Reagan, Oliver North, CIA drug running, destabilization of countries like Chile, Honduras, Nicaragua,Guatemala, and the ongoing CIA/NGO destabilization of economies like Venezuela because they had the audacity to nationalize their resources. Sure, if you’re a drooling right wing Reagan worshipping idiot, “reciprocity” makes sense. Those countries have stiff laws because, if you want to be able to extract bribes, you have to create a bureaucratic criminal enterprise capable of fleecing anyone who needs an administrative favor. Such a system can only exist once fascist butchers like Pinochet have been installed. That requires subversive destabilization of the economy, elevation of corrupt criminal regimes and implementation of corporate control through privatization. The next time you hear someone bitching about illegal immigration, remind them that it was brought to them by the same folks who brought you “trickle down” economics, Iran Contra, drug induced mayhem and exportation of your jobs to China. They got what they voted for – a B-Movie actor – and all the political consequences that go with it. Instant replay, anybody?
F. G. Sanford – “They got what they voted for – a B-Movie actor – and all the political consequences that go with it. Instant replay, anybody?”
What do you mean “instant replay”? Reagan was an idiot, and ditto for all the rest of the other clowns who followed him. All B-rate actors (and that’s being kind), just not the Hollywood variety. Straight out of Ivy League schools, they were. Narcissists make great actors.
They said the new English princess/actress, Meagan Markle, will get along fine with the Royal Family, as they’re all really just actors playing a part: wearing the funny hats, dressing up in costume, speaking and laughing on cue, standing on spot. Who knew?
None of these guys ran/run the government. People behind the scenes are doing that, pulling their strings. If they get out of line or want to change things, some scandal mysteriously befalls them. Where’s Roy Moore’s accusers now? Why, they’re gone! It’s a miracle. Look at Russiagate. No evidence, but meanwhile the sheeple still believe. Amazing how the wool can be pulled down over their eyes, courtesy of a watchful and manipulative media.
Ralph Nader said that he saw a real change after Nixon’s first term. All of a sudden the Democrats dropped their “Rise up, Workers!” facade and started taking money from Corporatewood. He said there was a reprieve under the last good and decent president, President Carter, but after that all hell broke loose again. Under both Democrats and Republicans, the country has been stripped bare of jobs, wars, coups and false flags continue unabated, and every few years the sheeple are implored to cast their all-important votes because voting is so important. Yeah, right.
Of course the Deep State are going to hire actors for the big job because you and I couldn’t mouth these words without choking: “Globalization is going to be so good for you”. Same with saying we’re going to go into some country to “rescue” the people from a dictator. Couldn’t say it because it would be a lie. But actors are good at lying.
Unless the American people start realizing that they are losing or have lost the Rule of Law in their own country, nothing will change. But with 50 million on food stamps and totally reliant and dependent on these politicians for their very existence, I don’t see them standing up and protesting any time soon. You’re not going to bite the hand that feeds you.
So getting back to the illegal immigrants. Why now? Are the NGO’s going down to Central and South America (like they’re doing in Africa) and aiding and assisting them? If so, who is fronting the money for these NGO’s? Soros? I’m just wondering, because whenever I see a well-oiled machine, somebody with money is behind it. Perhaps someone else knows.
What do I mean, “instant replay”? Why…exactly that. It’s been one instant replay after the other ever since November 22, 1963. But, you can’t cut taxes, increase the budget and lie about 20% unemployment forever. This will end one way or another, sooner or later.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change
Take a look at the provided link, as this may shed some light on the starting point for when the U.S. initially began wrecking our country’s lower hemisphere neighbors.
Or how about this; “The Guano Islands Act (11 Stat. 119, enacted August 18, 1856, codified at 48 U.S.C. ch. 8 §§ 1411-1419) is a United States federal law passed by the U.S. Congress that enables citizens of the United States to take possession of unclaimed islands containing guano deposits.” The Guano Islands are off the coast of Peru.
1898 the U.S. takes control of Cuba. 1903 Panama. 1900s–1920s: Honduras. 1912–1933: Nicaragua. 1914 Mexico. 1915–1934: Haiti. 1916–1924: Dominican Republic. 1941: Panama. 1954: Guatemala. 1961 Bay of Pigs, Cuba. 1961–1964: Brazil. 1965–66: Dominican Republic. 1971: Bolivia. 1973: Chile. 1980–1992: El Salvador. 1982–1989: Nicaragua. 1983: Grenada. 1989: Panama. 1991 Haiti.
So instigating in Central & South America is nothing new. In fact by the looks of it invading or disrupting life in our Southern Hemisphere seems to be standard operating procedure. A quick glance at the dates I provided here, and it looks as though Carter was the odd president out when it came to agitating our southern friend’s.
In our American world today there are no good guys or gals, it’s just a bunch of greedy careerist leading the way. They all fall over one another to take responsibility for what is good, while they all point fingers at their rivals when it’s time to shoulder the bad.
I know you like Trump backwardsevolution, but Trump is as much of a politician as any who came before him, and he will set precedent for all who follow him. Trump is unique, but so was Reagan, as was Clinton, Bush, and Obama, but when the Plan needs to be put into action all our presidents, or most of them, fall right in line to what the real agenda is…. and that is U.S. Worldwide Hegemony.
All I’m saying, is these people who Sessions wants to get so biblical with are refugees. Besides that I’m sick and tired of all this Bible stuff being flung around, as if it is okay… well it isn’t, we are a nation build on the standard of separate church and state values, and we should do all we can to leave it that way. You wanta read the Bible, then go to church AG Sessions, and pray Rod J. Rosenstein doesn’t put your face on a box of cookies.
Btw the only American who ever had Central & South American diplomacy right, was Henry Wallace.
