Prologue

"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."

These powerful and inspirational words that were written in 1883 and featured in a sonnet entitled, "The New Colossus" by American poet Emma Lazarus are the words that are engraved on the pedestal of America’s most famous icon that represents immigration to the United States...the Statue of Liberty.

However, in the year 2017 on the same “teeming shores” that Emma Lazarus so passionately described in her ode to an immigrant welcoming “America”, there is a dark and ominous cloud that’s adrift in the continental United States of America.

This “toxic cloud” reeks strongly of fascism, White nationalism and authoritarianism. Americans are now being led by a President who calls the press “The enemy of the American people” and who looks to make the United States of America “Whiter” by expelling undocumented Original Americans from the United States while opening the front door to the Russians.

It’s as though we’ve miraculously traveled as a nation through an alternate universe and have entered an episode of Rod Serlings “Twilight Zone”.

In this episode, we’re witnessing the rise of Adolf Hitler in 1933 Germany through the actions and speech of a newly elected U.S. President who is unquestionably a pathological liar, a narcissistic groper, a xenophobic and arguably a racist. It’s a “universe” where Alternative Facts trumps Facts and Russia’s supreme dictator, Vladimir Putin is really our friend and ally. It is surreal and it is frightening. The world is watching us and except for Vladimir Putin and Stephen Bannon no one is amused.

Part 1

As newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump continues to ramp-up his partisan rhetoric to make good on his political promise to construct a wall that stretches across the U.S. south-western border, separating the United States from Mexico, Americans who are opposed to this controversial endeavor have found the moral-courage to unite and emphatically say “Hell No” to building “Trump’s Wall” and “Hell No” to Trump’s immoral plans to separate undocumented parents from their American-born children.

The building of “The Wall” has even prompted Pope Francis to say on February 18, 2016 that then GOP front-runner Donald Trump "is not Christian" if he calls for the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants while pledging to build a wall between the United States and Mexico.

Across the United States from New York City to New Orleans to Seattle, protestors are vociferously challenging the audacity of Donald Trump to attempt to build a physical wall that not only sullies the great American tradition of helping a needy neighbor but also greatly disrespects the descendants of Mayans, Incas and Aztecs whose ancestors have freely roamed the Americas for thousands of years.

Not only is it economically unwise to erect a “super wall” that separates the United States from its third largest trading partner but it’s also economically imprudent to put an unnecessary 15 to 20 billion-dollar burden on American tax payers. Apparently only diehard Trump supporters who are willing to accept “Alternative Facts” as non-fiction are convinced that the Mexican government, led by Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto will submit to American thuggery and miraculously “ante up” to pay for the construction of this costly and divisive wall.

But why build a wall? Why should the U.S. government denigrate powerless people who are lured to the U.S. by an abundance of low paying jobs in industries that constantly “fish” for undocumented immigrants who are willing to perform “bottom of the barrel” work that most Americans find “repugnant”?

I’ve never met an American who complained that someone from “south of the border” was preventing them from finding work as a seasonal migrant-worker or preventing them from working on chicken farms or as domestic housekeepers.

So again, I ask, “why build a humongous and costly wall that would prevent the original Americans from entering the United States”? What purpose would such an endeavor serve? Before you answer this rhetorical question, stop and think for a minute about the United States’ historical “on again, off again” love / hate relationship with ALL poor immigrants who are seeking a better way of life in America.

Although poor undocumented immigrants from “south of the border” are once again the current focus of blame for “all our country’s problems”, the U.S. has from its creation, historically discriminated against a wide variety of poor Asian, Afro-Centric and European immigrants. The problem is that 21st century Americans who advocate building Trump’s Wall, have forgotten that except for the noble Native American, we’re all (one way or another) the great grand-children of immigrants.

Part 2 of “America’s love / hate relationship with poor immigrants” takes a closer, more detailed look at how some-part hateful and some-part frightened people are easily persuaded to follow the anti-immigrant bandwagon, even when the person they’re trying to keep out is a distant relative.

Part 2

American Immigration History 201

At the turn of the 20th century the United States population was approximately 60 million strong. The American Industrial Revolution was in full swing and the need of cheap labor that manned factories, coal mines, railroads and mills were in high demand. Demographically, Native Americans for the most part were conquered and forced to re-locate further west while Blacks that were former slaves were left alone and left unprotected by the federal government to survive the subjection that was created / caused by southern state's Jim Crow laws.

So, if newly freed slaves and Native Americans were not the preferred choice for employers who were desperately in need of skilled and unskilled labor for a rapidly growing America, then where would American business owners turn to for this new labor force? The answer was Europe.

