Always forgotten in all discussions is that the President is the Executive Branch. Congress writes the laws, and they originate in the House. There was a law I referenced in one of the articles I linked to. Originated and backed by Rs, and torpedoed by Rubio. Heaven forbid they do anything that involves working with Ds!
A smart party spokes person would explain to the American people that immigrants do nothing but contribute to society, are statistically significant in far less likelihood of committing crimes and contribute 12-20 state and federal treasury then they will ever receive.
Better yet, explain why you would change the policies so that hard-working asylum receivers become citizens in five years at the most. Not 17 to 20.
The statement by Jim Swift of "We are a uniquely welcoming country.." is grossly false and deceitful as to the reality of how European Settlers had actually rejected any welcome from Native American Nations, and later did welcome millions of western European only migrants while clashing violently with Mexicans who settled the south west long before.
The families of Chinese rail workers were prevented from emigrating and the wholesale push-back against most all brown skinned peoples from US South Pacific Islands and the Caribbean is duly records in Congressional journals.
The denial of these harsh facts therefore destroy the "uniqueness" of a welcoming land that has never lived up to the mantra perpetrated internationally of a nation whose credo is "Liberty, Freedom and Justice for All", rather than realistically just for a few, or the statement of Statue of Liberty outreach.
I clicked “like” but this article is pretty terrible and unfortunately typical of the Bulwark (and why I probably won’t resubscribe). First, Biden’s immigration policies are, except for caged children, more restrictive than Trump’s. He’s had actual buy-in from Mexico, not the lip service paid by Trump. And the wall is mostly useless except for rhetoric. But the media - not only Fox but everyone - won’t given Biden “credit”. Because it’s not theater and Biden doesn’t beat his chest every day.
And then the Bulwark referenced polls and the anti-Trump coalition, as usual lately, without a SINGLE suggestion on how to reverse it, assuming it’s real and nearly a year out it means something. And if that’s the coverage I’m getting from the Bulwark staff, I don’t actually need to subscribe.
"......deportations and camps for immigrants and asylum seekers......unilaterally detain and deport people who are not U.S. citizens and cutting off funding for transportation and shelter for people who lack legal status in the country."
I've got a question for those who are in favor of the above steps: Who the heck do you think are going to work in the fields, can your vegetables, package your meats, and clean your hotel rooms, jobs you wouldn't be caught doing, ever?
Good point! Yet we can't even get the federal minimum wage past $7.25. Many folks fainted when fast food workers asked for a living wage.
So what are chances of farm jobs or any other job that goes to immigrates, especially those with no papers, paying a wage that an non-immigrant Native born "American" would find enough to do what is truly back breaking working???
If Americans only want to do jobs that pay a living wage then that should be the rallying cry. Not complaining about those who, for whatever reason, have to settle for less. I am sure the immigrant would like more money as well.
Its not by mistake that domestic workers, farm workers, certain resturant workers or others under 50 employees arent covered be the minimum wage act or other similar acts. Those jobs, were in part, were initially done by Black people and the carve out was to keep Black people has staying as close to slave labor as one can get. Black people have moved on, so it's on to the next group.
Lastly, Farmers have tried to unionize and demand better conditions. are any of the "immigrants go home" folks backing that movement so they can replace the immigrants?
In 253 words, Ms. Heaton does not consider the effects of the conflict on innocent Palestinian civilians.
Skyes' answer to that post, an enthusiastic "Yes."
I'll ask you to conside the following scenario:
Let's say a Palestinian immigrant would have similarly posted a 253 word diatribe that focused ENTIRELY on the plight of Palestinian civilians, without even once making referencce to Israeli casualties?
I actually don't need to consider this as a hypothetical, the Bulwark has consistently labelled that sort of comment as anti-Semitic.
Are you conscious about the fact that you've promoted this double standard? I was sick to my stomach reading your unequivocal support for such a HORRENDOUSLY biased comment.