When it came to the southern border nations and Trump, I gave up hope when I saw Trump throwing paper towels to our Hispanic fellow Americans in Puerto Rico. So if he does that with American citizens, what hope does the rest of Central & South America have?
Take care backwardsevolution. Joe
Hi, Joe. I guess I don’t see these people as refugees, but economic migrants. Refugees kiss the first piece of safe ground they’re able to get to. They don’t travel thousands of miles to the most favorable location. The same thing is happening in Europe with the people from Africa.
Trump is terribly rude, but he is right. Keep setting up amnesties and rewarding this type of behavior, and they’ll keep coming. Hey, that’s obviously what a lot of people want. The Democrats get future voters, the Chamber of Commerce gets cheap labor, businesses get more consumers, the churches get a bigger flock, and the charities and social workers get long-term employment.
The United Nations gets to fulfill its new mandate of worldwide migration. No borders, no countries, no culture, no nothing. Just a hodgepodge of people with different values, different religions. It’s like religion is being pushed as the new “country” because that’s all there is left, the only tie that binds. Might work for some groups, but will be the destruction of the country and the groups in the end.
I just wonder who is pushing this because someone sure is. Who is behind it? There are groups, Joe, who push and push in order to get things just the way they like them. They try to change a country to suit them, their particular group. Never happy to leave a good thing alone.
Wow, the Bible. Now that’s a word I haven’t heard in a long, long time. It kind of got erased from the vocabulary, didn’t it? We hear about other religions all the time, but Christianity and the “Bible” have become almost swear words, not to be mentioned. Funny how something that used to be very important is not really spoken of anymore.
I don’t think Jeff Sessions is in control of the Department of Justice, do you? It appears that Rod Rosenstein is running the show. Go figure. His name keeps coming up in the Trump spying case. I guess the wheels of justice will either work – or not.
As always, good talking with you, Joe.
The thing is that what Trump is doing didn’t just start with him. Obama did some of these very same things during his tenure, but people seem to have forgotten about that. I wrote this essay on what happened during Obama’s presidency, including setting up “concentration camps in Texas. For too many people history started when Trump was elected president even though the presidents who came before him did many of the same things that he is doing. Trump hasn’t started any new wars in the Middle East. He is just continuing what Obama started before he was elected. Obama continued PNAC’s goals in the Middle East that were started by Bush, Clinton and Reagan.
https://caucus99percent.com/content/texas-concentration-camp-opens
Abby – yes, I agree with you.
You are my favorite Trump supporter backwardsevolution, and it’s always enlightening to read one of your comments. I hear you on many levels, but I’m trying to focus on the root cause of what brought these refugees/migrants to our borders. William Blum wrote about a year ago a great article on how by stopping U.S. interference in these Central & South American nations would end this endless stream of migrants flocking to our country’s borders. (I tried finding the Blum article, but I failed)
You make a good point about the Soro’s influence, but should we throw away our humanity with it. There are always the unscrupulous who bend our nation’s policies to their desired outcomes. Saying that, we need to guard against their interference. I’m more concerned we don’t throw away our constitutional rights, as setting precedent is of great concern.
I don’t see racism in your heart backwardsevolution, I hear your remarks as your being your usual rational self, but I must point out to you of how this migrant problem is a U.S. result of what the U.S. has been up to down south of the border.
Take care my friend, and relax because you deserve it. Best to you as always. Joe
Hi Joe – always enjoy reading your posts. Sessions and the rest of them are Satanists with red hot Bibles in their hands. These kids in the US and immigrants are most likely being used/trafficked to these guys in Weaselton and beyond. I’ve watched for articles on the parentless immigrants/refugees coming into the EU from the ME and Africa – 10,000 missing – and 1 year later a follow up article saying – yep – still missing – 10,000 kids missing – can’t find them – Russia as you know is building a holy lot of church’s through out the country and Crimea. The West is full of Satanists and Russia knows it – sort of gives a new meaning – religious wars. I’m only semi religious – but I remember in Confirmation class that if there is a God and Jesus Christ – there also is a Satan. OO Dah Chee !
It’s like how much propaganda will you buy, and how much of your respect for humanity will you throw away by abiding by this brutal practice. Talk about being raked in by the value of well intentions. This is what is being pulled over the eyes of good Americans. These Americans who are buying into this awful stuff imposed upon these refugees, are being lied to, as the refugees are being made to sound as though they are trespassing looking to steal American jobs. This isn’t the case, as American NGO/CIA interference into their home country’s governments is what is causing their flight to our nation’s borders. While this goes on I picture Native Americans sitting there just shaking their heads, that the white man does it once again. Joe
Backwards, Yes NGOs are involved. They are called ONGs down here if you want to google them.
Example: “ONGs Estados Unidos (EEUU) frontera”
Here is one:
h**p://www.pueblosinfronteras.org/
Very great.. yet even Carter, whose post-Presidency life I much admire, was pulled down into the swamp of militancy.
Thanks.
Reagan’s foreign policy was handed to his Vice President G.H.W. Bush after the assassination attempt on Reagan, three months into his term. IIRC.
Credit where it’s due.
Domestic economic policy, “trickle down”, was trusted to Reagan, who had a track record as governor dismantling the state of CA.
So, in other words, they were both treasonous criminals. I’m glad you set the record straight.
I don’t hate Reagan but have no illusions about him either. While Governor of California the actor Reagan actually started Gun Control.. Too many of the wrong people were in California streets with guns.
Thanks.
Your contribution is most welcome.
Sadly, comments have been infested with trolls and many of the articles seem to be meant to appease those in power.
Sadly, many unwelcome things can happen to those who fail to acquiesce.
I greatly admire you, FG Sanford — you are magnanimous ! – with impunity !
Mendacity, mendacity, it makes the world go round
A politician makes a speech and never hears the sound
The campaign trail winds on and on in towns from coast to coast
The winner ain’t the one who’s straight, but he who lies the most.
