Category: Immigration

Are We Really Who We Profess To Be?…

Here we are, precisely at the same place we were yesterday, last week, last month, and last year. Trying to determine just exactly how in the hell this nation of immigrants with the best governmental system known to humankind got so goddamned screwed up.

A bunch of educated and liberal individuals, revolutionary actually, decided to revolt against a rather liberal monarchy and in the process built a system that recognized the supremacy of the individual rather than the state. A system built on the rule of law rather than the whim of a particular individual or group of individuals.

Our founders warned against foreign entanglements. Yet over our 240 year history we have managed to regularly become entangled in many foreign adventures, including even saving the world from Fascism and Communist totalitarianism. A admirable thing. Note, Karl Marx was not a fan of totalitarianism, in  fact Marx despised the totalitarian state. Don’t confuse 20’th century communism  with 19’th century Marxism. They are not one in the same.

Back to America. What in the hell is wrong with us? A nation of immigrants with a statue that proclaims liberty and welcomes all with the following.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “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-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Yet we  elected a man who campaigned on emotions intended to result n closing the door to the above values. Why? Fear? Bigotry? Racism? Ignorance? What? Do we even question our inner feelings or motives as a nation anymore?

It s hard to know just what freedom and liberty means these days. Is it freedom and liberty as long as it is of the type we approve of while that we disapprove of is considered tyranny? It often seems that way listening to and reading a lot of the political stuff offered as gospel these days.

Freedom. Liberty. Indeed. We all have the right to experience and enjoy the blessing of both. It is our right as individuals and no one has the right to deny or take away our freedom and liberty. But, and this is all important but, freedom and liberty is not free. Freedom and liberty requires and demands that the rights to freedom and liberty of others be respected. With freedom and liberty comes a great responsibility, to respect the freedom ad liberty of others to be free. Een when you disagree with their views.

We must add to the above, just so NO ONE misunderstands, absolutely no one has the right to forcibly infringe on one the rights and freedoms of another, unless it is in an act of self-defense against someone attempting to infringe upon your rights and freedoms.

A final note to the above. The only justification for violence against another human being is in an act of self-defense against a perpetrator of violence against you.

 Simple. Philosophically pure and consistent.  Yet we’ve managed to make our founding ideals complicated so as to fit some ideological perspective.

That’s  our perspective, feel free to leave yours.

 

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) Doesn’t Like “Other People’s” Babies…

Are these the kind of folks we want running our nation? Does the nation of immigrants (USA – The melting pot) now want only white folks so we become totally homogenous? Has King noticed children of immigrants perform FAR better in science?  Are we really that fearful? Scared of shadows and people who don’t look exactly as we do? Really?

Enter the “Age of Trump”. His candidacy and eventual election to the highest office in our land has made it acceptable for white nationalists and white supremacists to go mainstream.

The Washington Post – Rep. Steve King’s game of footsie with the white nationalist arm of conservative politics reached a new level over the weekend, when the Iowa Republican tweeted new praise for the nationalist, anti-immigrant Dutch politician Geert Wilders.

White nationalists praised King’s phrasing, with supremacist-du-jour Richard Spencer recording a video shortly afterward lauding King’s comments, a sentiment he followed up with a tweet of support Tuesday. Despite that, King stood by his comment, telling CNN on Monday that he “meant exactly what I said.”

“We need to get our birthrates up or Europe will be entirely transformed within a half century or a little more,” King told CNN’s Chris Cuomo. He voiced his support for an American population that’s eventually “so homogeneous that we look a lot the same” and added that he’s “a champion for Western civilization and, yes, our English language is a big part of it. It’s a carrier of freedom.” In a radio interview, King insisted that he wasn’t talking about race, but that he was referring to “our stock” and that “we need to have enough babies to replace ourselves.”

King’s home state of Iowa is one of the most homogeneously white in the country. But census data show that his district is one where nearly 10 percent of the children younger than 18 live with at least one parent who was born overseas.

There’s a correlation between the foreign-born population in a congressional district and its politics. (Both of those things overlap with the percentage of the population that lives in urban areas.) If we use census data on the percent of the population that’s foreign-born and compare it to Cook Political Report‘s partisanship rankings for each district, the pattern is clear.