Since Europe was considered by most American business owners as being an acceptable reservoir for America's future labor force, the next question that should be asked is, "who exactly were these Europeans and what were their socio-economic status"? Additionally, the question should be raised if particular / certain ethnicities from Europe were more routinely targeted for discrimination by pockets of Americans than other "more acceptable" Europeans.

In 1907, the United States Senate, under intense pressure from groups like the Immigration Restriction League, formed the Dillingham Commission to study the origins and consequences of immigration.

In a series of reports published in 1910 and 1911, the Dillingham Commission published a report that insinuated that a critical shift in European immigration patterns was the direct cause for a rise in social and economic problems in the United States. Let’s fast-forward to 2017.... does this rhetoric sound familiar?

Per reports from the Dillingham Commission, prior to the 1880s, most immigrants entering the United States had arrived from northern and western Europe. However, after the 1880s, the Commission reported that "inferior" migrants from places in southeastern Europe, such as Austria--Hungary, Russia, Italy, Turkey, Lithuania, Romania, and Greece, increasingly dominated European immigration.

In the end, the Commission's 42-volume report placed the blame for the United States festering problems on these new immigrants from southeastern Europe and recommended that the federal government use literary tests to prevent poor and uneducated immigrants from entering the country and causing further social and economic unrest. Does this rhetoric sound familiar? In the U.S. there's an old saying, "The more things change, the more they remain the same".

Mexicans and their definition of the U.S. border

Between 1900 and 1930, more than one million Mexicans came north to work in the United States. During this time frame, there were few guards and fewer records kept at the border. Americans were more concern with immigrants who came by sea, not over land.

After the Mexican Revolution began in 1910, the United States government set up a few more immigration restrictions, but even after American troops invaded northern Mexico in pursuit of Mexican revolutionary Francisco Villa (who had attacked a border town), Mexicans could cross the border without restriction, that is, after being washed and checked for infectious diseases.

As late as 1926, when the U.S. had virtually closed the door on immigration from Europe and Asia, the head of the Immigration Bureau told the press that Mexicans could enter the United States without difficulties. Even illegal immigrants, if caught, were only asked to pay a $18 fee and taken to the border, so that they could re-enter legally.

Mexican immigrants also viewed the border as being open. In a report generated in 1922 by the U.S. Secretary of Labor, the report indicated that the average unskilled Mexican worker who crossed into the United States from various border locations did not consider themselves an illegal alien. By 1930, Mexican immigrants could be found as far north and east as Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Mississippi. But the great majority were in the Southwest, in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

It was only natural that Mexicans felt as though parts of the southwest United States was an extension of their own homeland, after all, much of the U.S. southwest had been Mexican territory until the United States conquered it by military force in 1848.

Regardless of how the average Mexican felt, the truth was that the U.S. welcomed Mexican immigrants as temporary workers, not permanent citizens. A 1911 report to the U.S. Congress claimed that Mexicans "are not easily assimilated, [but] this is of no very great importance as long as most of them return to their native land. In the case of the Mexican, he is less desirable as a citizen than as a laborer."

The reality of poor immigrants and U.S. economics

So, in the same context of how poor immigrants from southeastern Europe at the turn of the 20th century was forced to contend with prejudices that were largely based on our country's shrinking resources, today in 2017, Mexicans and other Latin Americans are too forced to contend with similar prejudices that are based on the lack of economic resources.

Old prejudices are current prejudices and the more things change, the more they remain the same. It’s a fact, when bills cannot be paid and the American family’s standard of living begins to decline, it becomes easier for the rational to become irrational while searching for economic relief and scapegoats. In the end, poor and uneducated immigrants, be they from Mexico, Haiti or Albania in lieu of today's economic climate, are considered, "persona non grata". American history proves this point.

In summary, I wonder if the words that are engraved on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty that once drew tens of millions of poor immigrants to New York's Ellis Island in hope of a better life, hold any real significance in the West Wing of the White House? What Americans are now experiencing is a revised edition of The Immigration Game. A game whose rules are being written by people who wish to move the United States backwards instead of forward. Dark clouds are blocking the sun and they reek of fascism.