Imagine if a (hypothetical), Mexican terrorist organization, 3-million strong, invaded San Antonio TX and tortured, burned, beheaded, raped, and slaughtered over 45,000 innocent American citizens while streaming and posting their most horrific and sadistic atrocities on the internet. And imagine if their stated goal was to exterminate every living American. Would our response be measured and tempered? Would concern about the Mexican hospitals and churches housing those terrorists, and their missiles, weapons, and munitions stop us from acting? Would we fail to retaliate because the terrorists used their own populace as human shields? It would be a righteous, 9/11 response times 1,000 - without shame or guilt. And imagine if a segment of our population decried our response and supported the (hypothetical) Mexican terrorists. Not a perfect analogy, but hopefully close enough to make one sympathize with victims instead of the aggressors.
If you do election reform, or raise the number of legal immigrants, then you can’t use it as a political football anymore. But my guess is it wouldn’t phase them anyway. TFG probably thought getting Roe v Wade settled for them after 50 years of trying would solve everything and make them happy and grateful. They do not seem happy or grateful.
This comment relates to the Monday night Bulwark podcast with Charlie Sykes and Will Saletan, and more specifically the general problem with accepting casualty numbers in Gaza from the Hamas controlled Ministry of Health. EVERY time that Palestinian casualties are cited, there is a lazy caveat attached that says that figures from the Ministry of Health are suspect because the Ministry is controlled by Hamas.
I've had a persistent pet peeve on this approach to the Palestinian casualty/death numbers as reported by the media, because it's just lazy and disingenuous journalism. Why?
1) The Hamas controlled Ministry of Health has been releasing casualty numbers with full names, ages, and ID numbers. You're telling me that not a single news agency or conglomerate news group would find it POSSIBLE to use the names, ages, and actual fucking ID numbers to independently verify the claims? Let's remember that a whole bunch of competing media conglomerates were able to divvy up this type of work when it came to the Snowden data leak which was infinitely larger. But apparently Western media finds 10-15k numbers too time intensive to even bother?
2) Why isn't it that hard to investigate those numbers conclusively? I'm sure there are a lot of readers here who think that any data the Hamas run Health Ministry has released is garbage data that has no reliability. There are three significant problems with that "argument":
i) The West Bank and Gaza Strip have been operating in those small territories for such a long time, that they've developed a very sophisticated civil service. Why? Well, because they need to adjudicate property rights in extremely dense areas. And having valid accurate death certificates is integral to such endeavours.
ii) You wont' believe me on this one unless you look it up. Independent aid organizations have found that the numbers provided are generally accurate. Guess who else has also used those numbers and found them to be generally accurate? The Israeli government.
iii) Hamas is releasing the ID numbers of every casualty. How hard is it to investigate them?
For all I know, big media agencies are currently working to use Hamas-provided data to confirm or dispute the numbers provided by Hamas, but I've seen no evidence of that.
It seems to be part of the pro-Israel bias in news coverage to dismiss casualty levels on the Palestinian side as inherently unreliable, even though Hamas is giving reporters all the data they need to be able to do some ACTUAL INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING to see whether the numbers are in fact reliable (which they will be).
I think Israeli numbers would be similarly accessible by journalists and likely more reliable, but it's not be necessary because Israeli family members have been (rightly and righteously) been advocating for the release of their family members.
Baby decapitation claims have unfortunately not been verified, and Will Saletan himself noted in the podcast that there is no evidence of a single Israeli baby being beheaded on October 7.
But the greater point in that regard is that the distinction is morally and factually irrelevant (subject to a caveat). The lack of evidence that babies were beheaded is pretty irrelevant given that there is indisputable evidence that entire families were burned alive on October So babies were not decapitated, but they were burned to death with their families.
The caveat I mentioned above is merely that Israel has a history of fudging the facts to their benefit, so their claims should be taken with a grain of salt, all the moreso since a lot of the Israeli military aparatus is being controlled by hard-right Ministers who openly refer to Palestinians as animals.
"The Trump administration made curbing illegal immigration the centerpiece of its policy agenda. Trump not only failed to reduce the number of illegal immigrants in the country, but, according to Census Bureau data, presided over the first increase in the population of illegal immigrants in more than a decade."
So anti-immigration sentiment goes down because the blowhard speaks while journalist fail to report the facts of what is actually happening. But then, our current media uses polls as news.
