Tag Archives: immigrants
Good People Doing Good Things — Florence Phillips
Good people. They are not hard to find. They come from all walks of life, and their contributions to the world are many and diverse. As we have seen since I started this feature in February 2017, some contribute large amounts of money to worthy causes, others just do small things that may go unnoticed. They are young, old, every ethnicity, race, gender and religion. The common bond they share is that they care about people. While giving money to good causes is certainly admirable, I always enjoy highlighting those who give of themselves — their time and energy.
Today I have the honour of introducing you to one great lady, Ms. Florence Phillips. She was born in New York in 1931, shortly after her Jewish parents came to this country from Europe prior to the Holocaust. Young people are most always able to learn a second or even third language much more easily than adults, and Florence was no exception. Her parents struggled to learn English, and for most of her childhood, Florence served as their interpreter.
“I did all the translations for them. I saw how they struggled being new to a country and not knowing the language.”
For most of her life, Phillips worked various desk jobs. Then, in her late-50s, she enlisted in the Peace Corps. She served three tours—in Kenya, Guatemala and Jamaica—working on community-building projects and teaching English. When she returned to the U.S. after her last tour, as she said in one of her videos, she found she had “nothing to do”.
“It came to me that I didn’t have to leave the US or my hometown to help. I could do here what I did overseas.”
She volunteered with AmeriCorps, a voluntary civil society program supported by the U.S. federal government, foundations, corporations, and other donors engaging adults in public service work with a goal of “helping others and meeting critical needs in the community.” She moved around the country, eventually settling in Carson City, Nevada, where immigrants comprise some 22% of the population.
She started out by contacting some of the immigrants, and one woman asked her to come for a visit. When she arrived, she found five people, three of whom spoke no English, all eager to learn. As she worked with this family, teaching them to speak the language, word spread and before long she was getting dozens of calls.
Now, Florence is an energetic woman, but even so, it soon became more than one woman could handle. And thus, her ESL In-Home Program of Northern Nevada was born. The organization is a nonprofit that provides free ESL (English as a Second Language), citizenship, GED and computer classes and relies strictly on volunteers. Started in 2004, they have thus far helped more than 5,000 people become more proficient in English.
Recently, Ms. Phillips was interviewed by CNN’s Laura Klairmont … let’s listen in, shall we?
Laura Klairmont: What are some of the barriers that get in the way of immigrants accessing English classes?
Florence Phillips: It was amazing to see how many immigrants there were that wanted to learn English. I got calls from all over Nevada. Many of these immigrants could not attend ESL classes because the schools and other organizations have a set schedule, and their times were not convenient for the student who works three jobs. So, my program teaches morning, noon, night, weekends, holidays. We provide these services at the times and days that the student is available and wherever the student is or can be. My program is very flexible.
We teach English on all levels to immigrants and refugees in Northern Nevada who want to learn. There is no other program like this in the state. We give the students personal attention; I match them with a tutor. We teach at no cost to the student.
There are people who were living in rural counties and in other counties where they did not have transportation if there was a class available for them to go to. If they lack transportation, just had a baby, are sick or disabled, we will tutor in their own homes or the tutor’s home.
Klairmont: Your program also provides free classes that help people prepare for their citizenship test.
Phillips: It is a very difficult test. A lot of Americans say they could not pass. These people have to know the answers to questions about the branches of government, how many senators there are, etc. It’s a lot of history, a lot of civics, a lot about our government. They have to know how to write, how to read. They have to know how to converse in English with the interviewer. We do all of that for them. We have a mock interview at the end of the class so that they know what to expect when they go for their exam. It takes a commitment of coming to a 12-week class. It takes a lot of memorization.
To apply for citizenship today, it costs more than $700. Many of our students cannot afford to apply. So, we help to raise money to help these students apply.
Whether they’re working two, three jobs, they have to sit down and study every single day, and they make that commitment because it is their desire to become an American. My students inspire me because of their dedication, their commitment, their motivation to learn.
Klairmont: How has your work affected the lives of your students?
Phillips: I have students that were promoted to be supervisor. I get students who call me and say, “I was able to talk with the teacher about my child.” And I’m being told by the students that they went to the market and the clerk understood them. Those are the rewards I get as they progress.
My students love this country. They are very proud about being here, learning English, learning our culture. I see the pride when they say, “I am an American.”