Le Fin (The End)

In a lapse of judgement John McCain blamed Obama for the Orlando attack. “Barack Obama is directly responsible for it, because when he pulled everybody out of Iraq, al Qaeda went to Syria, became ISIS, and ISIS is what it is today thanks to Barack Obama’s failures,” McCain said, according to The Washington Post. Yet in 2010, McCain actually referred to the withdrawal as a “victory” when Obama pulled troops out of Iraq, though he said President George W. Bush deserved credit for the moment, too. Has he since walked back his remarks about blaming Obama for the Orlando attacks? Yes, however, this is not the first time he has spouted a reckless statement and then apologized. He appears to have lost his ability, "To develop Midshipmen morally, mentally and physically and to imbue them with the highest ideals of duty, honor and loyalty in order to graduate leaders who are dedicated to a career of naval service and have potential for future development in mind and character to assume the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship and government." that he was taught when he attended and graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis graduated in 1958. It is time for him to retire, he no longer has anything to offer the American people, especially veterans, and is certainly not exhibiting the “character to assume the highest responsibilities”. I realize I am making a strong statement and some may say that I have no right to criticize a war hero, a veteran, an ex-POW. I apologize right now to others who have worn the uniform and gone to war as representatives of our country because they do deserve our respect. McCain and Agent Orange also owe veterans and active military an apology. Unlike, our orange candidate I do not lump all people into one group or category. There are many, many veterans who are real heroes, for example: Imran Yousuf, a bouncer at the Pulse nightclub, had an advantage. A Marine who had served in Afghanistan, Yousuf was able to use his training to quickly identify the impending threat and remain clear-headed as people died around him, according to the Marine Corps Times. Because of the 24-year-old’s decisive actions, he is being credited with saving dozens of lives. 

Why do I not consider Mr. McCain a war hero anymore when I did in the past? I no longer do because he has let down his fellow veterans. Because he has shown repeatedly that he does not care about his fellow veterans. His most recent example is endorsing the presumptive GOP presidential candidate. He is going to support a misogynistic, bigoted, draft deferring, narcissist who insulted the senator and called him a loser. The message from the candidate was clear, “He’s not a war hero,” Trump (a man who thinks going to prep school is the same as being in the military) said in a public interview in June 2015. “He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured.”

While he singled out McCain in his tyrannical insult, he also insulted others in uniform and others who have been captured. As the widow of a disable veteran I cannot accept a comment like that about any veteran or POW. It is unforgivable. McCain endorsing a candidate who has said this about veterans is inexcusable. “Sen. John McCain said he will back Donald Trump in the general election despite misgivings over his candidacy.”

Mr. McCain WAS a hero. I say that even though some believe his arrogant actions caused him to get shot down. He was young and foolish- we should allow for that, many of us did some pretty foolish things in our youth. As I stated above I used to respect him but endorsing a man who insulted him and called him a loser for being captured is beyond belief and disturbing and disgusting. Trump also said that while he supported John McCain in the 2008 bid against President Barack Obama, he “never liked him after that, because I don’t like losers.”

How a man of his credentials can allow a man like Agent Orange, who deferred the draft, to insult not only a dedicated war veteran/POW, but to insult all other veterans is beyond forgiveness. Agent Orange's insult of McCain was an insult to all in uniform. The young marine who helped people escape the club in Orlando is a hero. My husband who was 100% service connected disabled from VN was a hero - because he stood against war, because he knew the horror of it and didn't want anyone else to go, that's what a true heroic veteran does.

My husband writing home from Phu Bai, 1968.

A man who voted to send soldiers to war, a man who continues to advocate for ‘boots on the ground’ for all conflicts is not a friend to veterans. We can’t even pay for the costs of the wars and wounded we already have.“A powerful US senator is pushing President Barack Obama to put more American boots on the ground in Iraq and Syria. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., says "it is obvious that President Obama currently has no coherent strategy to achieve his stated goal to 'degrade and ultimately destroy' [the Islamic State]." Part of any such plan, McCain said in a statement Monday, should recognize that "American boots on the ground are necessary to defeat [the group] in Iraq and Syria." 

VA patient claims waiting to be addressed.

Senator McCain is not a friend to veterans and is no longer a war hero in my mind and I base my judgment on evidence. The first piece of evidence is his allowing Agent Orange’s insult to go unchallenged. The second is endorsing him. The evidence below confirms my view of his inability to recognize the plight of veterans.

· In 2006, McCain voted against a funding amendment (S. Amdt. 3704) to provide $20 million to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for health care facilities [source: U.S. Senate].

· He voted against another 2006 amendment (S. Amdt. 3642) that provided the VA an additional $430 million in funding for outpatient care and treatment for veterans [source: U.S. Senate].

· McCain voted against S. Amdt. 3007 in 2006, which would have provided an additional $1.5 billion in funding for veterans' health care in FY 2007 by closing tax loopholes [source: U.S. Senate].

· In 2005, he voted against an amendment to provide an additional $500 million for veterans' mental health care for each year between 2006 and 2010 (S. Amdt. 2634) [source: U.S. Senate].