Regardless of the politics, we need, and have needed for decades, comprehensive immigration reform. Why President Biden doesn’t propose a package is beyond me. It’s reckless both substantively and politically.
Why are right wingers gaining power and influence in Europe? And why is the US heading in the same direction? It’s simple, immigration. Right or wrong, local populations have had enough, and elected officials and immigration advocates underestimate the grassroots anger at their own peril.
How do you know he hasn't? Problem is, the House is R, and it's their job (which they're not doing) to discuss immigration and every other law. And as someone mentioned below, there have been attempts by Obama and other Ds to do something, and every single time, it's been torpedoed by Rs. https://www.thirdway.org/memo/how-republicans-abdicated-on-immigration-reform. Their solution is more wall, presumably paid by Mexico.
The Republicans have absolutely no interest in solving the immigration problem. They only want to use it as a wedge issue against the Democrats. Which is why their only solution is a wall.
But I do think the Democrats are making a big mistake by not addressing the problem directly and putting forth a program of how to deal with it.
And also Biden is also following the law and extending that wall (still not paid for by Mexico) to the disappointment of some if his base. Proof that Biden can please "the right" even by continuing what they started
Scary stories are not going to help. We need expert community organization in all geographic locations in America. Local volunteers should be able to recite "Five Ways Joe Biden Has Helped Our Economy" or "How Democrats Insure Good Health Care For You." We need creative folks who can spread TRUTH and demonstrate kindness and cooperation! Lets not wait for somebody else to begin!
Always forgotten in all discussions is that the President is the Executive Branch. Congress writes the laws, and they originate in the House. There was a law I referenced in one of the articles I linked to. Originated and backed by Rs, and torpedoed by Rubio. Heaven forbid they do anything that involves working with Ds!
A smart party spokes person would explain to the American people that immigrants do nothing but contribute to society, are statistically significant in far less likelihood of committing crimes and contribute 12-20 state and federal treasury then they will ever receive.
Better yet, explain why you would change the policies so that hard-working asylum receivers become citizens in five years at the most. Not 17 to 20.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2023/11/26/biden-border-plan-caps-migrants-asylum-seekers/71659363007/
I feel like the polarization of our politics has moved from Democrat versus Republican to Liberalism versus fascism.
The statement by Jim Swift of "We are a uniquely welcoming country.." is grossly false and deceitful as to the reality of how European Settlers had actually rejected any welcome from Native American Nations, and later did welcome millions of western European only migrants while clashing violently with Mexicans who settled the south west long before.
The families of Chinese rail workers were prevented from emigrating and the wholesale push-back against most all brown skinned peoples from US South Pacific Islands and the Caribbean is duly records in Congressional journals.
The denial of these harsh facts therefore destroy the "uniqueness" of a welcoming land that has never lived up to the mantra perpetrated internationally of a nation whose credo is "Liberty, Freedom and Justice for All", rather than realistically just for a few, or the statement of Statue of Liberty outreach.
I clicked “like” but this article is pretty terrible and unfortunately typical of the Bulwark (and why I probably won’t resubscribe). First, Biden’s immigration policies are, except for caged children, more restrictive than Trump’s. He’s had actual buy-in from Mexico, not the lip service paid by Trump. And the wall is mostly useless except for rhetoric. But the media - not only Fox but everyone - won’t given Biden “credit”. Because it’s not theater and Biden doesn’t beat his chest every day.
And then the Bulwark referenced polls and the anti-Trump coalition, as usual lately, without a SINGLE suggestion on how to reverse it, assuming it’s real and nearly a year out it means something. And if that’s the coverage I’m getting from the Bulwark staff, I don’t actually need to subscribe.
"......deportations and camps for immigrants and asylum seekers......unilaterally detain and deport people who are not U.S. citizens and cutting off funding for transportation and shelter for people who lack legal status in the country."
I've got a question for those who are in favor of the above steps: Who the heck do you think are going to work in the fields, can your vegetables, package your meats, and clean your hotel rooms, jobs you wouldn't be caught doing, ever?
Good point! Yet we can't even get the federal minimum wage past $7.25. Many folks fainted when fast food workers asked for a living wage.