In this day, when fear of immigrants is being manufactured by politicians, isn’t it refreshing to see people who are actually trying to help immigrants assimilate and become contributing members of our society, realizing that they have so much to offer. My hat is off to Ms. Florence Phillips, who at age 87 has more energy than I do at 67!
Thoughts On This ‘Independence Day’
Today is the Fourth of July … typically a fun holiday involving grill-outs, get-togethers with friends, and at the end of the day, a fireworks display. I remember many a Fourth spent with our old friends Kim & Jerry, cooking out on their patio, then going to a local park where every year there was an awesome fireworks display. It was a much-anticipated day. This year, I actually forgot that it was the fourth until yesterday when I was talking on the phone with my friend Herb, and he reminded me. Whoopee.
The point of the holiday is to celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence back in 1776, some 242 years ago. It would be another eleven years before the U.S. Constitution was born, but still, it was the beginning of the process that eventually led to the nation we now know as the United States of America, the USA.
Frankly, while I still have admiration for those who have gone before and helped shape this nation, those who worked tirelessly to make it a good place to live by abolishing slavery, working toward civil rights and equal rights for women, those who have engaged in humanitarian ventures to help the people … the ordinary people … of this nation thrive, I have very little pride in this country today. I really do not feel like celebrating the hypocrisy that this nation has become.
We are currently in the midst of such great upheaval, such chaos, that I no longer even feel that it is a single nation, but rather a bunch of people living on the same continent, but being engaged in a constant battle with prize being … nothing. The things that once made me proud to live in this country are being eroded day-by-day. Police killing unarmed blacks simply because they can get away with it. White supremacists, neo-Nazis and other hate groups marching, holding rallies, all because they are arrogantly convinced that somehow pale skin is a virtue. Conspiracy theories running rampant. People at either end of the political spectrum engaging in juvenile name-calling, threats and taunts, rather than trying to work together to solve the nation’s ills. And nearly 3,000 innocent children, torn from the arms of their parents and being held hostage by our own government, innocent pawns in a high-stakes game of politics. Where this nation began as a nation of immigrants, we now vilify immigrants.
The people we voted for, we elected to represent us and our values, sit in their fancy air-conditioned offices and scoff at our needs, our desires. “Vote for me and I’ll promise you everything you ask for,” they say in the lead-up to November, but then after they are elected, it’s “Ha ha, sucker! Don’t call me … I’ll call you!” They do not even hear or see our cries for equality, for truth, for justice, for help.
The history of this nation has sometimes been noble, often not. We killed the Native Americans in droves and ran them off their land for our own greed. We held on to the notion that African-Americans were not wholly to be considered human beings, but rather slaves, for far too many years and even today, some hold onto that belief. We interned citizens of Japanese ancestry for no other reason than unwarranted fear during World War II. We murdered more than a quarter-of-a-million people by dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan in 1945. The list of our less-than-glorious moments in history is long.
And today, we are engaged in actively and knowingly destroying the earth for no other reason than to put more money in the pockets of rich corporate barons. We are devaluing our poor people, robbing them of health care and even food & shelter. We are condoning the blatant discrimination of people whose skin is not pale or who do not believe in the “Christian values” that are determined by a small group of men called ‘televangelists’ who are getting rich off people who can ill-afford to support their luxury lifestyles. We are supporting corrupt politicians who are milking us for their own personal gain. We are intentionally scaling back our education system so that only the wealthy will be well-educated enough to hold political offices in the future.
There are many things to love about this nation, but today I have trouble remembering what they are. I love the wonderful forests, rivers, lakes and coastal areas, but those are being destroyed by greed, by oil pipelines, drilling and mining operations that put more money in the pockets of the wealthy. It feels like everything that was once good is being destroyed, and I find it difficult to feel any joy in celebrating the birth of a nation that is now eating its own. A nation that places more value on a dollar than on a life.
Many will not like this post, will not like my harsh words, and I understand that. Frankly, I don’t like them either, but they are honest words. Honesty … one of the values, along with integrity and compassion, that we have thrown in the trash as we race to become a nation of rich white people. It is a vision that sickens me and one that I want no part of.
Keep safe and enjoy your holiday, friends. Love ‘n hugs to you all!