· McCain voted no on an amendment S. Amdt. 2745 in 2004, which would have increased funding for veterans' medical care by $1.8 billion by "eliminating abusive tax loopholes" [source: U.S. Senate].

· McCain voted against an increase of $650 million for veterans' medical care in 2001 (S. Amdt. 1218) [source: U.S. Senate].

Senator McCain please resign.

Hello folks, it's great to be back at IdiotFreeZone.com. I had to take a bit of a break from things for health reasons but I'm doing better now and looking forward to jumping right back in where we left off.

You can probably tell I've been a political uber-geek my whole life. Some of my earliest memories revolve around politics and politicians. I watched the Watergate hearings when I was 6 years old and even remember Cronkite on the CBS evening news with casualty numbers from Vietnam-Nam. I watch political scandals like sit-com's. And one thing I can tell you is, even if you include the whole Clinton impeachment thing, the republicans are by far the hands down winners at shooting themselves in the foot.

But nothing in my lifetime even comes close to the sheer joy I get from watching this 2016 presidential campaign. I can't stop watching. Nurses and other hospital employees were stopping into my room for updates all day and night. I'll admit - there are few experiences in life that can compete with watching the Bizzar-O reality show that has become the Republican Party. It's like being a witness at a 20 car pile-up - if all the vehicles were clown cars. I keep waiting for Cruz to come out on stage wearing those huge oversized clown shoes or Rubio to put on one of those big red bulbous noses and start talking immigration.

I have never seen a political party go schizophrenic before. Who could have imagined the GOP would try to distance itself from its own front runner like they are with Donald Trump. I mean - the party is actually discussing out loud how to launch a third party campaign against itself! Mitt 'Friggin’ Romney has been hauled out of the moth balls to try and talk some sense into republican voters! Mitt... Romney! WTF! I guess you really have to do something drastic when your looking at Trump as your candidate.

It's easy to see why the republicans are freaking out. Trump's party affiliation has changed many times over the years. Until 1987, he was a Democrat; then he was a Republican from 1987 to 1999 when he switched to the Reform Party. He stayed there from 1999 to 2001 until a presidential exploratory campaign with the Reform Party fell apart. From 2001 to 2009 he was a Democrat again. Then Mr. Trump switched back to the Republican Party again from 2009 to 2011 when he became an independent until 2012. He finally returned to the Republican Party in 2012, where he has remained, so far.

Donald Trump - What can I say? In the US we like to believe that anyone can grow up to become president. And we proved that a few years ago when we elected an alcoholic, redneck, coke addict, C grade average, war deserting, intellectual light-weight as president.... twice. But at least that guy had a pedigree, name recognition and the support of the Republican Party behind him.

Trump, who is currently the republican front runner, hasn't ever held an elected office. Essentially, he's spent the majority of his life in real estate and/or doing whatever it took to become a 'brand name'. OK, if this election was about increasing the United States market share or public image then 'sure', lets vote for "The Donald". But it's not. We're voting for the next president. You know, the guy with the nuclear codes. In this context, Trump telling North Korea "You're fired" takes on a whole new meaning.

How exactly does Trump become the odds-on favorite to clinch the republican nomination? Well, first of all, look who's running against him. Since the other 70 or so wannabe's dropped out we are left with only Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz as any sort of competition. Yeah, Rubio and Cruz. Neither of these idiots are qualified to hold the highest office in the land much less the offices they hold now. They might make a second rate workers comp law firm in South Beach, Miami. But are we really considering letting either the "Cotton-mouth King" or "Super-Nerd" loose in the White House or sending them to the next G8 meeting? God I hope not! The only thing I can think of that's worse would be... Trump.

Let's recap: from the day Trump announced he was running this guy has made statements or taken positions that, a single one, by any other candidate, would have ended their campaign immediately;

He called Mexican immigrants rapists and promised to get them to fund their own containment cell, got fired from his own TV show, insulted John McCain's service record, advocated going after the families of terrorists, picked a fight with Megyn Kelly because she asked him a tough question then implied it was because she was on her period, boycotted a debate because they wouldn't pay him to participate, claimed he witnessed thousands of Muslims celebrating on 9-11, gave out Lindsey Graham's private phone number, thinks we should track Muslim travel like Fed-X packages, got into a brouhaha with the Pope, likes Sarah Palin and would probably put her in his cabinet, called Ted Cruz a 'pussy' (Technically, at least this one's true.), claims to be a billionaire but in a sworn deposition admitted that his understanding of his own net worth was 'based on how he felt' and it changed from day to day, tells everyone that he is paying for his campaign 'out of pocket' but the way the process works is that he loans money to himself and that the party will pay it back, and finally, he claims to support 'traditional marriage' and has.... three different times.