So what are chances of farm jobs or any other job that goes to immigrates, especially those with no papers, paying a wage that an non-immigrant Native born "American" would find enough to do what is truly back breaking working???
If Americans only want to do jobs that pay a living wage then that should be the rallying cry. Not complaining about those who, for whatever reason, have to settle for less. I am sure the immigrant would like more money as well.
Its not by mistake that domestic workers, farm workers, certain resturant workers or others under 50 employees arent covered be the minimum wage act or other similar acts. Those jobs, were in part, were initially done by Black people and the carve out was to keep Black people has staying as close to slave labor as one can get. Black people have moved on, so it's on to the next group.
Lastly, Farmers have tried to unionize and demand better conditions. are any of the "immigrants go home" folks backing that movement so they can replace the immigrants?
Re: Patricia Heaton's Twitter post
In 253 words, Ms. Heaton does not consider the effects of the conflict on innocent Palestinian civilians.
Skyes' answer to that post, an enthusiastic "Yes."
I'll ask you to conside the following scenario:
Let's say a Palestinian immigrant would have similarly posted a 253 word diatribe that focused ENTIRELY on the plight of Palestinian civilians, without even once making referencce to Israeli casualties?
I actually don't need to consider this as a hypothetical, the Bulwark has consistently labelled that sort of comment as anti-Semitic.
Are you conscious about the fact that you've promoted this double standard? I was sick to my stomach reading your unequivocal support for such a HORRENDOUSLY biased comment.
Imagine if a (hypothetical), Mexican terrorist organization, 3-million strong, invaded San Antonio TX and tortured, burned, beheaded, raped, and slaughtered over 45,000 innocent American citizens while streaming and posting their most horrific and sadistic atrocities on the internet. And imagine if their stated goal was to exterminate every living American. Would our response be measured and tempered? Would concern about the Mexican hospitals and churches housing those terrorists, and their missiles, weapons, and munitions stop us from acting? Would we fail to retaliate because the terrorists used their own populace as human shields? It would be a righteous, 9/11 response times 1,000 - without shame or guilt. And imagine if a segment of our population decried our response and supported the (hypothetical) Mexican terrorists. Not a perfect analogy, but hopefully close enough to make one sympathize with victims instead of the aggressors.
My brother in Christ, no one is siding with Hamas. We are urging compassion towards the million kids that live in Gaza.
If you do election reform, or raise the number of legal immigrants, then you can’t use it as a political football anymore. But my guess is it wouldn’t phase them anyway. TFG probably thought getting Roe v Wade settled for them after 50 years of trying would solve everything and make them happy and grateful. They do not seem happy or grateful.
This comment relates to the Monday night Bulwark podcast with Charlie Sykes and Will Saletan, and more specifically the general problem with accepting casualty numbers in Gaza from the Hamas controlled Ministry of Health. EVERY time that Palestinian casualties are cited, there is a lazy caveat attached that says that figures from the Ministry of Health are suspect because the Ministry is controlled by Hamas.
I've had a persistent pet peeve on this approach to the Palestinian casualty/death numbers as reported by the media, because it's just lazy and disingenuous journalism. Why?
1) The Hamas controlled Ministry of Health has been releasing casualty numbers with full names, ages, and ID numbers. You're telling me that not a single news agency or conglomerate news group would find it POSSIBLE to use the names, ages, and actual fucking ID numbers to independently verify the claims? Let's remember that a whole bunch of competing media conglomerates were able to divvy up this type of work when it came to the Snowden data leak which was infinitely larger. But apparently Western media finds 10-15k numbers too time intensive to even bother?
2) Why isn't it that hard to investigate those numbers conclusively? I'm sure there are a lot of readers here who think that any data the Hamas run Health Ministry has released is garbage data that has no reliability. There are three significant problems with that "argument":
i) The West Bank and Gaza Strip have been operating in those small territories for such a long time, that they've developed a very sophisticated civil service. Why? Well, because they need to adjudicate property rights in extremely dense areas. And having valid accurate death certificates is integral to such endeavours.
ii) You wont' believe me on this one unless you look it up. Independent aid organizations have found that the numbers provided are generally accurate. Guess who else has also used those numbers and found them to be generally accurate? The Israeli government.
iii) Hamas is releasing the ID numbers of every casualty. How hard is it to investigate them?
