Sunday, July 29, 2018

The Nation of Laws

We are a nation of laws and the laws are clear.

This is today's battle cry for those against immigration. It is not very original.

Every German on trial for Nazi War Crimes justified their actions by hiding behind the law.
Every German citizen and citizens of occupied countries used the same claim when justifying that they did nothing when the Jews were rounded up and 'sent away'. Not one person knew or even suspected that the guards were cruel and inhumane, even to children.

I am sick of hearing that we are a nation of laws and the laws are clear.

I served as a law enforcement officer and know that discretion, good judgment, and justice are expected in America. Every single one of today's anti-immigrant crowd wants discretion exercised when they are stopped by a police officer for speeding. It is not that they don't get it. They get it. They just hate the changes in our society and many just hate Hispanics and Blacks.

Children in cages? It is enough to make me puke.

If we don't like people fleeing from hell-holes like El Salvadore, do something about the hell-hole. We created or at least contributed to the creation of these hell holes. We continue to exploit the slave wages in countries around the world. We have billions of dollars to spend at the movies and cry about helping the poor, even our own.

I am sick of the millionaires that decry the treatment of asylum seekers but don't hire attorneys to represent those asylum seekers. But mostly, I am sick of hearing about 'following the law'.

These same worshipers of the law don't want our asylum laws obeyed by our own government.
These same worshipers of the law don't want to recognize birthright citizenship.

If I lived before the Civil War would I have enforced the runaway slave laws?
Would these same 'lovers of the law' obeyed the laws during prohibition?

The 70-THOUSAND pages of immigration laws need to be changed and enforced in the most humane way possible. As for today, target the gangs and cartels. Little kids that arrive with parents seeking asylum should remain with those parents and the parents. Provide attorneys to represent asylum seekers and use GPS monitoring to keep track of them because none should be jailed pending the outcome of their cases.

Sunday, July 22, 2018

Hop, Skip, Jump!

I've noticed many comments on Blog and news aggregator sites (such as Yahoo News) that use what may be called the "Hot, Skip, and Jump" to employ a historical fact to denigrate Muslims. To be fair, it is probably just ignorance, but I doubt many people bother to search for the West's view of Islam throughout history.

An example of the "Hot, Skip, and Jump" technique is when people blame the fact that Blacks were held in slavery a few hundred years ago to explain the lack of value millions of Black place on education. People ignore the history in between the end of slavery and today. During and immediately following the end of slavery, Blacks risked their lives in their quest for education. However, a simple historical line graph does not show that the closer we come to the time of slavery the desire for education becomes lower and lower. In fact, such a chart shows the exact opposite. By hopping over history, people think they have proven something.

In the case of Muslims and Western views, people 'hop' all the way back to the 12th Century and write comments about the Muslim invasion of the West. That is one hell of a 'hop'! Being curious, I began to ask myself questions. First on the list was, Was why do I have no memory of hate, fear, or prejudice against Muslims from my teenage years?"  In 1970 Muslims only accounted for 0.49% of the U.S. population and today they make up 3% of the population(Source). More significant is the fact that the movies portrayed Muslims in adventure stories that were exciting. Like all groups, there were 'good guys' and 'bad guys.' Bagdad looked like an exotic and exciting place. Most important of all, there were no news stories about Muslim terrorists. The media did not report that anyone was using the Koran to justify murder and a holy war against the West. Also, millions of Muslim refugees were not fleeing to Western nations. So what is missing as we hop over history?

A little research revealed some interesting facts about the West and Muslims. During both world wars, the West worked hard to enhance relationships with Muslims. 

As reported in the May15,2016 issue of Foreign Policy magazine: "Before the continent started banning hijab, European aristocrats used to change their names to Abdullah and Muhammad, and going to the local mosque was the latest trend."  

During the 1920s and 1930s, the governments of Great Britain, France, and Germany built Mosques. After World War I, people were looking to this religion of peace in the way some people in the 1960s looked at Buddhism. 
So we see the 'hop, skip, and jump across centuries of history to 'prove' that Muslims always invaded and terrorized the West. 