These things are just the gaffe's associated with him running for the presidency and do not address the blunders Trump has made as a business man. Blunders such as - Four separate bankruptcies, Trump Airlines (home of the gold plated toilet), Trump Steaks (marketed thru The Sharper Image!), his 'birther' phase and his "Bromance" with Sheriff Joe Arpaio, promoting the idea that childhood vaccines cause autism, "Trump; The Board Game" (or, more accurately The "Bored" Game), Trump University and many, many more.

Is it possible that we are witnessing the self destruction of the Republican Party? One can only hope. Although I'm pretty sure what we're seeing is more a measure of this generation of Americans and our immature, short attention span, small minded, me! me! me! mentality. Either way, one down. One to go.

Can half of the country really be so ignorant as to elect this cartoon character president? What happened to us? This country used to stand for something. We waged war on poverty, not poor people. We stood up for grand and glorious causes. Fought for what was right. We sought out knowledge - we didn't hide from it! And we never looked the other way when we saw injustice. Now, we pick and choose what facts to believe. We have become a joke. And that pains me to the core.

Republicans - it is up to you. If you want to remain a viable party, you will figure out a way to dump the three choices you have left yourselves with and find some other legitimate candidate to run. Right now, Las Vegas has Trump leading his party to the nomination at 65% with Cruz at 24%, Rubio at 9% and Kasich at 2%. Think about that for a second. I'll wait.

Or are you really ready to prove to the rest of the world that collectively you have gone bat-shit crazy? Because, honestly, those are the only two choices you have.

I guess we'll find out soon enough.

EJK

Leave the Confederate monuments!
Adorn them with their sin.
Allow them to speak their volumes,
Let them hold nothing in.

Beside the general on horseback,
Place a slave-whipping post.
Surely, the general in question won’t mind –
In the way of life for which he fought,
Of that type of brutality they did boast.

In other pursuits of the men in gray,
With another general, staunch as a wall,
Why not adorn them with a human vending block?
That type of meat market, none did shock.

The antebellum mansions proud,
With their Greek stoas gleaming --
Trim that with a little shack,
Perhaps, with some Darkies, beaming.

Oh, the scenes up with which one could conjure!
(Thanks, Winnie, for that one.)
Fair belles, in their hoop-spread skirts,
Bidding farewell to their brave soldiers,
While Mammy cries for her sold-off child – ‘til it hurts.

Stephen Foster, there upon his perch,
Singing of a South of which he knew naught.
Old Black Joe, mourning for his master,
In his cold, cold grave – What rot!

Next to that Confederate flag,
Flying high in the wind,
Let them attach the bloody rag
Of all the debauched kith and kin.

They would not listen to General Lee,
Who said, “Shut up and forget it.”
They had to invent some stupid, “Lost Cause” –
And now, perhaps, they regret it.

“Let sleeping dogs lie,”
They somehow could not grasp.
So, up with the monuments,
Long after Lee passed.

In Century 21, though, everyone votes,
Those monuments offend the electorate.
But, wait, don’t vote them away –
Dress them up; have a holiday.

Adorn them with all the memories,
Not just a few.
Include all the sins forgot –
Throw in a lynched Jew!

The South has lots to remember –
Black Laws and the like –
Cheerful old Jim Crow,
With heads on a spike.

Don’t sit here; don’t go there –
Go ‘round the back.
Say yassuh and mo ma’am –
Don’t dare sass me, boy!

Oh, let’s get it all in.
High upon the monuments, let these things there dangle.
At each and every angle,
Come, let’s adorn the toy!

***** ***** *****

Now, for you hotheaded, young Nigs over at Princeton: Leave the Wilson name, busts and statues where they are! Take my advice and, “Adorn: them, as well.

Wilson, as Princeton president, had already absorbed enough racial hatred by being born in Virginia and reared in South Carolina during the Civil War; however when he became U.S. president he was able viscerally to act upon his apparently pent-up feelings.

Adorn the Wilson memorabilia at Princeton with choice trimmings such as these:

• When Wilson reached Washington he stymied a limited avenue for middle-class African American advancement by declaring civil service jobs to be physically segregated..
• While keeping his jackboot on the necks of American citizens of color, at home, Wilson hustled up Black bodies, in segregated units and sent them, “Over There” to save Europeans – who contrary to their American “compatriots,” actually treated the darker Americans like real human beings.
• During the 1919 race riots – instead of calling out troops to enforce the peace – Wilson stood in the window at the
White House and watched African Americans being set upon by mobs of rioters.

No, Princeton, do not remove the Wilson memorials – adorn them with these and other choice trimmings available in the archives!