Before The War Came
Some time ago … I believe it was early in 2016, I discovered a blogger from India by the name of Anam, writing as Love Read Dream. Anam is very young (17-18) but wise beyond her years. She is at times funny, other times pensive, but she writes as well as any I have read. A few days ago I read a poem she wrote titled Before the War Came, and I was so touched by her words that I wanted to share it with my readers. Please allow me to introduce this beautiful young lady and her touching words. Thank you, Anam, for this hauntingly beautiful poem, and for your permission to share it with my friends.
hiraeth(n.)
a homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was; the nostalgia, the grief, the yearning for the lost spaces of your past.
“Go back to where you came from!”
I wish I could.
But my home is burning.
And I’m aching for the beautiful place my home once was.
There is a name for this feeling.
Hiraeth. It’s Welsh.
A foreign word for a foreign person.
“You are Dirty!” “Immigrants!” “Job stealers!””Refugees!”
My blood is tainted by my foreignness.
Maybe that’s the dirt you’re talking about.
I wish I had an answer for you.
But I’m drowning in nostalgia.
My dreams are invaded by images of my home.
The way my home has been invaded by war.
In this state of daydreaming,
I’m sorry if I accidentally bump into you
I’m sorry if that makes you jump out of your skin
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The Unjust Department of “Justice”
Four weeks ago, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP) —a respected nonprofit in Seattle that represents immigrants in deportation proceedings—received a “cease and desist” letter from the Department of Justice, aka Attorney General Jeff Sessions, threatening disciplinary action. The letter demanded that NWIRP drop representation of its clients and close down its asylum-advisory program. What prompted this action on the part of the DOJ? In all likelihood, it was because NWIRP has been at the forefront of resisting Trump’s travel ban. Its staff and volunteer lawyers were at SeaTac airport immediately after the White House launched the first Muslim ban, and in March it sued to block the second Muslim ban.
Last week, NWIRP filed a lawsuit to defend itself against the DOJ’s order—and on Wednesday, a judge granted a restraining order. So for now, the organization can keep helping immigrants who need legal advice. But what’s at stake extends far beyond NWIRP and the 5,000 people it serves every year. The outcome of this legal battle will profoundly impact access to legal representation for the tens of thousands of immigrants who apply for asylum in the United States every year.
Remember that part of the Miranda warning that says, “if you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you”? It doesn’t apply to immigrants who face potential deportation, because it only applies in criminal, not civil proceedings, and being in the United States without authorization is a civil offense. This is where organizations like NWIRP are crucial to provide legal representation to immigrants who face mounds of legal paperwork and language barriers, and few have the means to pay for legal representation.
There are non-profits like NWIRP in many major cities around the U.S. They coordinate the volunteer work of lawyers at big law firms, who represent children and refugees in immigration and asylum proceedings for free. The DOJ’s suspiciously timed cease and desist letter sends a chilling message to exactly these groups, and to volunteer attorneys. This attack by the government on a legal services-provider for immigrants could dissuade law firms from letting their lawyers volunteer for these cases, scaring those firms away by convincing them that immigration-related projects are too risky pro-bono projects.
If they succeed, they don’t just deprive people of scarce resources for volunteer counsel, they gradually muzzle the bar. They marginalize the heroic work of nonprofits like NWIRP and its peers around the country. They defang the big law firms that have been willing to stand up to this administration—like Davis Wright Tremaine, which is assisting NWIRP—and they make immigrant representation a more marginal part of the law.
When lawyers rushed to airports in January and again in March to protect our friends, our neighbors, and our Constitution, people cheered. The Trump administration took offense, and now those lawyers are in their cross hairs. The president is taking a sledgehammer to the pillars of our government: the FBI, the Justice Department, the federal courts.
Idiot of the Week #1 – Katrina Pierson
Now, I think we have all (well, mostly all) agreed that presidential candidate Donald Trump does not speak well. I think we have agreed that there is no filter between what he thinks and what he says. Even most articulate candidates, which would include relatively speaking, almost all other candidates, understand the importance of getting one’s message across without making costly blunders and gaffes. Thus, politicians running for office almost always have spokespersons, people who help clean up the messes they may have inadvertently created, who do media interviews to help promote and clarify the ideas of the candidate. That said, one can only ask the question: why in the Sam Heck did Trump select an idiot like Katrina Pierson to be his National Spokesperson???? (As always, my snarky remarks are recognizable)
Can we say “Botox”?