Now voting rights in this fair land we know are not denied
But if I tried in certain states, from treetops I’d be tied
Mendacity, mendacity, it seems is everywhere.
But try and tell the truth, and most folks scream “Not fair!”
Lyric, “Mendacity” sung by Abby Lincoln
From the Max Roach IMPULSE album,
“Percussion Bitter Sweet” c. 1965???
http://www.vinylmeplease.com/magazine/max-roach-classics/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyHn3f7-9IUJWsxh2GKdh7cnF5clvYPoL
Full Album …
Unfortunately the immigration issue is a sticky one for the progressive-left of which I consider myself a member. Obviously over the last few years the right-wing has been making substantial inroads with the struggling white (and African-American) working/middle class on this particular contentious issue.
It’s axiomatic that a tight labor market is one the best friends to the working person in America. An “Employers’ Market” in which desperate un and under employed folks are scrambling for any job they can obtain, is a boon for the owning class and an albatross around the neck of working people across the nation.
There’s little doubt that in certain industrial sectors, unfettered Latin American immigration (and south central Asian immigration in the I.T. sector) does indeed depress wages in the United States; this is why one of the key ruling class institutions: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is extremely pro massive immigration. As anyone with the sense of a billy goat knows, the Chamber of Commerce cares not a whit whether American workers take home a family supporting living wage. The Chamber of Commerce has spent the last century lobbying against every single life affirming piece of legislation that can be construed as pro-worker.
Though it makes some uneasy, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a little bit of economic nationalism, if of course civil liberties are strenuously upheld for all, and the militaristic-imperialist impulse is totally suppressed. After all, it’s largely due to foreign excursions by our Washington-Zio neo-liberal imperialists that has caused a massive wave of refugees seeking to flee the Anglo/Zio war zones for the West.
It’s sometimes forgotten that the great humanitarian labor leader Cesar Chavez supported putting serious limits on unfettered immigration from Latin America. As an astute labor organizer he well knew that the death knell of struggling working people is a line of anxious potential workers willing to undercut them to feed and clothe their children.
It’s now time that the progressive-left address this issue honestly, forthrightly and most importantly humanely by advocating for serious curbs on all types of immigration. The United States has far too many hopeless un and under employed American citizens in the hard pressed Rust Belt, Southwest, Deep South and Northeast to continue to neglect this provocative issue. With ever more automation, robotics and computerization on the near horizon, it’s ever more important the progressive-left take a stand for the American worker.
Having pointed all this out, I want to emphasize that I have nothing against these fine folks who are desperate themselves, often fleeing lands in which Washington-Wall Street driven “free trade” agreements have decimated the workforce.
To distinguish your comment from spam, you would need to be specific in your criticism.
some numbers from UNHCR (http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/figures-at-a-glance.html)
Top Host Nations of Refugees
Ethiopia 791,600
Uganda 940,800
Iran 979,400
Lebanon 1 million
Pakistan 1.4 million
Turkey 2.9 million
The Dublin rules (must be processed where first entered Schengen) apply to the EU and are being blamed for a lot of the crisis as refugees are landing by sea in large numbers in poorer countries, least able to accomodate them … just a matter of twist of fate or geography.
The USA has been paying Mexico for over a decade to stop Central American refugees at their southern border … most of the countries these refugees “might” geographically land in do not have the resources or jobs to take care of them … oh, and that’s not their intended destination.
Sudan, Afghanistan and Syria make up 55% of the Refugee’s “country of origin”
When I see articles such as this it truly boils down to an NWO propaganda piece with the call for no national borders and sovereignty plus the elimination of differences (aka cultural neutralization). However, living in Florida – as I’m sure many along the southern US border can attest – the rest of the story can be clearly seen. There is an overwhelming and pervasive invasion force in place that harbors so many resentments that assimilating in this society isn’t even an option nor was it ever a goal. These messages are clearly embodied in organizations like the one in this article, La Raza and the most evident gerrymandering by congressman Gutierrez in Chicago, to name but a few. It does strike me as an odd fact that these people only travel north with these demands for entry and claims to some universal right. That being said, these traits are not unique to the Spanish but are also part and parcel of organizations like the ADL, SPLC, AIPAC, etc. So before anyone begins to rail on me and my comments as racist I implore you to investigate what I’ve said then decide.
Joseph Goebbels stated that propaganda is anything which supports the state and it is not anything which does not. This is a completely morally rudderless approach to state controlled propaganda. The policies of the Nazis were completely unconstrained with any position being supported to further the objectives of the party. The scapegoating of Jews was such a strategy. It did not matter whether or not Jews were an actual problem but it perceived that the scapegoating of the Jews would further the Nazi cause. This view that the top Nazi brass was willing and able to use any rouse to further their cause was reinforced via interviews of close associates of the top German Nazi leaders.
Heinrich Himmler was the head of the SS and the chief organizer of the concentration camps. Many have concluded that Himmler was a devout Nazi and that he harbored a long hatred of Jews. But his friends and associates stated that his servility to Hitler and his extreme obsession with power led him to become the top antisemitic force in the German war machine. Some went on to question whether Himmler was really an antisemitic true believer or whether he was just an opportunist willing to do anything to garner favor and thus enable his rise in the party. Obviously Himmler did not care if his allegiance led him to the dark side.
So what does this have to do with the current border strategy of separating children from their parents and locking the parents in jail while their children are consolidated into internment camps?
It reminds me of the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang where Baron Bomburst, ruler over the country of Vulgaria so hated children that he employed a child catcher to rid the kingdom of children.
It is clear that the government is willing to go to extreme measures to stem the flow of immigrants. The historical merciless rulers of both real and fictionalized history provide parallels for current events.
