A man named Jose Antonio Vargas was on Bill Maher this weekend. He is this functional guy who owns a small business that employs 15 American citizens but is not himself a citizen or even legal. So naturally the talk went to legality and sanctuary cities. Now the politically correct approach to this subject, at least from the progressive POV is to support the concept of sanctuary cities, but there are serious problems with that, not the least of which is, it is against the law! If we ignore the law, even for supportable, morally correct reasons, traditionally we get chaos.
Ras Baraka Mayor of Newark, NJ, that mainly because it’s a port city, he, refers to as an immigrant city, mainly is adamant in his attack on the concept of the Federal government pressuring sanctuary cities. He points out that the funding lost to those cities from the Federal Government as punishment for their sanctuary positions are all for human services and therefore have nothing but a negative effect. Of course, Trump’s budget also cuts those funds whether you are a sanctuary city or not.
Look, there are definite humane reasons for the existence of sanctuary cities but the functional existence of them is not a positive. The problem is that there is no alternative to them and until there is, we will be stuck with a negative solution to a serious problem. What do we do with those who have entered the country illegally and how do we sustain them as a population?
The answer to that question as well as the answer to the entire problem of illegal immigration in general, seems to go back to our current immigration laws. Yes, we are a country of immigrants but over the years since our grandparents came here the ability to enter this country legally has become more and more restricted. Not that immigration was ever really welcomed by the existing populace. That’s just a myth propagated by industries looking for cheap labor. “Help w anted. No Irish need apply.” Is a sign imbedded in the psyche of our nation as are the identifiable slurs, Dago, Wop, Mick and Polok.
Whereas once, the hordes of immigrants flowed here from Italy, Ireland and several of the Eastern European countries, that is no longer the case and as in anything else, as the demand for cheap labor regressed after WWII the tribal instinct to keep out the other, grew and prospered. Our immigration prohibitions grew along with the lessening places for cheap labor along with the growth of unions and now we find ourselves with comparatively little legal immigration. Yet, however lessened that demand is, the demand for access to our shores is even greater because of world conditions. We may be lagging behind Europe in many social and societal areas, but the desire of the displaced masses is still as great or greater than it ever was to reach these shores, which in the eyes of the world, still stand for freedom.
The result of this demand for access and the closing down of our borders is the eleven million or so undocumented people currently existing in this country and neither deportation nor sanctuary cities are the answer.
The obvious answer is functional immigration laws, laws which take into consideration the need for immigration in a country that is no longer producing children in the numbers necessary to sustain an aging population, a need to keep the young people we are educating in our universities here so they can work in our own industries after they graduate, the need to fill low paying jobs that white Americans, despite their own obvious need, just don’t want to take.
But let’s go back to Mr. Vargas for a second. This is a successful entrepreneur, not only working himself, but also supporting fifteen families through his company. But right now, under our immigration law there is no path open for him to become legal. That’s ridiculous! Right now he could be swept up in an ICE raid and deported back to his Central American “homeland.” Of course he hasn’t been there since he was an infant, has no roots or support system there and those who depend on him, those fifteen families that are supported by work in his company would all be out on the street if he were picked up.
Do any of you readers notice the absolute farcical quality of this situation? This functional human being; the absolute kind of person this country needs to maintain its leadership in the world, finds it impossible, because of current immigration policy; to become a legal resident of a country he supports, one in which he creates jobs and one to which he pays taxes. You don’t find that unacceptable, you’ve been smoking too much of the bad weed.
It’s time we stopped listening to the clowns that refuse to accept any reasonable solution to the fact that eleven million of our neighbors are illegal. There are real solutions and they should be heard and supported. Ignore the asshole who screams that these people committed a crime and should not be rewarded for it. In fact most of them came here when they were too young to understand what a crime was. The rest committed such an insignificant crime, looking for a better life, that it should also be ignored. Not one single rich banker or mortgage executive went to jail for the massive crash that they instigated and which almost ruined the country. But these clowns want to penalize some destitute mother for sneaking across the border so she can fund work and feed her kids. The solution, which should be incredibly simple, is made difficult by bigots and racists who strive, in a losing cause, to keep the country white.
The Solution:
Those who entered the country illegally as minors should be allowed to apply immediately for citizenship and made to follow the current protocols to that end.
Those who entered the country illegally as adults must be made to pay a fine, prove that: they have no criminal record here and that they have legal employment and get in line to apply for citizenship.
Anyone who is currently receiving any kind of government assistance must show that they have a path off the dole and they must show a means to becoming a wage earning, productive citizen or that they can be sustained by other, private factors.
All criminals, deadbeats, etc. will immediately be deported back from whence they came.
That appears to be a sustainable outline. No, it’s not perfect but neither is any piece of legislation ever passed in this country in my long lifetime. There is a solution to the problem that does not involve the farcical invention of sanctuary cities. All it takes is men and women of good will and common sense to reach it.