Allow me to introduce Ms. Katrina Pierson. Born in Kansas, but now a Texan, she earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Texas in Dallas in 2006. At age 20, she was arrested for shoplifting $168 of clothing from a J.C. Penney store, to which she pleaded ‘no contest’. She voted for Barack Obama in 2008 because she “thought it was pretty awesome … that Barack Obama was a black guy running for that office.” But then she changed her allegiance to the Republican Party, saying “Everything that he [Obama] stood for was in complete opposition to what I felt.” Her two chief complaints about President Obama seemed to be that he did not always wear an American flag lapel pin, and the “whole socialized medicine thing.” Very serious issues, indeed, Madam Pierson.
McCain is welcomed home by President Richard M. Nixon
At first she was not enamored of the Republican Party because she did not like John McCain (perhaps because he was captured in Vietnam?), but she says she did “kind of like Sarah Palin, who seemed ‘more normal’”. Already you see why she is being named this week’s “Idiot of the Week”, yes? She has said that when she went to her first Tea Party meeting, she felt like she found ‘her people.’ She especially liked their stance against government spending on social programs. Is it an oxymoron, then, that she received government benefits while working on Ted Cruz’ campaign in 2012?
In 2014, she somehow got the notion in her head that she should run against incumbent Pete Sessions for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. (Please excuse me for a moment while I go get some aspirin for the headache brought on by the thought of a Palin-admirer in the House!) Ted Cruz was lukewarm in his support of Pierson, however his father, right-wing evangelical preacher Rafael Cruz, enthusiastically backed her. Needless to say, she lost the primary and took a job as spokesperson for the Tea Party Leadership Fund, which has a somewhat questionable reputation. According to Matt Mackowiak, a Republican consultant from Texas, “We all have to pay the bills, but for Katrina, there is no principle that she isn’t willing to abandon for the right price.”
Then along came the Donald Trump Circus Train, and just like any kid, when she saw the circus come to town, she dreamed of joining. And from this point, I will let Ms. Pierson tell you a bit of her story in her own words:“Islam preys on the weak and uses political correctness as cover. Two things that Americans won’t be concerned with when @realDonaldTrump is in the White House.”
- “What good does it do to have a good nuclear triad if you’re afraid to use it?” (Please excuse me again while I go for more aspirin, and perhaps some Tums)
- “When Donald says, ‘I think you’re great, I really want you to work for me,’ I don’t think any sane person would say no to that.” (Apparently I am not sane. Oh well.)
- “Cruz would be a good president, but I think right now with all the hyper-partisanship in the country, I think Trump would be the better person to transition out of Obama.”
- “So what? They’re Muslim!” Upon debating the constitutionality of Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims.
- “Maybe I’ll wear a fetus next time & bring awareness to 50 million aborted people that will never get to be on Twitter.” This after being criticized for wearing a necklace made from shotgun shell casings. (Am I the only one who thinks this is beyond even inappropriate?)
- “Perfect Obama’s dad born in Africa, Mitt Romney’s dad born in Mexico. Any pure breeds left?”
- “A lot of times, you have to use restructures to preserve jobs. Mr. Trump believes in putting your oxygen mask on first before helping others.” This in defense of Trump’s multiple bankruptcies.
- “Gay is not normal, accept that.”
Which brings us to this week. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Mike Pence, in an attempt to clean up the mess made by Mr. Trump last week when he mocked and insulted Khizr and Ghazala Khan, claimed that President Obama and his policies were the cause of the death of the Khan’s son … in Iraq … in 2004 … fully four years before President Obama was elected. Okay, bad enough, but easily fixed with a retraction and an apology, right? Wrong. Enter Trump’s illustrious National Spokesperson, Katrina Pierson.
On Tuesday, Pierson upheld Pence’s statement: “Donald Trump never voted for the Iraq War; Hillary Clinton did,” Pierson argued. “It was under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton that changed the rules of engagement that probably cost [Khan’s] life.” Despite the facts above that make it quite clear that President Obama had nothing to do with Khan’s death, Pierson persisted on Wednesday in an interview with CNN’s Alisyn Camerota and John Berman:
Camerota: “Do you want to apologize to [Humayun Khan’s father, Khizr Khan]?”
Pierson: “Apologize for the timeline. The timeline is very simple and true. Hillary Clinton voted for the war in Iraq. She did not support the surge [after Khan’s death]. Barack Obama made things worse by invading more countries.”
Camerota: “But this was in 2004 when George W. Bush was president.”