Again, I fear — this being Trump — this is demonstration of the use of strong-man tactics for the theatre of it, consequences to the individuals be damned. He’s playing to his audience and his “optics” and declarations are powerful propaganda … many news outlets appear to be fighting back on this one and calling for action …. we’ll see. Hopefully they will also do some “explainers” as to why these refugees are from Central America … traversing the difficult route to Mexico’s northern border … y’know educate Americans who tend to assume hispanics are motivated only by poverty and the need for employment.
CitizenOne – why go back to Hitler? Apparently Hitler (and this is documented fact) tried several times to end the war after he reached France. He wanted only the part of France that was taken from Germany after World War I, he implored Churchill to end the war right then and there, but Churchill was having none of it. Hess, I believe it was, even flew to Scotland in the middle of the night (crash-landed his plane) in order to get a message to the King of England to this effect. To no avail. Had Churchill agreed, the war would have been over very early with millions of lives saved.
But if we want a contemporary analogy, we don’t need to go back to Hitler. All we need to do is look at Israel and Netanyahu who have stolen land (even Syria’s Golan Heights) and have installed concentration camps.
Or we can look to South Africa. With over 25,000 people flooding into South Africa per week – per week! – they were soon overcome. Now the farmers, whose families had farmed the land for as long as the U.S. has been in existence, are being murdered by the newcomers and barely a word is said about it.
The part of the war Hitler wanted to end after he reached France was put on hold as Hitlers armies occupied all of France. The real end to the war had its opportunity with the annexations blessed by Europe in signed appeasement documents granting Hitler rights over various regions of Europe including the Sudetenland without a shot fired.
History has two tales to tell:
1. Neville Chamberlain avoided war in Czechoslovakia by granting Hitler sovereign rights over parts of Czechoslovakia.
2. Neville Chamberlain and the League of Nations inadvertently gave Hitler all the momentum he needed to go to war known as the Munich Betrayal.
It seems clear enough that Neville Chamberlain saw his actions supported by the League of Nations as bringing peace when in fact it was just enabling an aggressor (Germany) to position itself to attack Europe while nobody was looking blinded by the promises of peace. The history books are filled with military strategies such as good will gestures made with foreign enemies who have no intention of peace but are willing to use diplomatic malfeasance and the allure of peace to dupe the enemy into a state of calm wherein the handlers of government politicians convince everyone that there is no real threat but only the possibility of peace if appeasement and capitulation toward the enemy are supported.
These appeasement folks might as well have been been double agents for Germany. Churchill was the only political leader in Europe to stand up to Hitler. The notion that Hitler would have stood down after only grabbing a little piece of France is ludicrous. It falls flat on its face because of his declaration of war with Russia breaking the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact after he took all of France. Perhaps the Russians should have had a cosigner like France to ensure that Nazi Germany would not attack Russia. Better yet, perhaps they should have signed up with Italy and Japan. They did neither. Instead they were caught by surprise by the Germans and their military ambitions just as was the West.
What was at risk? What if Churchill had signed a non-aggression pact with Germany? The obvious answer is that the fate of England would mirror what became of Russia and France and Belgium and Czechoslovakia and Poland and all the other nations that were invaded by the Germans despite peace treaties. Churchill was among the few who realized that there was to be no bargaining with the Nazi party. He was the one person in Europe who stood steadfast in his determination to never surrender. Churchill’s resolve and determination to go all out to fight the Germans was a crucial factor in eventually defeating them.
Churchill said (part of a speech):
I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once more able to defend our island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone. At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty’s Government – every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation. The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength.
The Russians had the same resolve. They did not go quietly into the night. They fought. Around 20 million Russians were killed in WWI fighting the Nazis.
Why go back to Hitler you ask?
Because there has never been an administration like the current one backed by corporate supporters and the wealth of the nation including a cheerleader press and a handful of billionaires who countenance the forced separation of children from their families and which foments racial tensions in order to gather support from a population largely ignorant of history or where all this could lead.
Why bring up Hitler? Because the Republican party is evicting moderates and signing up extremists with racist agendas. It is unprecedented. Ordinarily, the large corporations and wealthy republicans would be basking in the economic recovery and the tax breaks they received but they are not contented with material riches beyond their desires. Instead they are most concerned with holding the reigns of power and focusing on robbing every sector of the economy subject to regulations designed to prevent harm to humanity. Scott Pruitt comes to mind.
In this way, the Republicans and the media represent a clear a present danger to our democracy, our way of life and also the life on this Planet.
But what of us ordinary Joe’s? We are the new Neville Chamberlains acquiescing to the propaganda and unwilling or unable due to ignorance to fight the lies we are being fed that it will all be alright. We tell ourselves that if we just give into the demands of giant corporations and a government that has made its bed with the same giant corporations that our security will be assured. We look at abstract figures such as the Stock Market to temper our uneasiness that trade wars will lead to real wars (they will).
Just like Hitler’s Germany there are scapegoats galore. Illegal immigrants are decried as rapists and murderers but the crime statistics don’t bear that out. We are becoming a hermit nation with the rest of the western world following down a path where racial divides separate us humans into enemy camps. Can it be long before war erupts and violence against our perceived enemies? When a majority of republicans would be willing to suspend national elections based on lies that undocumented aliens almost cost the republicans the last election? Are we that far off from a Coup Detat where republicans funded by giant corporations and the super rich supported by the media which is gaining almost total thought control over the nation. Will the republicans gain permanent control of our government based on popular fictions and a narrative foisted upon us by the corporate press and believed by the populace?
It seems that looking through the lens of a military/corporate controlled press that we are astonishingly like prewar Germany. That is why I bring up the history. It should be a cautionary tale but it is not.
Great Article! A simple solution would be to just adopt “reciprocity” and subject South and Central Americans to the same criteria they use for United States citizens and expats.