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There was an enthusiastic debate on Meet The Press over Trump’s inability to concentrate on what’s important in order to get his legislation through congress. Greta Van Susteren kept harping on the fact that if the economy perks up to 4% it won’t make any difference. She may be right, but the problem is that the way Trump is conducting business, that goal will never be met. Everything Trump does is counter productive to his achieving success. Instead of keeping his Tweets shut and concentrating on getting some legislation on jobs and infrastructure accomplished he is busy on the Internet proving what a boob he really is.
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Losing the healthcare vote was a crippling blow to the Trump administration but it was most definitely a self- inflicted one, caused by an immature man who didn’t have the patience, the self-control or the maturity to play out the game until he had the advantage. This was a fight that trump could have easily won if he’d persevered but like a three year old with ADD he allowed himself to get frustrated and he took his marbles and went home, leaving everyone on the Right, including himself with egg on their faces.
What’s interesting is that after seven years of railing about it, the GOP comes up with nothing, mainly because Trump wanted a bill that minute and didn’t have the maturity to move ahead with different arguments until he achieved that goal. One wonders if this was how he negotiated when he was trying to build his future slums in NYC.
After the vote the fat orange talked abut losers and trying to make the Democrats out as the losers because now they owned Obamacare. Big discovery! They have always owned Obamacare. It cost them the House and the Senate and they still own it and now when it was about to be taken away, the American people finally began to understand that it was the Democrats who had stood up for them, fought for them, lost their seats in congress for them, because it was the right thing to do. It was the right fight to fight when the GOP wanted to make the millionaires richer at he expense of the poor and it was the right fight to fight when the GOP tried to give the insurance companies bigger profits at the expense of the sick. It had taken far too long but the people were finally beginning to understand that the Democrats had fought the moral fight for the people, the same people that the Republicans were now abandoning, and those people went to Town Hall meetings and vented against their elected leaders.
Trump didn’t care how the bill worked. He wasn’t interested in its contents. He just wanted something to sign so he could show us that he was accomplishing something. Astonishingly his only goal was to prove that, he wasn’t a complete loser. He was too impatient, a failed negotiator he has now shown us that he is indeed a big loser. This is a leader without morals, scruples, or heart. All he cares about is how he looks to his base at any given moment. He won the election but the election isn’t the goal. The Presidency is the goal and he is failing miserably at that. Let’s hope he doesn’t damage the country too much in his thus far failed campaign at governance.
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Katie Tur had a great quote today. “People held their noses to vote for Trump and they did so for two reasons. They wanted to see two things. One, jobs come back, and they wanted to see Washington start working again.”
She’s absolutely right but neither of those objects has been achieved and the more Trump stumbles around the White House making enemies, emitting stupid statements and lying, the less chance there is that either will ever come to pass.
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We’ve all faced the immoral prices currently being changed by drug companies. We all want to see them reined in. So yesterday, Heather Bresch CEO of the drug company whose greedy bastards are responsible for the increase in price on Epi-Pen, which in the last few years has gone from $16 to $650, was on the tube. This price increase is, of course, unconscionable. As a point of full disclosure I admit that I am a user of Epi-Pen as I am extremely allergic to bee stings and almost choked a few years back from several stings.
Ms. Bresch has a very good if somewhat confusing spiel in which she accuses everyone but her company, Mylan, of causing the increase of drug prices to consumers. According to her, it’s the insurance companies, the ACA and the middlemen who cause this huge jump in cost but when questioned closely she admits to the fact that although the drug currently costs over $615, her company gets at least $375 of that. Really? And what does it cost her company to manufacture the drug? One dollar? Two? There have been no research costs. Mylan didn’t develop the drug so there are only exorbitant profits. In fact any company can make and sell it. The fact that no one else does, hints strongly at collusion, monopoly and restraint of trade. Why doesn’t anyone compete with Mylan? Could they have been bought off and does that lead to the horrendous increase in cost? This would, of course be illegal but no one in the drug industry seems to give a damn. Bresch is scum and so are all those involved in her company and all the other companies that get rich on the misery of the sick.
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Donald Trump ran as the candidate of change. So far the changes he has initiated have done nothing but demean the office he is busy demolishing. He has accomplished nothing. His agenda, not unlike his cabinet appointments, has all been taken directly from the far Right closet and foisted on an unsuspecting public. He has done nothing for those who voted for him and he has outraged those who didn’t.
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As if things weren’t going badly enough for Trump, he met this week with King Abdullah II of Jordan. The contrast was stunning and not at all complementary to Trump. Here we have the epitome of the modern ruler, a man who has for the past decade done almost everything right on both local and international stages while heading up a poor country. He has fought the right fights and his nation, though lacking in resources, has opened its borders to more refugees than any in the world.
Standing next to this giant and whining about the “mess” that he had inherited, Trump rally looked like what he is; a punk, a conman and a pathetic loser.
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The Curmudgeon will be off-line for a couple of weeks as we study politics in Europe. See you again in May.