Certainly, we learn from history and hopefully apply the new knowledge when addressing the challenges of today and tomorrow. But searching for selective pieces of history, the Koran, the Bile, or Jewish teachings to prove something only proves how desperate and uncertain we are of our beliefs.

Sunday, July 8, 2018

God Have Mercy on America

I cannot imagine creating a form to record information about children I am separating from their parents, without including the names and locations of the parents. It makes no sense!
Go to any Child Protective Services throughout America and the names and addresses of parents or guardians is standard information.

It reminds me of Hollywood movies where a kidnapped person is found in such horrible circumstances (held in an underground bunker with limited oxygen) that the hero shouts, “You bastard! You never intended to release her”.

Concentration camps, internment camps, the cages used in Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam War all come to mind. I never believed such a thing could happen in America.

For decades, psychologists, sociologists, and historians pondered how a normal person in Germany could be glad when Jews were rounded up and placed behind barbed wire. How could otherwise good and decent people not only permit such a thing but how could they take joy in it? Well, we no longer need to study the history of those German people. We can look in the mirror and ask why.

Imagine that in America, the nation that championed human rights and especially the rights of children, tore toddlers away from their parents and their guardians to hold them as hostages so the adults would drop their petitions to be permitted to remain in America! If an author had created a work of fiction with such a plot we would have found the premise absurd.

We offer due process. We have open trials. We are a beacon to the world! At least that is what I thought.

Humanity is watching. God is watching. Reading the comments on news sites about this gross and vile action is sickening. So many people love the idea and see no problem that our government did not even bother to record the names and locations of parents/guardians when they tore the children from their arms.

May God have mercy on America. I can no longer ask God to bless America. God Bless America.



Saturday, July 7, 2018

Heard in Mexico - July 2018

I saw photos of children in cages! Is America really doing this? 

Is America separating children from their parents and sending them to the other end of the country? 

Is America really telling people they can have their children returned if they give up their claims to asylum?

Our own Mexican election results make us wonder if we will become Venezuela.

In Del Rio, Texas they elected a man who marched in protests wearing high heels. He is openly gay and they elected him. We live in a time that nobody would have believed 10-years ago.

Like Trump, our new president says so many contradictory things that nobody can keep up.

We read that Trump hates France, England, and Germany, but loves Russia and North Korea. Is that even possible?



Monday, July 2, 2018

In What Country have I Awakened?


Our asylum laws, similar to those of most civilized nations, were prompted after World War II. The Nazi death camps, our own internment of Japanese Americans, our rejection of boatloads of Jewish people fleeing Nazi Germany and reflecting on the morality of not protecting people persecuted because of their politics, ethnicity, religious beliefs or gender prompted us to do the right thing. We created laws to protect those seeking asylum.

People can seek asylum in two ways. They can apply for entry into the United States from almost any country. The millions that languish in refugee camps can also make application for asylum. This process can easily take a decade before a decision is made. 

Our law also allows people to apply for asylum while on U.S. soil. If they have a reasonable claim to such status, they cannot be deported until their case is adjudicated, which can take decades. Our laws also guarantee that those granted asylum cannot be punished for illegally crossing our border.

There is no requirement that a person must apply for asylum at the first ‘safe’ country they enter.

Maybe a national debate will change those laws. But today, we should obey the letter and the spirit of those laws.

The disgusting and immoral occupant of our White House found a way to reduce the number of asylees. He simply kidnaps their children, holds them in far away detention facilities, holds their parents in detention facilities at our border and offers to free the children if the adults will cancel their asylum request and leave the United States of America. We are taking children away from parents and using them as hostages!

This is all so despicable and immoral that I keep hoping it is all a bad dream. In what country did I awaken?

On this 4th of July, I will read the poem, “The New Colossus” to myself while sitting at the edge of the Rio Grande and try to understand what happened to my country.

The New Colossus
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-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Emma Lazarus