As a South American Expat: I need to prove to my host country that I am capable of supporting myself, prove I don’t have a past police record, don’t get a police record while in country or risk deportation, prove I pay national taxes, provide my own health insurance, demonstrate that I have never overstayed a visa or violated immigration law, demonstrate I have substantial savings in my bank account, register my address with the local police, get permission to work inside the country… write a letter to the government explaining why I would be a benefit to the country, reside in country (no more than 8 weeks away) to demonstrate that I am a bonafide resident… and I wont even describe the difficulties I have faced with getting a driver’s licence or to open a bank account (with no English support). If I cross the border without the correct documentation or do so illegally I am subject to deportation. At the border crossings, we are often searched and I can tell you first hand, I have seen guns drawn on tourists who were suspected of doing something illegal (just innocently passing a backpack that has not been searched was enough to do it). Bring my undocumented extended family across???… you have to be joking! right?
So I can either live with the FASCIST system my host country set-up or or throw an absolute HISSY FIT the next time I am at the Aduana and PROTEST that I am being discriminated against and my HUMAN RIGHTS ARE BEING VIOLATED!!! (aren’t they?!) Or I can just live here, abide by the national and local law and be happy I am away from the United States and Trump…
BRAZIL IS A GREAT EXAMPLE:
On arrival in Brazil, any holders of visas for more than 90 days duration are required to register with the Federal Police, and obtain an identity card. Upon applying, visa holders are issued a slip of paper called a “protocol” while their RNE card is processed, which may take more than two months. The Federal Police have offices in all international airports. Those intending to work in Brazil must obtain a work card from the Labor Department and a tax identification card from the Ministry of Finance.
Nationals of Spain are specifically required to hold proof of sufficient funds of at least R$170 per day, proof of confirmed hotel accommodation (paid or guaranteed by credit card) or a notary certified invitation letter from a resident of Brazil, and documents required for their next destination. Those traveling on business are exempt from these requirements when holding an original letter from their company, stating the purpose of the visit.
Seven weeks before attending a meeting in Brazil, my wife and I applied for visas by mail using forms downloaded from the Brazilian Consulate web site. Two weeks later, the application was rejected, “We no longer accept mailed forms; you must do it online.”
The web site applications were then sent electronically and, two weeks later, they were rejected, “Hotel address not included.” It was NOT a required entry on the web form. “We know the form is obsolete!”
Sixteen days before the trip, we traveled 90 miles to Chicago to get a visa in person. “Oh no, we no longer issue them on the same day. It will take two or three weeks.” Two days before the trip, a second trip to Chicago finally yielded the visas.
h**ps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_Brazil
What I described above is the REAL WORLD, it seems to exist for everywhere else, but in the United States… Sorry, but United States borderland brutality???… you have to be JOKING.
And I forgot to mention, due process and the immigration adjudication system – it does not exist if you don’t follow the rules. And if you do miss just an appointment with the authorities, never mind blowing off a court date – you are either looking a prohibitively expensive multa (fine) or will be deported on your own dime.
Yeah, that’s so true. It’s just like the what happened to my Syrian friend. Once he had fled, after killing the Jihadis that had murdered his family, he had a terrible time trying to apply for asylum in Turkey. The chairs in the consulate were so uncomfortable and the coffee was awful! And to top it off, now he works in a juice bar in the tourist district of Istanbul, where he has to look into the eyes of arrogant, ignorant, pathetic middle class morons such as yourself, smile benignly and say, “Can I help you sir?”. When he knows damn well that there is no helping such cretins.
/middle class/ You are so far off it is not even funny. As far a your Syrian friend, the reason he is working a juice bar is because you are not supporting him adequately. You sound like a great friend. Full of moralizing but of no real help.
Contests middle class.
Accepts arrogant, ignorant, pathetic moron.
I’ll take it.
DFC – people are absolutely oblivious to the rules in the rest of the world, and sometimes, as you say, rules delivered to you “at gunpoint”. Just try demanding anything in the rest of the world! Never mind free medical, subsidized housing, free education. The rest of the world is making sure that you can’t buy land or citizenship in their country, and they don’t hand out benefits either. That’s why most people don’t go there. The Central Americans aren’t going “south”, are they? How many Europeans are trying to get into Africa? Try getting into China, or maybe Thailand who take in “100” foreigners per year as new citizens. 100!
Half of the U.S. citizens want to protect their country, their culture, their jobs, their wages, and the other half seems intent on saving every stray kitten, placing more importance on them than their American brothers. Yes, of course these migrants are all nice. How many do you want?
It’s fine to say that you owe these people something because of Western policies, but the average citizen had nothing to do with these policies, just as they’ve had nothing to do with the wars. They have no say. Most of these people are economic migrants who rightly are feeling that if they don’t get in now, they’ll never get in. They are trying to get in ahead of the backlash that is surely coming.
The Left are being sucked in by corporate interests who want more cheap labor (hold wages down) and ever more consumers. At the current rate, the country won’t look a lot different than Africa in another 30 or 40 years, and your grandchildren are not going to thank you for it.
Africa and South and Central America are not like they are ONLY because of the West’s policies. Sure, they haven’t helped, but they are by no means totally responsible for the conditions in these countries.
The minute the average do-gooder starts directing their anger where it belongs – at their politicians – and starts demanding that they receive no (none!) further corporate dollars, starts demanding that the wars end, starts demanding that U.S. corporations get the hell out of other countries’ politics, that’s the day the world will change for the better.
Hi Backwards, If anyone truly wants to help, I can get them a job down here as a English teacher pretty much instantly, if they have anything more to contribute (especially in the STEM disciplines), that would be appreciated by many people down here as well. But, as I was saying above, even if you want to make a difference, the governments down here don’t make it easy. Their number one objective is to help their citizens first and the “gringos”, even the well intentioned ones, that do get down here down often don’t last long due to the real hardships involved.