King’s Iowa district — the 4th — is embedded firmly in that clump of Republican-leaning districts that has a low foreign-born population. It’s near the bottom among all of the districts, when ranked by this metric. His ranks 337th on this metric. (There are 435 districts, but not all had census data available.)

More with graphs BELOW THE FOLD.

 

 

83% Of Top High School Science Students Are ChIldren Of Immigrants…

Immigration is important to the future of America. The following excerpt  from Forbes makes it abundantly clear that the brightest and most accomplished  scientists of tomorrow are likely to be children of immigrant parents.

What would we lose if immigrants could no longer come to America? Surprisingly, one of the most important things America would lose is the contributions made by their children.

A new study from the National Foundation for American Policy found a remarkable 83% (33 of 40) of the finalists of the 2016 Intel Science Talent Search were the children of immigrants. The competition organized each year by the Society for Science & the Public is the leading science competition for U.S. high school students. In 2017, the talent search competition was renamed the Regeneron Science Talent Search, after its new sponsor Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,and a new group of 40 finalists – America’s next generation of scientists, engineers and mathematicians – are competing in Washington, D.C., from March 9 to 15, 2017.

Both family-based and employment-based immigrants were parents of finalists in 2016. In fact, 75% – 30 out of 40 – of the finalists had parents who worked in America on H-1B visas and later became green card holders and U.S. citizens. That compares to seven children who had both parents born in the United States.

To put that in perspective, even though former H-1B visa holders represent less than 1% of the U.S. population, they were four times more likely to have a child as a finalist in the 2016 Intel Science Talent Search than were parents who were both born in the United States.

Parents who were international students were more likely to have a child as a finalist than native-born parents. A total of 27 of the 40 children – 68% – had a parent who came to America as an international student. That means if international students cannot remain in America after graduation (through Optional Practical Training and improved visa policies) it will also deprive America of the potentially substantial contributions of their children.

More UNDER THE FOLD.

Saturday Morning Trump Hits… Just To Get Ya Going!

As we awaken on another Saturday we’ve almost made it through another week under the steady albeit chaotic “leadership” of our Acting President. Damn, he sure does a remarkable job of acting doesn’t he?

Anyhoo, some interesting articles to start the weekend.

Trump, citing no evidence, accuses Obama of ‘Nixon/Watergate’ plot to wiretap Trump Tower

Trump to Undo Vehicle Rules That Curb Global Warming

Scientists say Trump’s border wall would devastate wildlife habitat

 Trump Team’s Links to Russia Crisscross in Washington

Keith Olbermann mocks Trump’s leak confusion: If they are making up stories why are you searching for leaks

Trump Continues To Show His True Colors…

Another Trump administration lame idea on immigration. Separate innocent children from their mothers. Children who don’t understand what is happening or why they are being separated from their mothers are possibly going t be used as pawns in a political game.

We have grown to expect nothing less from Trump.

Women and children crossing together illegally into the United States could be separated by U.S. authorities under a proposal being considered by the Department of Homeland Security, according to three government officials.

Part of the reason for the proposal is to deter mothers from migrating to the United States with their children, said the officials, who have been briefed on the proposal.

The policy shift would allow the government to keep parents in custody while they contest deportation or wait for asylum hearings. Children would be put into protective custody with the Department of Health and Human Services, in the “least restrictive setting” until they can be taken into the care of a U.S. relative or state-sponsored guardian.

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About 54,000 children and their guardians were apprehended between Oct. 1, 2016, and Jan. 31, 2017, more than double the number caught over the same time period a year earlier.

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Immigrant rights advocates have argued that Central America’s violent and impoverished conditions force mothers to immigrate to the United States and that they should be given asylum status. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/2m4aPAs)

LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS

Implementing the new policy proposal “could create lifelong psychological trauma,” said Marielena Hincapie, executive director at the National Immigration Law Center. “Especially for children that have just completed a perilous journey from Central America.”

Hincapie said the U.S. government is likely to face legal challenges based on immigration and family law if they decide to implement the policy.

Read complete story BELOW THE FOLD.