Immigration

From https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/asylum-united-states…

“Asylum is a protection grantable to foreign nationals already in the United States or arriving at the border who meet the international law definition of a ‘refugee.’ The United Nations 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol define a refugee as a person who is unable or unwilling to return to his or her home country, and cannot obtain protection in that country, due to past persecution or a well-founded fear of being persecuted in the future ‘on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.’  Congress incorporated this definition into U.S. immigration law in the Refugee Act of 1980… As a signatory to the 1967 Protocol, and through enacted U.S. immigration law, the United States has legal obligations to provide protection to those who qualify as refugees.”

So right off the bat, this country has laws in effect that say we are obligated to accept refugees seeking asylum.  The laws make no reference to numbers or country of origin.  So when the party of trump rails against accepting refugees seeking asylum they are proposing that we violate our own laws.  

But most everyone agrees that our 40 y/o asylum laws do not match the reality of what’s happening today.  They are incapable of dealing with the industrial-scale of both illegal immigration and legitimate asylum seekers.  There are well in excess of 100 million people around the world that are displaced because of war, famine, poverty, and environmental collapse due to climate change.  Combine that with the human traffickers that are moving people across our southern border using the same effective means and methods they developed to smuggle drugs and we have a situation for which our laws and immigration infrastructure were never designed.  We’re in a gun fight and our current laws only give us a knife (if even) to fight back. 

So why doesn’t congress act?  The reason our immigration laws have not been updated is because each party uses them to beat up the other.  This has been going on for decades and always peaks in election years.  The party of trump sees illegal immigration as a winning issue for them.  This was forcefully driven home last February when, egged on by trump, the House killed a bipartisan bill that would have addressed many of the funding and structural issues in our immigration system.  Or, saying the quiet part out loud, Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) told CNN at the time “I will not help the Democrats try to improve [Biden’s] dismal approval ratings. I’m not going to do it. Why would I?”  This is naked, unadorned, and undisguised party politics over country in its most bare-knuckle form.  Our emotions are being manipulated by Machiavellian connivers and political bottom feeders.

Gender Identity

In March, 2024, Statista reported that in a recent survey conducted among Americans, 7.6% of respondents identified themselves as part of the LGBT community and in June, USAfacts.org, found that about 1.14% of the nation’s adult population identifies as transgender.  And in April, 2023 Newsweek quoted a researcher and physician as saying that “While we don’t know the exact number of trans women (because of privacy laws) competing in NCAA sports, I would be very surprised if there were more than 100 of them in the women’s category”.

Are people really going to make a voting decision of who will be the Commander in Chief on the basis of gender continuity and gender identity???  How is it that such an infinitesimal number of people is creating so much angst and brouhaha?  Who cares?  Why does it bother so many people?

Once again, we’re being manipulated by, yes, The Right (the modifier “Far” is now redundant).  The fact is, it’s not about LGBTQ rights at all, is it?  It’s about Evangelical Christian zealots who somehow have decided that they, and they alone, get to set the moral tenor of this country and will pick any social scab they think that will put people on the razor’s edge as Mr Sikes so notes.  

Ditto for abortion.  Except here Mr Sikes does his level best to stoke the rage by citing the lie and purposely emotional trope that the Left wants to permit abortion right up to delivery.  Does anyone really think that a woman who has carried a pregnancy for 9 months suddenly wakes up some day and spontaneously decides to abort a perfectly healthy fetus for some bizarre reason?  There’s not an ethical physician, nurse, nor medical institution in this country that would aid and abet that woman.  If/when that happens it’s because something has gone terribly wrong and the mother’s life is in imminent mortal danger. 

Finally, let’s talk inflation.  The party of trump is notorious for their selective amnesia.  Think about what has and is happening around the world.  In no particular order, without a doubt the biggest driver of inflation was the pandemic and the sudden reopening of the economy that stripped the gears of the worldwide economy.  And that is still with us to some extent.  Russia invaded Ukraine disrupting prices on the global oil market as well as global grain supplies.  The Houthi rebels in Yemen have shut off all commercial shipping through the Red Sea forcing all shipborne traffic to travel an extra 11,000 miles adding costs.  Drought in Panama has also reduced shipping through the Panama Canal with the same consequences.  Drought is also causing coffee and chocolate prices to spike.  Bird flu has wiped out millions of flocks of chickens and turkeys driving up prices on poultry and eggs and everything made from them.  Home construction and other industries are still reeling from pandemic supply chain and labor disruptions.  Then there is just plain old greedflation caused by opportunistic price gouging going on with many consumer products.  And finally, there’s nothing like an active and expanding war in the Middle East to rile the markets.

It’s a wonder inflation is as low as it is.  But even if this doesn’t give you pause, ponder this: What’s tump’s plan to lower inflation?  Go ahead, try to find one… I’ll wait.