My other point is that the United States has some of the freest borders and immigration policies in the WORLD, that is the REALITY and that is what is driving the border crisis. So, if you are living in the United States and campaigning for freer or open borders but are opposed by your neighbors, all is not lost, you can respect their decision and get down here and do actually do something “real” to alleviate the suffering.
There is a reason that the US has 46 million immigrants while Russia (2nd, from Russians returning from Soviet states) and Germany (with a median age of 47 they are desperate to replace their work force). I too have lived abroad, in industrialized countries now more advanced, sadly, than the US (Finland and Singapore); like every other country but the US, they have strict rules on border control and taking jobs from their people (who argue they are not strict enough). The US EXPLOITS the ILLEGALs for cheap labor, and their fear of deportation leads to no complaints. Most are economic refugees or they would seek asylum in neighboring Spanish speaking countries. Amnesty under Reagan gave us the present situation. We need an immigration system, like all other countries, where we take in REAL refugees (particularly from all wars) and those who go through our bureaucracy, like LEGAL immigrants who have much to offer.
DFC – “The United States has some of the freest borders and immigration policies in the WORLD, that is the REALITY and that is what is driving the border crisis.”
Yep, not to mention that when you easily get in, you’re protected by sanctuary cities, sanctuary states, and a barrage of free counsel. It’s a complete joke. Of course, it won’t be a joke for much longer. There’s already 50 million on food stamps.
“…you can respect their decision and get down here and actually do something ‘real’ to alleviate the suffering.” Oh, they don’t want to do that because that would entail suffering – by them.
I wonder how often this has occurred in history, where one group refuses to accept the outcome of an election. This has happened before, hasn’t it? Yes, indeed, it has. It didn’t end well.
“A simple solution would be to just adopt “reciprocity…
…I am being discriminated against and my HUMAN RIGHTS ARE BEING VIOLATED!!!”
“Sorry, but United States borderland brutality???… you have to be JOKING.”
— Lol, “adopt reciprocity” with the brutal forces of U.S. Corp/Military/Intel/Drug crime syndicates responsible for untold human misery in Latin America, the ones who benefit from the precise system of exploitation they set up? The same purveyors of human horrors you make a mockery of by shamefully (and falsely) asserting yourself as “the victim” — to UNILATERALLY imposition of hardship on your fellow countrymen and dismissing their concerns of human rights as a joke. Of course, all the while taking advantage of living in their country for the monetary benefits of living in a poor country w/ poor people, correct? It sounds like to me you prefer the same fascist system, just cheaper.
Ah, very good! Immigrating to the United States is desirable because of the society has laws in place (and a citizenry that respects those laws) to make the United States a desirable place to raise a family and succeed economically (away from the corruption). But in order to get to the United States, first they do is break the laws. (funny way to do it) So what you all ought to do up there is say screw the legal system and the laws you personally don’t like. Then get back to me in 20 years after you see what that produces. I live it every day down here. Nothing better than having to bribe and pay off bureaucrats and law enforcement to get protection or have something done. I can’t wait until you all have the experience. lol
DFC – yes, the Rule of Law is another thing most people are totally oblivious to. They don’t realize its importance, that without it you’ve got a banana republic. Because THEY have it in their country, they just assume everybody else does, that it just magically appears somehow. They take it for granted, and they keep chipping away and chipping away. It’s like the foundation under a house; if it isn’t square and solid, you’re in trouble. Go ahead, start removing the bricks or the concrete and see what you’re left with!
They further assume that all so-called backwards countries are only backwards because the U.S. or the West has done something to them. In many cases they have, but that doesn’t explain everything. Over-population has played a large role, either because of the influence of the Catholic Church or cultural norms, and most countries are corrupted beyond belief. They just laugh at things like the Rule of Law. As you say, bribes are the norm.
I can see the Rule of Law slowly draining out of the United States. You can see the corruption forming at the top. The media and politicians are owned by the corporations and one particular foreign government, and monopolies are everywhere, even though there are laws to prevent them. Corruption and fraud are rampant.
The country is being splintered by Identity Politics. Groups are only interested in their own particular cause (not the country as a whole), and when they don’t get their way, they scream out terms like “Hitler” or “fascism”.
Culture, order and law are very fragile things, but most people don’t realize this. Monkey with it at your peril.
As for your other comments: /responsible for untold human misery in Latin America/ Your post is quite helpful in alleviating that. Why don’t you come down here and start doing something about it? Try living with no running water, no hot water, firewood heating and a bathroom out in back. I bet you would not survive a month down here. Meanwhile you pay taxes to the very same government you rail against. But once you are out of the United States, you don’t pay taxes anymore, so the problem is solved on every front. Let me know when you will be flying in… lol
I keep hearing the American MSM refer to these people as illegal immigrants, when in reality these poor souls are a result of American interventionism which would make them refugees. The UN should call this a ‘war crime’ due to our NGO/CIA instigation into Central & S American Nations, since forever. This interference must end.
Here is an article describing how U.S. interference is accomplished.
https://ahtribune.com/world/americas/2303-washington-nicaragua.html
yes, despite several years of “the refugee crisis” our media refuses to explain what the responsibility of the United States is toward refugees and asylum seekers under international law …
This is an area of “normalization” of the inhumane (and often illegal — but not unusual when it comes to the very very exceptional USA). There has been a press agitation about a new European refugee crisis (this time from Central Africa landing or being refused landing in European countries (insert legal boiler place about EU rules and the disintegration of the EU and Merkel’s folly) (ignore the refugee camps in Lebanon, and Turkey and Syria and elsewhere — never ever mention Erdogan or Turkey) …
This may be a pivotal “reality check” … in which the obscenity of both American and UK opinion on these matters is exposed to be “thatcher/reagan-esque” — We can’t save everyone (so we, as richest nation on earth — at least on spreadsheet– opt to save no one)
Reagan got away with it back in the 1980’s with the undeserving poor and the mentally ill and drug addled Vietnam Vets who “normalized” homelessness in American (punishing the shellshocked as cost-efficient)
This may be a great-day-in America — a reversal of Reagan’s “new morning” to turn on the lights and show the bugs and rats and fat cats scurrying for the dark recesses in which they … hide and count their money.