Berman: “You do acknowledge now that there you were just wrong,”
Pierson: “Absolutely. That’s why I used ‘probably’ because I was just going through the timeline. Because since then we have had tens of thousands of soldiers that have been lost. Trump had absolutely nothing to do with it.” *
Camerota: “But no one was blaming Donald Trump for Capt. Khan’s death. You were blaming President Obama. He wasn’t president yet.”
Pierson: “Donald Trump did not vote for that war, period! That’s why this is a ridiculous conversation. Donald Trump had nothing to do with sending troops into Iraq in the first place.”
Pierson: “This father [Khan] apparently has been a strong proponent of Sharia law.”
Camerota: “Katrina, he doesn’t stand for it, he never has stood for it. He carries around the U.S. Constitution. He abides by the Constitution.”
Pierson: “That’s what he said. I’m just telling you the report and the document that he wrote were put out there for all to see.”
At that point, an audible sigh came from Camerota as the segment ended to cover breaking news about an airplane crash-landing in Dubai.
And so, without further ado, I would be remiss if I did not award the Idiot of the Week award to Ms. Katrina Pierson! {clap, clap, clap} I was about halfway through the reading and researching for this article when it came to me that, in addition to being fully qualified for Idiot of the Week, she is also qualified for a second Filosofa’s award: America’s #3 Bimbo! Trump sure knows how to pick ‘em, doesn’t he folks?
* Notes: The death toll from the Iraq war numbers approximately 4,491, significantly less than ‘tens of thousands’; Trump did, initially, support invading Iraq.
“Make America Racist Again” is Trump’s Rallying Cry
When did it become “okay” to be a racist? I think the date is around 15 June 2015. That was when Donald J. Trump declared his intention to run for President of the United States with his now iconic speech in which he put down Mexican people, saying “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” Somehow, at that moment in time, at the point where he said it and Americans cheered rather than jeered, it became “okay” to be a racist and to speak with a forked tongue.
During the little over a year since Trump’s official candidacy announcement, he has yet to give a speech whereby he doesn’t mock or put down some group of people: Muslims, Hispanics, women, Asians, disabled people, and the list goes on. And because Donald Trump can stand in front of a crowd of hundreds and spew his racist, bigoted hate-filled speech with little or no consequence, all those closet-racists who have been biting their tongues are now coming out of the woodwork in droves, turning our nation into one where there is no courtesy, no respect, and no tolerance for others. It is this very attitude that has made it seem “okay” to some that a man running for the U.S. Congress puts up billboards urging citizens to “make America white again.” It is the attitude that has given rise to discrimination in venues across the nation, from workplaces to schools, from state governments to churches.
When did it become “okay” to be a racist? Let me tell you a little secret … it didn’t. It has never been okay, it isn’t okay now, and it will never be okay. It was not okay when we interned American citizens of Japanese descent during World War II. It was not okay when we made black people sit in the back of the bus. It was not okay when we burned crosses on the yards of African-Americans. And it is not okay when a pastor contends that “racism, misogyny, homophobia are ‘biblical truths we stand for’.”
Am I blaming Trump for “Making America Racist Again”? No, obviously we never actually got past racism to start with. Trump is merely the catalyst that has brought it back out into the open, stirring the dual pots of fear and hatred in the process. Trump did not create racism and hatred, he simply told Americans that it is “okay” to speak out loudly against those who are different, who are non-Caucasian, who are non-Christian, who are disabled or female or transgender or homosexual. He merely gave the green light, the thumbs-up, to those who had been stifling their racism and other phobias under the guise of being ‘politically correct’.
Those who would allow Donald J. Trump to define this nation are not those with whom I have any common ground. I have made numerous excuses for his supporters, some of whom I call ‘friends’, including they are sleeping, they do not bother to study the issues, they are caught up in the moment and will raise their heads out of the sandpit eventually, or they are simply not hearing the message through all the noise. I am rather done with that, however, as I now believe that these individuals, whether they will admit it or not, never truly moved on from the days of Jim Crow laws, of lynchings, of cross-burnings and murders by the Klan, of strict segregation. They never came to understand that their white skin, their European ancestry, and their Christianity does not make them superior, but that their attitudes make them, in fact, inferior. Attitudes which might have lain fallow for decades longer had not Donald Trump told them that it was “okay” to be a racist. No, my friends, it is NOT okay. It never was and it never will be.
Two Schools of Thought
There are two distinctly different schools of thought about whether Trump’s status as ‘presumptive nominee’ helps or hurts Hillary Clinton. Strangely, both of these thoughts have merit and I am as yet undecided which will prevail.