For all I know, big media agencies are currently working to use Hamas-provided data to confirm or dispute the numbers provided by Hamas, but I've seen no evidence of that.
It seems to be part of the pro-Israel bias in news coverage to dismiss casualty levels on the Palestinian side as inherently unreliable, even though Hamas is giving reporters all the data they need to be able to do some ACTUAL INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING to see whether the numbers are in fact reliable (which they will be).
I think Israeli numbers would be similarly accessible by journalists and likely more reliable, but it's not be necessary because Israeli family members have been (rightly and righteously) been advocating for the release of their family members.
Baby decapitation claims have unfortunately not been verified, and Will Saletan himself noted in the podcast that there is no evidence of a single Israeli baby being beheaded on October 7.
But the greater point in that regard is that the distinction is morally and factually irrelevant (subject to a caveat). The lack of evidence that babies were beheaded is pretty irrelevant given that there is indisputable evidence that entire families were burned alive on October So babies were not decapitated, but they were burned to death with their families.
The caveat I mentioned above is merely that Israel has a history of fudging the facts to their benefit, so their claims should be taken with a grain of salt, all the moreso since a lot of the Israeli military aparatus is being controlled by hard-right Ministers who openly refer to Palestinians as animals.
read in a Dispatch newsletter today:
"The Trump administration made curbing illegal immigration the centerpiece of its policy agenda. Trump not only failed to reduce the number of illegal immigrants in the country, but, according to Census Bureau data, presided over the first increase in the population of illegal immigrants in more than a decade."
So anti-immigration sentiment goes down because the blowhard speaks while journalist fail to report the facts of what is actually happening. But then, our current media uses polls as news.
I learned, long ago, by having to deal with people in congress, the only way to make them do their jobs is to
stay on them.
Immigration reform has to take place. So does voting
rights legislation. And more.
If we're lucky enough to keep
our democratic republic, Biden as president, a Blue House and Senate, We, The
People, need to do our jobs
too. They don't end at the
ballot box.
Every congressperson and senator has an email address and phone number. Use them. Stay on them.
The same applies for all the
Mainstream News and reporters; their sponsors too.
There are more of us then there are of them. 😉
Regardless of the politics, we need, and have needed for decades, comprehensive immigration reform. Why President Biden doesn’t propose a package is beyond me. It’s reckless both substantively and politically.
Why are right wingers gaining power and influence in Europe? And why is the US heading in the same direction? It’s simple, immigration. Right or wrong, local populations have had enough, and elected officials and immigration advocates underestimate the grassroots anger at their own peril.
How do you know he hasn't? Problem is, the House is R, and it's their job (which they're not doing) to discuss immigration and every other law. And as someone mentioned below, there have been attempts by Obama and other Ds to do something, and every single time, it's been torpedoed by Rs. https://www.thirdway.org/memo/how-republicans-abdicated-on-immigration-reform. Their solution is more wall, presumably paid by Mexico.
The Republicans have absolutely no interest in solving the immigration problem. They only want to use it as a wedge issue against the Democrats. Which is why their only solution is a wall.
But I do think the Democrats are making a big mistake by not addressing the problem directly and putting forth a program of how to deal with it.
And also Biden is also following the law and extending that wall (still not paid for by Mexico) to the disappointment of some if his base. Proof that Biden can please "the right" even by continuing what they started
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/06/us/border-wall-biden.html
And ticking off the far left because of it. The poor man can't catch a break no matter what he does.
Scary stories are not going to help. We need expert community organization in all geographic locations in America. Local volunteers should be able to recite "Five Ways Joe Biden Has Helped Our Economy" or "How Democrats Insure Good Health Care For You." We need creative folks who can spread TRUTH and demonstrate kindness and cooperation! Lets not wait for somebody else to begin!
Somehow I doubt that the New York Times Magazine will have much trouble finding a talented poetry editor who isn't a terrorism fan or just nuts.
I presume that Ms. Boyer's moral clarity will not prevent her from requesting food stamps.