I genuinely fear that the UN and other institutions will be undone by their silence and refusal to confront the usa.
While Reagan and his military interventions with the CIA and Contras and cocaine to bypass Congressional rules and funding were a low point, the US has ALWAYS dominated in its backyard (read Smedley Butler’s work on the big banks protecting their interests by sending in the Marines throughout latin America, as well as the Far East). More recently Hillary Clinton sponsored a coup in Honduras and called for a Columbia plan for South, Central and Caribbean American countries, not dissimilar from her Libya plan (basically remove the real leaders and replace with American puppets). Control and extraction of resources from our neighbors to the South has always been a two party effort, like War, support of our banking industries (and probably support and control of drug smuggling.)
Susan the National Security Deep State would like nothing more than for this brutal process to become normal procedure. The average citizen is filled with so much hate and fear of our being overrun by what is called ‘Illegal Aliens’ that the unacceptable has now become the acceptable. Inch by inch, we are being desensitized to the point that we who feel secure with no reason to expect we would be treated as the refugees are now being treated, that with that there suddenly goes even more of our civil freedoms.
I don’t care how other countries protect their borders, and I’m not saying we should open up ours anymore than we already have. What I am saying, is we should respect our fellow humans with the respect another should give to another human being. We would be doing our due diligence to keep an eye on our governments mean spiritedness, because by allowing this to go on we are leaving ourselves wide open for the government to set precedent. As the saying goes, what goes around comes around…. or as the late great Vincent Price would have said, be afraid, be very afraid, because what lurks beyond the unknown is truly coming for you.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/49657.htm
Hi Joe
I am becoming hopeless. I just cannot believe that not one R or D, or anyone else is speaking out. Somehow , I am still hopeful that all of us are not about money and greed., that we do care about people and this earth.
Don’t feel hopeless christina. There are lots of us out here who feel grief stricken over the treatment of these refugees. I know my wife has a few DC phone numbers to call tomorrow morning. My wife who really isn’t that much into politics, is raging over these babies being ripped from their mothers arms. In fact, she has been calling around all weekend encouraging others to call their congressional representatives along with their senators, for better treatment to be given to the refugees seeking asylum.
What you are experiencing christina is a default of our MSM who selectively picks and chooses to who and what news they will provide us with. Our MSM also frames the narrative, and this time they purposely left out to call these people coming over the border what they really are, and that is they are refugees. This omission is done to help hide the NGO/CIA instigated shenanigans they have pulled off in these countries, so thusly these refugees are now illegal aliens…. always the cover up christina, always with the cover up.
Don’t feel hopeless christina, instead feel encouraged that you can be among the many who tomorrow call their representatives in Congress…. and please be nice, but give them an ear full. Joe
There are always those brave and compassionate souls who will try to mitigate he sufferings caused by the wealthy and powerful. But we need to strike at the root of the problem – the Oligarchs. These wealthy individuals are killing all of us. We need to keep our focus on getting rid of them – everything else will follow from that. Otherwise we are screwed no matter how many bandaids we apply to our burgeoning wounds.
In the better world that we need to create, population numbers will be down globally and those who remain will all share equally in the bounty of this Earth. Problems like mass immigration will not arise. All our problems are interrelated and mutually causative. The extreme selfishness of a few is ruining life for the many. Until this stops, we will see increasing suffering and eventual extinction of humans.
The worst among us are destroying the rest of us. We must stop them from doing this, or we will all be killed by them.
This is what you get with a racist, fascist President. The number of Americans that are OK with this nightmare is truly frightening.
Hang your heads in shame America!
Trump has already told Americans that they are, in fact, the victims of Anti-American animus and that he’s rejecting outside interference and regulation ….
If you don’t know, Merkel may lose power on Monday — or at least much of the Anti-Merkel press predict — when the outcome of another summit on German refugee policy concludes …
Cambridge Analytica demonstrated quite real operational relations and funding between deep-pocket very wealthy American right wing nationalists and the European Eurosceptics who are determined to oust first leaders like Merkel… but in short order, overthrow the EU … which may sound “liberating” but will in fact be very hard on many who most support it … much as Trump’s reforms will pinch, possibly destroy his rust-belt and coal-belt supporters … first and hardest … leaving, in fact, the educated DNC educated coastal elites unscathed.
I find the rising passive-voice and Trump-being-trump acceptance (without explication) terrifying … I had to stop with the BBC as it became a more-conservative American interventional pipe organ …. Guardian has a few bright spots … but it is scary grim out there.
The press has been playing a dangerous game — perhaps not intentionally — but going back to Black Lives Matter and Trayvon Martin to the survivors of the Parkwood High School shooting … they very superficially and self-servingly champion these youth-movements… America’s hope … America’s finest .. and then …. with intermittent updates … pretty much crickets or tacit acknowlegement of defeat … or “disappointing results”… They peddle “the system works” and optic-laden rallies on Washington … they repeat (mindlessly) quick fix solutions (legislation will will never be passed, or enforcement of long in place laws / regulations … We need to protect “the children” from the disillusionment of this MSM manipulation of hopes and fears. … they may be at their worst, most poisonous when they are selling false home … iykwim.
Opening borders is one of the most extreme things you can do as a leader.