On the side of his presumptive nomination being a deal-breaker in favor of Hillary, Trump is despised by most all democrats and a large portion of republicans alike. He is the least qualified, least experienced party-affiliated candidate I can remember ever making it this far in the election process. He has alienated entire groups of people: African-Americans, Hispanics, Muslims, women, immigrants, disabled people, academicians and scholars. Clinton, on the other hand, is well qualified, has experience not only in domestic policy-making but also in foreign policy. She supports civil rights and equality for all, she supports important topics like raising minimum wage, environmental protection and education. It is rather like weighing the merits of eating a sugary donut vs. an apple, with Trump as the donut (though there is nothing actually sweet about him) and Clinton, the apple.
Thus one would think … but therein lies the problem. One would think Trump wouldn’t stand a chance against an experienced, qualified candidate of the other party. But, if we think back over the past ten months, we didn’t think he would get this far. We didn’t think people would ever take the man seriously, and I am not sure they actually do take him seriously, but they vote for him anyway. Why do they vote for someone who they know is not qualified to govern this nation? They do so because of one thing and one thing only: he tells them what they want to hear. And willingly they believe because they want to believe, need to believe. He first creates the need, the want, and then he tells them that he is the answer to those needs and wants.
Trump plays on the fears of terrorism, puts forth the fallacy that Muslims, Middle-Eastern immigrants, are responsible for terrorism and that there are so many of them in this country that we are in constant danger. He stirs that pot relentlessly, and then, when the Islamophobia reaches a peak, he provides the “answer”. He says he and he alone can fix the problem by deporting all Muslims, all immigrants of Middle-Eastern extraction. Not only that, but he will “bomb the shit out of” Daesh and kill the family members, including children, of any and all suspected terrorists. See how he first created a fear (terrorism), then a need (safety from terrorists), and then a solution (extinction). This is but one example of his marketing blitz.
Trump is a businessman, and there is little difference between his tactics of creating a need, then fulfilling the need, and the tactics that businesses use called ‘advertising’. He is marketing himself in much the same way that Mattel markets Barbie dolls and other toys. They advertise them on Saturday mornings when your little kids are glued to television cartoons, then your kids are convinced they need as certain toy. Never mind that the toy will not fulfill any real need and thus will be forgotten within a few short months, or even hours, and never mind the money you wasted. The toy company got what they wanted and they really do not care if your child actually plays with the toy or not. Just as Trump creates a need then promises a solution, a solution that he cannot possibly fulfill. But people believe because they want to. They need to.
All of which explains the second school of thought, which is that, while many democrats are thinking that Trump just handed the presidency to Clinton, it may not actually be so. Certainly when one steps away from Trump’s rhetoric and realizes that he cannot come through with virtually any of his promises, then Clinton looks like the better option. But … those who so desperately want and need to believe that there is an easy solution to the problems, real or imagined, of the nation, they believe Trump’s promises because they need to. That is why we cannot simply assume that Trump cannot beat Clinton. Trump has brought people away from logical thinking and plays, instead, on emotions.
What does it take to shed light on the fallacies that Trump is filling the airwaves with? Almost all of his rhetoric has been proven to be lies, yet people do not seem to care. What does it take to bring back humanitarian values that Trump has shredded? So I ask again, what would it take to shock Trump’s blinded followers enough that they would see the reality that is Donald Trump? In January, Trump made the statement that “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.” In January I scoffed at such a statement, but now I suspect he may have been right. This is a sad statement, not so much about Donald Trump, but about the state of mind of many of the citizens of our nation. Trump cannot win on merit, but he may well win on bluster.
Trump cannot possibly follow through on 90% of his promises if he is elected. The foundation upon which our entire government rests will not permit it. I suspect that most voters, in some part of their minds, know this. They just do not care anymore. They just want somebody to tell them it will all be okay, someone they can hand their troubles to and go to bed feeling secure. Never mind that it is a false sense of security. Is there a simple solution, a simple way to put Trump back in his box? I doubt that there is a panacea, but the ultimate solution must be comprised of educating the voters, which is 80% the role of the media, who have frankly been doing a lousy job of it. It must also require that Clinton do a better job of marketing her policy beliefs, playing up her strong points and addressing those that are concerning in a forthright and honest manner. And last, but not least, it requires We The People to stop being lemmings and start thinking … thinking of what a Trump presidency would really mean, thinking of truth vs. falsehoods, and start questioning what the candidates are saying, start thinking with logic instead of sheer emotion. We need to think on a global, not an individual basis. For it is not about just one person. Perhaps John F. Kennedy said it best in his famous quote, and one of my personal favourites: “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
They Say A Picture Can Paint A Thousand Words…
Here is another post from the heroic young lady who is still, despite enormous strife and heartbreaking conditions, doing what she can to help refugees on the Greek Isle of Kos. Please take a minute to read.
They say a picture paints a thousands words… Unfortunately I cannot take a picture of one of the worst examples of inhumanity I have witnessed so far in life so here is a thousand words to try and a paint a picture…
As you enter the police station of Kos, be sure your greeting will not be welcoming. You may even be lucky enough to bump into someone from Frontex, dressed like something from a sci fi film in tight black ops style uniform. You won’t get a smile but you will sure be intimidated by the weapons they are toting on their hip. The police station itself from outside looks like quite a grand old historical building but within it is run down with a feeling of a sleepy, small town local authority which in normal circumstances wouldn’t have huge amounts of crime to deal with.
As you walk…
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Guess whose ….
… own children will not be voting for him, at least not in the New York primary next week. Apparently Donnie’s children, Ivanka and Eric Trump ‘forgot’ to register. According to Trump, “They had a long time to register, and they were unaware of the rules and they didn’t register in time … I think they have to register a year in advance, and they didn’t.” Actually, the deadline for them to register was March 25th of this year … just 18 days ago. But that is just a small, pesky detail, right Donnie? I guess they are like their father and don’t like to be bothered with those small, pesky details. I wonder if they will register in time to vote in the general election on November 2nd?
Here’s an interesting tidbit for all you Trump supporters who love to hate President Obama … Donald Trump actually voted FOR Obama in 2008. “It’s very exciting we have a new president. It would have been nice if he ended with a 500 point up instead of down. It’s certainly very exciting. His speech was great last night. I thought it was inspiring in every way. And, hopefully he’s going to do a great job. But the way I look at it, he cannot do worse than Bush.” ( from “On the Record ,” November 5, 2008).
During the same interview, he made other interesting statements that may appear to conflict with his current “platform” (to the extent that he can be said to actually have a platform):
- “I’m very liberal when it comes to health care. I believe in universal health care. I believe in whatever it takes to make people well and better. It’s an entitlement to this country if we’re going to have a great country.”
- “The Democrats didn’t have a policy for dealing with illegal immigrants, but what they did have going for them is they weren’t mean-spirited about it. They didn’t know what the policy was, but what they were is they were kind.”
- “He [Mitt Romney] had a crazy policy of self-deportation which was maniacal. It sounded as bad as it was, and he lost all of the Latino vote. He lost the Asian vote. He lost everybody who is inspired to come into this country.” The GOP has to develop a comprehensive policy “to take care of this incredible problem that we have with respect to immigration, with respect to people wanting to be wonderful productive citizens of this country.” [emphasis added]
Can this possibly be the same Donald Trump that is running a vitriolic campaign for president of the U.S. in 2016?
Last on my agenda for today is the fact that, despite his claim to have made some 4,844 charitable contributions totaling $102 million (not a particularly large sum for a man with net assets of approximately $4 billion), the man has not made any donations of actual cash from his own pocket. Most of his “gifts” seem to have been in the form of land-conservation agreements and free rounds of golf. Now, if I am a poor person who needs food, clothing or shelter for my children, how do I benefit from Donald Trump agreeing not to build hotels on a certain piece of land? How do I benefit from a free game of golf? I will not dwell on this, as I made mention in a previous post that Trump is no philanthropist. If you are interested in learning more, you can do so here.
These are only a few of the things that make me wonder who Donald Trump really is. I believe he is a chameleon, changing his colours to appear to be what his followers want him to be. I certainly have no objection to him having voted for Obama … I voted for him both in 2008 and 2012. But he is a hypocrite. His change in stance on immigration is far more troubling. Either he loves immigrants or he hates them. Apparently eight years ago he thought they were great and now he wants to deport them all and build walls to keep any more from entering the country. He speaks out of both sides of his mouth (and with a forked tongue at that), changes his mind almost daily about one thing or another, and tells more lies and half-truths than any other politician or candidate.
Filosofa's Word 