So dont be surprised if that generates an opposite extreme reaction.
Which borders are you referring to? TRump is being “asked” to abide by international law wrt asylum seekers and refugees … not to throw open the borders ….
Similarly, Merkel in the EU with an established open-borders policy, declined to slam shut Germany’s borders (which would have led to a chain-reaction effect down the line as other EU countries being transited by northern bound refugees would have been trapped in legal limbo with likely no exit … note this was 3 years ago and many refugees and asylum seekers have been return to camps or their country of origin, having used the wave of refugees to gain entrance, but without justifiable refugee or asylum status.
susan – I believe international law states that if you’re a genuine refugee fleeing for your life, you’re to make an asylum claim in the FIRST country you enter. That would be Mexico.
no, if from El Salvador, that would probably be Guatemala, Honduras or Belize (to the north) and Nicaragua to the south … with some others possible for those arriving by boats … However, this isn’t governed by EU rules
susan – my point is that they could at least apply for asylum in Mexico, but they’re not because Mexico would tell them to get lost. No, Mexico is making sure they make it to the U.S. border because they don’t want them.
They “could” but apparently they don’t “want” to .. and I don’t know their reasons… El Salavdorean refuges had recognized protected status (in effect since 2001) until January 2018 … but then — citing no reason — Trump removed it and said 200,000 had to LEAVE within 18 months…. however, temporary protected status is in place currently
https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-status. There are El Salvadorean communities in the USA, they may have family here (close or remote, legal or illegal). Afaict, TPS is separate from petitions for Asylum (or refugree status) …
None of this having anything to do with the new improved drachonian aggression of Trump’s ICE and/or family separation … which was not somehow “earned” or justified by some alteration in the behavior of the asylum seekers … just politics and presidential optics and evil elf Sessions.
In Germany the coalition was “saved” by some sort of compromise with the other half and Merkel is “safe” for now.
I am talking globally. Merkel broke laws. Several ones. As a democratically elected leader.
And the democrats in the USA basically want the same thing.
We had closed borders before. It was never an issue. All of the sudden they want to tell us that we cant control those borders anymore. Laughable. And youre falling for it.
Or how about taking our oh so freedom loving allies like Saudi Arabia into responsibility? They havent taken a single refugee, even though they have all the resources for millions over millions.
And why are they going to France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, etc? The next safe country for a refugee is FAR closer than those.
You can look at it from every side, but it simply doesnt make sense, unless youre led by blind emotions.
UNHCR estimates KSA has 500,000 Syrians (100,000 guest workers then joined by their family members seeking safety). KSA is not a signatory nor does it use the term refugee. They also have very reasonable fears of infiltration by enemies (they have so many) but, happily, I’m guessing there’s not much demand since I’d guess few non-Wahabbis muslims would chose to land there.
Merkel broke laws — that’s a new claim to me – but she was allowed to run for reelection and won well-enough … curiouser and curiouser.
No one is demanding “NWO open borders” … the EU “open borders” the schengen was modeled to some degree after the USA interstate commerce … to promote the movement of people and goods minus costly delay and bureaucracy.
This isn’t sentimental or emotional…. and the mass movement of people will increase quickly as climate change and conflicts push many people into finding a safe or more stable place — flooding will make low lying areas uninhabitable or prone to repeated disasters. We do not yet have refugee camps on our southern borders but that may come.
Corruption is curious to you? Propaganda with the support of the MSM is too?
I am German, Ms. Sunflower. Informed Germans know what was going on. She broke laws. Several ones and even acted like a dictator by skipping the parliament. Thats facts you cant deny. If you do, youre putting yourself on the same level as political criminals.
And yes, people are demanding open borders. Their main slogan on demonstrations is “no borders”. They directly want national states to vanish.
The thing is, if they are refugees, they will leave again, once the problem in their country is solved. The issue is that most arent even Syrians or from other countries that are in conflict. Most are from North Africa, Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc. They lied when they entered Germany and the EU. They lied. It has been proven. They simply threw away their passports and claimed they are Syrian. It has been proven. I dont know how many times I have to repeat that.
Now, they cant and wont leave again. Not only because they arent Syrian, but also because they threw away their passports. They cant go back legally where ever they came from. Countries like Germany and Sweden actively prevent them from leaving too, even those who want to leave. there were quite some stories about all that in recent times, even in the MSM.
Youre completely indoctrinated by propaganda and simply dont want to believe anything anymore that doesnt fit your echo chamber. Sad to see. But Im not wasting more time with you.
For anyone reading along …. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Border_network
“”The No Border Network (In the United Kingdom also called “No Borders Network” or “Noborders Network”) refers to loose associations of autonomous organisations, groups, and individuals in Western Europe, Central Europe, Eastern Europe and beyond. They support freedom of movement and resist human migration control by coordinating international border camps, demonstrations, direct actions, and anti-deportation campaigns.””
I have no idea how much (if any) power this network wields or if they are a high-visibility campaign, like Greenpeace or
PETA used to be. I am unaware of any presence in the United States (but doubtless there are individuals to think there should be). No one, to my knowledge is demanding in “no borders” between North American countries … There are vitually “no borders” between states, except some serious laws do change (marijuana legality) and California has an agricultural stop (to avoid bugs entering the state)
Free Movement as a human rights campaign, does not necessarily make national borders meaningless when it comes to citizenship.
I am aware of the “dog ate my passport” and attempts at lying your way into Asylum … not remotely a new phenomenon, made much more difficult now with computers.
Yes, Climate change and future conflict and economic disruption may accelerate the movement of people … in fact have been predicted to do so in a major way. The American Mexican border is about to get even more of a wall, and the American Canadian border traditionally largely open– because much of canada and northern USA is sparsely populated, but it is supposed to get hardened. No evidence of a “no border” movement that I see. Sorry.